Red Wings-Stars Game 1 quick take: Wings drop mucky OT affair in Dallas

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to right their listing ship and snap a 2-game losing streak as they opened a 2-game series against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night.

Despite having dropped a 6-2 decision to Chicago on Sunday, and despite going into the American Airlines Center against a 2-and-0 Stars team that possessed a 5-2-and-0 record against the Wings of late, the undermanned Red Wings desperately needed to…

Well, they needed to play better, from the goal on out, they needed to play better defensively, they needed to score more and get more scoring from more lines, and as Chris Osgood said on the pre-game show on FSD, the Wings’ special teams needed to get their butts in gear. All of that against the Stanley Cup finalists.

Detroit did a good job of hanging in and holding their own vs. the Stars, but they blew a 1-0 lead, went 0-for-3 on the power play, and were ultimately backed into their own zone during overtime, losing 2-1 in OT to Dallas thanks to some self-inflicted mistakes, a bit of a lack of discipline, and a continued lack of secondary scoring. There WAS a lot of improvement from the Sunday Disaster in Chicago, but there’s still work to be done to earn a split on Thursday.

After recalling Taro Hirose and Givani Smith from the “taxi squad,” the Wings dressed the following lineup…

Mike Heika’s DallasStars.com estimated lines looked like they were set in stone…

Jason Dickinson – Roope Hintz – Denis Gurianov

Tanner Kero – Joe Pavelski – Alexander Radulov

Andrew Cogliano – Radek Faksa – Ty Dellandrea

Rhett Gardner – Justin Dowling – Nick Caamano

Esa Lindell – John Klingberg

Miro Heiskanen – Jamie Oleksiak

Andrej Sekera – Mark Pysyk

Anton Khudobin

Jake Oettinger

But things changed, per DallasStars.com’s Mike Heika:

Roope Hintz does not appear to be on ice for warm-up. Joel Hanley is. Maybe 11-7 tonight?— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) January 27, 2021

So the Stars adjusted, per the Dallas News’s Matthew DeFranks:

This may matter come Thursday:

Roope Hintz is day to day with a lower body injury.
Benn (lower body), Kiviranta (lower body), Comeau (COVID protocol) also out. Robertson on taxi squad.

Are you not entertained.

: )— Mike Heika (@MikeHeika) January 27, 2021

So the rosters shook out as follows:

??? ???????? ??? ‼️#DETvsDAL x #LGRW pic.twitter.com/EmTGLw2qUT— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

The Stars’ beat writers continued to ponder roster machinations in lieu of their issues, but I’m not sure that you’d be interested in that kind of stuff, frankly, so:

The puck hit the ice between Vladislav Namestnikov and Justin Dowling at 8:38 PM EST, and the Wings and Stars got the 1st period underway.

Also: The Wings posted this video, which is the most damn content they’ve given us since the road trip started, all of 30 seconds before puck drop:

GAME ON! #DETvsDAL x #LGRW pic.twitter.com/9699dsKCkI— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

The first couple minutes’ worth of play yielded a bit of a feeling-out process, and Jamie Oleksiak got the first shot of the game some 1:39 into the 1st period, dekeing in from the left circle.

It was more than a little weird to hear Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond speaking from a studio instead of the rink, and they did a lot of storytelling to make up for the in-game experience.

Speaking of bad timing…This dripped 3:30 into the 1st…

John Keating celebrates the return of Chris Osgood as they get you ready for the Wings in Dallas, chatting with Tyler Bertuzzi about his hot start and seeing how the Stars are succeeding. pic.twitter.com/iWWFWVPnfg— FOX Sports Detroit (@FOXSportsDet) January 27, 2021

Dallas looked to be skating in a “pack” as much as anything, with tight positioning between forwards and not much of a gap between forwards and defensemen.

