The Detroit Red Wings dropped a 3-1 decision to the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon, wrapping up their preseason slate of 8 games played over the course of only 11 days and nights with a 4-and-4 record.
NHL.com posted a brief recap of the game:
Zemgus Girgensons scored the go-ahead shorthanded goal to help the Buffalo Sabres defeat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 in the preseason finale for each team at KeyBank Center in Buffalo on Saturday.
Girgensons scored at 19:17 of the second period after a giveaway by Red Wings goalie Alex Nedeljkovic for a 2-1 lead.
JJ Peterka and Vinnie Hinostroza scored, and Craig Anderson made 18 saves for the Sabres, who open the regular season against the Montreal Canadians on Thursday.
Sam Gagner scored, and Nedeljkovic made 35 saves for the Red Wings, who begin the regular season against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
The Red Wings played with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen as Jonatan Berggren couldn’t skate in today’s game, but very little seemed to spark the Wings, who have played 6 games in the past 8 days. I guess that’s understandable, but it was a little disappointing, save the fact that Nedeljkovic played so very well (aside from his brain fart).
The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan also filed a recap…
The Red Wings didn’t end the exhibition season probably the way they wanted. The Wings ended the warm-up games Saturday with a 3-1 loss in Buffalo.
Sam Gagner was the lone Wings’ goal scorer, as the Wings finished the exhibition season with a 4-4-0 record.
Tage Thompson, Zemgus Girgensons (shorthanded) and Vinnie Hinostroza (empty net) countered for Buffalo.
It was Girgensons’ goal that was the difference. Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic attempted to handle the puck in front of him and batted the puck off defenseman Moritz Seider, directly to Girgensons. Nedeljkovic dove, but couldn’t stop Girgensons’ easy put back.
The Wings open the regular season Thursday at home against two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay.
And MLive’s Ansar Khan incorporated the following into his recap:
The Red Wings open the regular season Thursday against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning at Little Caesars Arena (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Detroit). It’s the start of four-game season-opening homestand.
Before that, the Red Wings will finalize their season-opening 23-man roster.
The main questions that will be answered are whether young forwards Lucas Raymond, the No. 4 pick in 2020, and/or Joe Veleno, the 30th selection in 2018, make the cut or whether they will start the season with the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins.
The Red Wings also must decide if veteran right wing Bobby Ryan, in camp on a tryout, has earned a contract. Jakub Vrana’s shoulder injury (out four months) might have created a spot for Ryan among the top six forwards.
And, among DetroitRedWings.com’s Ethan Sears’ “Three Takeaways“:
Despite facing a number of breakaways, odd-man rushes and high-quality chances, Nedeljkovic stood tall and stopped all of Buffalo’s early chances. According to Natural Stat Trick, that included seven high-danger chances in the first period, all of which were easily repelled by the goaltender.
That paid off when the Red Wings managed to tie the game at 1-1 in the second period, despite having struggled in the game to that point. But Nedeljkovic wouldn’t escape the afternoon without making an unforced error.
With the Red Wings on the power play late in the second, Nedeljkovic fielded the puck off a clearance. He went to give it off to Moritz Seider, but a miscommunication resulted in a giveaway and a shorthanded goal.
“We’d like our goalies to advance the puck when there’s opportunities to and that was probably a puck that, because it was bouncing, because of what was going on, we probably should have just let it sit there,” Blashill said.
Besides that, Nedeljkovic played well, stopping 35 of 37 shots that came his way.
“He got tested a lot, especially the first half of the game,” Blashill said. “I thought he was really good. I thought he saw the puck well.”
Update: Here’s more from Kulfan:
“Last tuneup before the regular season, especially early on, we have to make better plays, get open for each other, execute, be harder on pucks” said Gagner in a Zoom call with media afterward. “It’s important for all of us to be on the same page and be better.”
The hectic schedule – eight games in 11 days – along with the practice schedule may have caught up with the Wings physically.
The Wings were also using some players more often than planned, given a growing number of nagging injuries.
“We weren’t very good, they were good,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “They won more puck battles and races than we did. It felt like we were a step slow, a step behind. We weren’t very good. Why? Either guys didn’t play good enough or guys were tired and as a result didn’t quite have the jump.”
Multimedia:
Highlights: Sportsnet posted a 7:09 highlight clip:
NHL.com posted a 4:42 highlight clip…
And an 8:43 “Condensed game”:
Post-game: The Free Press posted videos of Sam Gagner speaking with the media…
And coach Jeff Blashill speaking with the media:
Photos: The Free Press posted a 6-image gallery;
The Detroit News posted a 7-image gallery.
Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:
