The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a set of post-game observations after the Red Wings’ 3-1 loss to Buffalo this afternoon, and St. James offers this take on the Wings’ 4-and-4 exhibition season record:
Only so much can be read into the 3-1 loss in Saturday’s finale at Buffalo, and the Wings’ 4-4 record — no one plays with a full NHL lineup — but the past two weeks have been a time for players to acclimatize and coaches to evaluate.
“It’s good to go through them,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “It’s experience for a number of guys. It shows how hard the league is — it’s not the teams we’re going to face in terms of the makeup of each roster, there’s going to be a lot better players in the lineup, but it does show our young guys the relentless nature of the league. That’s good experience and good for evaluation purposes.”
The Wings didn’t have much spark in the first period Saturday. Sam Gagner scored off a setup by Mitchell Stephens, tying the game shortly after JJ Peterka’s goal in the second period. The downfall was a goal given up during a power play, when Zemgus Girgensons capitalized on goalie Alex Nedeljkovic mishandling the puck and made it 2-1. Vinnie Hinostroza put it away with an empty net goal late in the third period.
After making do with scrimmages in lieu of exhibitions last season, the Wings having a preseason, even a hectic one, was a welcome return to some normalcy.
“Just getting back into the flow of things is nice,” Gagner said. “Last year, as fortunate as we were to be playing, it was a different year. Everyone is happy to be back on the regular schedule and looking forward to getting things started.”
Continued (with observations regarding Pius Suter and Moritz Seider)