The Wings’ beat writers had to keep up from home, too, as they’re not traveling with the team, either:

Namestnikov playing center tonight between Mantha/Ryan #RedWings are 0-0 with injury-riddled Dallas 4:02 into 1st period— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) January 27, 2021

Some 5:25 into the 1st, Dallas’ Cogliano got a significant scoring chance as Hirose, Rasmussen, Smith and the rest of the Wings started chasing the puck, and their structure gave way down low in the Detroit zone.

By the first TV timeout, FSD was posting more studio content on Twitter, which is good (hey, it’s better than nothing) and bad (people are kind of watching the game)…

Mickey Redmond and Ken Daniels take a look at Anthony Mantha, who has not started the season the way he wanted and looks to heat up in Dallas. pic.twitter.com/HLY8qQUEcG— FOX Sports Detroit (@FOXSportsDet) January 27, 2021

This requires an explanation:

Anyway, play resumed and Bertuzzi, Larkin and Brome battled their way through center ice and into the Stars’ zone, crashing and banging, but they couldn’t get much done as the big Stars’ defenders were checking hard and heavy.

The peanut gallery also weighed in:

Every game is in intermission except Dallas/Detroit which has one shot on goal in the first 8 minutes.— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) January 27, 2021

  • Sadly, the Wings were called for too many men on the ice @ 8:46 of the 1st period.

Bertuzzi, Glendening, Hronek and Nemeth took to the ice for the first PK unit, against an 8-for-12 power play, and they had a good shift, and changed 38 seconds into the PK;

Namestnikov, Filppula, Stecher and Staal surrendered a shot that Thomas Greiss stopped…

Glendening and Larkin hopped back out for the next shift, and Mantha replaced Glendening after the faceoff in the Wings’ zone, with Hronek and Nemeth being short-shifted, so Stecher and Staal helped the Wings kill the rest of the penalty.

Bobby Ryan got a shift with Mantha and Larkin as Ryan’s the Designated Sitter.

  • OF ALL LINES, HIROSE AND NAMESTNIKOV AND SMITH RETRIEVED A CHIP-IN PASS FROM CHRISTIAN DJOOS, SMITH FOUND HIROSE DOWN LOW, and his pass went off Heiskanen’s skate, right to Vladislav Namestnikov, WHO CHIPPED THE PUCK BACKHANDED THROUGH KHUDOBIN at 11:37 of the 1st.
  • Detroit led 1-0!

VLADDY!!!

1-0, #REDWINGS! pic.twitter.com/lpg6oJZ87w— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

The Stars were not amused, at least in Twitter speak:

.@Vladdy18‘s first as a Wing. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/5t1UZlTQXM— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

Vladislav Namestnikov gets his first goal for the #RedWings this season and the #Stars trail for the first time. 1-0 Detroit. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/X1R1DQqxxh— FOX Sports Detroit (@FOXSportsDet) January 27, 2021

You love to see it!@DTE_Energy | #LGRW pic.twitter.com/B3Z0sjGeAa— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

#HockeyHugs for @Vladdy18! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/4fL7Ul5L09— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

Dylan Larkin got an “almost” off the toe of Khudobin approximately 13:15 into the 1st, and Detroit looked to be helping the Stars fall into a “Trap Game” of the first order.

Marc Staal of all people got a shot on net, too, so that tells you how well the Wings were playing as a team.

Honest to Pete, the Namestnikov line may have been the Wings’ best offensively…

And GLENDENING made an amazing play in front of his own net to prevent Pavelski from chipping in a loose puck in the Wings’ slot ahead of the second TV timeout.

As Ken and Mickey noted, the Wings led the Stars in shots 4-3 with 3:30 left in the 1st period, which is not exactly scintillating hockey.

Filip Hronek snuck in from the right point to get a glorious scoring chance on Khudobin, but Khudobin’s shoulder stifled what could have been a 2-0 shot.

Dallas responded with a strong shift from Radulov & company.

  • Thomas Greiss drew a goaltender interference callas Dellandrea was run into Greiss by DeKeyser at 18:54 of the 1st, so Detroit headed to a “lucky” power play.

Larkin, Bertuzzi and Ryan played up front, with Hronek and Mantha manning the blueline, but Hronek couldn’t toe the line as the puck rolled over his stick, so the second unit took to the ice…

Djoos and Hirose worked the blueline with Namestnikov, Brome and Smith on a strange 2nd unit, but the first period expired quickly, and that was that.

Hey now! #DETvsDAL #LGRW pic.twitter.com/9OgYhVvxmh— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

Here are the first period stats for the Wings and Stars:

Numbers after the first 20. #DETvsDAL #LGRW @BetMGM is live! Sign up now for a special offer » https://t.co/2BWQTBeS5D pic.twitter.com/E1UA4P9vB2— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

The 2nd period began at 9:33 PM with the Wings on the power play.

Period 2 is a go! #LGRW#RedWings have :54 on the power play with a 1-0 lead! pic.twitter.com/MrGuFS4mYo— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

Bertuzzi, Larkin, Ryan, Hronek and Mantha worked the first power play unit, and they had a hard time gaining ice.

Mantha did a nice job of skating up the right wing and sliding the puck out front, but his timing was off, and that was the only chance of the power play’s remainder.

Khudobin DID have to make a scary stick save as Glendening, Brome and Filppula worked the post-PP shift, but Dallas came out hard and heavy again, and Detroit really had to skate hard to avoid getting hemmed in.

To their credit, the Wings held on, playing a bit of rope-a-dope hockey along the way, but it worked enough for Detroit to continue playing with a 1-0 lead as the 2nd progressed.

Namestnikov also looked like a different damn player–the one the Wings signed–after getting the weight off his shoulders via scoring.

There was ACTUAL DISLIKE going on between Rasmussen and Gardner, as well as Glendening and Faksa, some 4:46 into the 2nd, but nothing came of the pushing and shoving other than Glendening’s helmet coming off, which happens half a dozen times every game.

  • Regrettably, Hronek and Rasmussen got crossed up by Justin Dowling, who was able to generate a shot on Greiss’ shoulder and then a power play as Filip Hronek sat at 5:23 of the 2nd period.
  • DALLAS IMMEDIATELY SCORED. 9 seconds into the power play, John Klingberg slithered a stunning seeing-eye shot through a mess of bodies and past Greiss’ left glove side at 5:37. Gurianov and Pavelski got the assists.

Stars Power Play is an absolute wagon. Red Wings best chance to stop it were basically
1. Don’t take penalties
and 2. If you do, spend as absolutely little time in the D-zone as possible.

Lost the draw on that one, and it took all of 4 seconds for Klingberg to tie this game— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) January 27, 2021

Thanks to John Klingberg’s tally that ties it at 1 vs the Red Wings in the 2nd period tonight, the @DallasStars join the 1975-76 Canadiens (10) and 1983-84 Canucks (9) as the only teams to notch at least 9 power play goals within their first 3 games of a single season pic.twitter.com/CbHZriAv2S— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) January 27, 2021

Detroit went with Ryan, Filppula and Mantha on the post-goal shift, which was just weird.

I was just astonished by the Klingberg shot. He walked the blueline like Nicklas Lidstrom used to so as to change the angle of the shot. It was astonishingly good.

So the Red Wings faced a stiff challenge tied 1-1 with 12:55 remaining in the 2nd, and how would they respond?

Detroit at least seemed to start generating some scoring chances again as Rasmussen, Smith and Hirose of all people got a strange little shot in on Khudobin with both Smith and Rasmussen in front.

Khudobin was handcuffed, but his shoulder made the stop.

  • Worse for the Wings, Dylan Larkin got tagged with a weak hooking penalty at 10:18, giving Dallas’ lethal power play another crack at ‘er.

Detroit, to their credit, won the initial faceoff and cleared it down ice, with Glendening, Bertuzzi, Hronek and Nemeth working the first unit.

Gurianov put a shot off the post, and Greiss scrambled as the Stars had their way with Detroit, but Nemeth made a big shot block, Heiskanen was stopped by Greiss, and…

Namestnikov, Filppula, Stecher and Staal got caught chasing the puck in the corner, and Greiss had to make an underrated stop in the slot as the power play expired…

With Tanner Kero sending a shot wide of Greiss’ foot as the Wings killed the penalty.

Mantha whiffed on an opportunity to shoot intentionally, passing to no one instead, as the Wings recoiled and responded after the PK ended…

Hirose deferred a shot as well…

Bobby Ryan threw a sneaky hit through the middle of the ice…

  • Somehow, DALLAS was awarded a 3rd straight power play as Luke Glendening was called for tripping at 15:04.

Again, Detroit won the first faceoff, and Bertuzzi and Frans Nielsen got some good support from Hronek and Nemeth early in the PK…

  • And again, “somehow,” Joe Pavelski of all people was penalized for “hooking” Filip Hronek at 16:10, ending the Stars’ power play. It was a horrific call.

Bertuzzi, Stecher, Larkin and Hronek had a masterful little set of plays on the 4 on 4 to establish possession, Ryan and Mantha came out and helped, Dallas cleared, Ryan and Larkin fumbled the puck shorthanded…and by the time the Wings recovered a second time, the power play ran out, but Detroit at least showed some confidence in themselves and their puck movement.

Detroit also got an opportunity to score due to a Stars player losing a stick in the Dallas zone, but Brome, Filppula and Namestnikov mostly watched Stecher and Staal pass the puck to each other.

The 2nd period ended with the team exchanging some hard hits (Faksa again).

Detroit and Dallas were tied 1-1 after 2.

Squared up after 2. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/CIOfgQBVah— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

Here are the Wings and Stars’ stats after 2 periods:

To the 3rd. #DETvsDAL #LGRW pic.twitter.com/bUV8Z74vkq— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

The 3rd period began at 10:28 PM EST, with Namestnikov, Mantha and Ryan working with Hronek and Nemeth.

Detroit got hemmed into its own end, and the Glendening-Nielsen-Filppula line hopped over the boards and fumbled an offensive zone chance, so Greiss had to make a sneaky stop on a rolling shot that nearly snuck through his five hole.

The teams settled in for a hard-hitting third period in which the Wings at least seemed to have the puck more than the Stars did, even if they were hemmed in far too regularly.

The problem with the Filppula-Glendening-Nielsen line is that the centers don’t know how to play wing and the wings don’t know how to play center.

2:58 into the 3rd, there was a gathering of the clans near the Red Wings’ bench, and Rasmussen, Smith and Hirose were in the middle of it, with Hronek and Nemeth helping in the scrum.

Anthony Mantha’s dopey drop pass to no one actually went to Namestnikov in front, but the Stars’ defenseman slowed the puck and afforded Khudobin the chance to make a big stop.

The game really settled into a grinding affair as the 5-minute mark passed, and both teams were grinding the puck out down low and cycling hard. It didn’t produce a lot of shots, but the style of play was entertaining.

Mickey Redmond noted that the game was grinding itself out, as well.

Time ticked away without many shots taken by either team, and a puck out of play yielded a TV timeout with 11:11 remaining in regulation play.

Mickey’s Moments 1.26.21 … brought to you by @HallFinancial: The word of the day is “hooking,” says Mickey Redmond with a hearty chuckle. pic.twitter.com/rOYgFFJc4b— FOX Sports Detroit (@FOXSportsDet) January 27, 2021

Were the Wings trying to lull the Stars and their fans to sleep?

Film at 11.

The halfway mark of the period passed with some needed physicality–in the form of Radek Faksa smearing Bobby Ryan and then running Troy Stecher.

That didn’t wake anybody up, and both teams seemed to settle in for a defacto overtime affair.

Stecher at least fluttered a flickering shot in on Khudobin with 7:25 remaining, and Khudobin had to flash the leather of his glove to keep the game tied.

Mantha, Ryan, Namestnikov, Nemeth and Hronek built some momentum with a fine shift cycling down low in the Stars’ zone…

The 15-minute mark passed with the crowd in Dallas itchy, the fans on Twitter itchy, the teams itching for a break-it-open moment…

Things got tense.

  • Finally, Anthony Mantha was hooked with 4:09 remaining in regulation, and the Wings got a golden opportunity to take the lead on the power play. OR: at 15:51, Gardner headed to the penalty box and Detroit prepared to bear down.

Larkin, Mantha, Bertuzzi, Ryan and Hronek worked the first PP unit, which won the faceoff but lost the puck along the side boards to Dallas, who cleared the puck down ice.

Hronek drop passed the puck to Larkin and the Wings skated in from center ice, with Mantha finding Ryan, whose shot was stick-checked by Faksa, and that was it for 45 seconds of PP time.

Hronek tried to find Bertuzzi at the Stars’ line, and Dallas repelled the Wings, but Dallas got called for a hand pass at center ice, and, with 1:10 remaining in the PP and 3:19 left in regulation, the 2nd unit came out.

Hirose, Rasmussen, Namestnikov, Djoos and Brome came out, and Hirose sent a SLINKY shot in that Khudobin stifled.

Hirose and Djoos worked the point with Brome, in a triangle formation, and Brome sent a RIFLE into Khudobin’s flourishing glove.

Dallas won the next faceoff, cleared the puck, and Hronek walked the puck in himself, Larkin chipped the puck in deep for Hronek, Mantha and Ryan worked it instead, and Faksa iced the puck with 1:59 left…

But no icing was called, so Detroit was 0-for-3 on the PP with under 2 minutes remaining…

When Detroit was called for icing.

With 1:44 left.

Filppula, Glendening and Nielsen were getting a LOT of ice time, and they iced the puck again with 1:07 left in regulation…

Dallas won the draw again, cycled down low, Glendening gave the puck up, and Nielsen and Nemeth cleaned up Glendening’s mess.

Bobby Ryan broke free, found Hronek, and Khudobin had to make a stop on a shot that the Stars ultimately cleared the rebound of…down to Hronek.

Dallas worked its way into the Wings’ zone, but Ryan and Mantha would have none of it, and a long shot wide of the net yielded a 1-1 regulation te.

Detroit out-shot Dallas 9-4 in the 3rd period.

We are going to @Xfinity OVERTIME!!! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/di0AjTPYbU— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

Larkin, Bertuzzi and Hronek will start us off. #LGRW— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

OVERTIME began with Larkin working the puck back to Hronek, Larkin skated in deep, worked vs. Heiskanen, and Hronek afforded Detroit a quick change…

Larkin raced through center ice, stopped and walked back to the line, Hronek fed it deep, and Detroit mingled at center ice, so Hronek found Greiss for a re-set.

Namestnikov, Hronek and Mantha worked the puck up ice, Mantha walked in, and was stopped by Klingberg.

Sadly, Dallas walked into the Red Wings’ zone, Namestnikov, Mantha and Stecher were backed into their own end, Stecher gave the puck to Klingberg, he swept the puck to Dickinson, and Dickinson roofed the puck over Greiss to win Dallas the game 2-1 in overtime.

Stars in OT. #DETvsDAL pic.twitter.com/DirYClmcwh— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

Dallas won 2-1 in overtime. Greiss dropped to 0-and-4.

Final numbers. #RedWings pick up a point in Dallas. We’re back here Thursday night. #DETvsDAL pic.twitter.com/xQn3wb32KE— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 27, 2021

Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

Published by

George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!