Red Wings-Flames wrap-up: shutout vs. Calgary offers lessons for this weekend’s games vs. winless Habs, Hawks

The Detroit Red Wings fell into the Calgary Flames’ trap over the course of a 3-0 loss to Calgary on Thursday night, and now the 2-1-and-1 Red Wings face two extremely difficult tasks this weekend:

First, the Wings will take on 0-and-5 Montreal Canadiens team coming off a 4-1 loss to Carolina on Saturday (minus the unvaccinated Tyler Bertuzzi), and then Detroit will head to Chicago to battle an 0-4-and-1 Blackhawks team that will have rested since tonight’s 4-1 loss to Vancouver.

Long story long, it’s out of the frying pan and into the fire for a Red Wings team that had no “oomph” on Thursday evening, and the Red Wings may very well have to manufacture emotion and urgency going into Montreal on Saturday, as well as some energy heading into Chicago on a back-to-back Sunday.

As far as Thursday’s game was concerned, Calgary came into the night sitting at 0-1-and-1, and the Flames’ players and coach told the Calgary Sun’s Kristen Anderson that Calgary had no problem manifesting urgency or emotion at Little Caesars Arena:

In a defensive display for most of Calgary’s 3-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena, their first of the season, Jacob Markstrom turned aside 33 shots, a workman-like shutout effort. And their penalty kill unit — take a bow Chris Tanev, Dillon Dube, Andrew Mangiapane and Erik Gudbranson — kept their coverage neat and tidy on three Red Wings power plays
“I don’t think we were too happy about the first two games,” said Mangiapane, who scored his second of the season. “Obviously we wanted to start the season off a little better than that, losing two games. We wanted to get things rolling. It’s a long road trip for us. It’s a good way to start.”
Perhaps they won’t be able to play every game the way they did this one — ride an early lead, built on goals from Elias Lindholm (his third in three games) and Mangiapane, then set the car on cruise control, and ultimately getting out-shot en route to a victory.
No matter. It worked on this night.
“It was an important game, just because of the way we started the season with two losses,” Markstrom said. “We let the Anaheim game slip away and I was part of that. I wanted to come up with a good performance today and bounce back. I thought we played overall a really good game. The ‘D’ kept the rebounds away from them and they made my job easy to see the puck and box out. It was an important win for us, to get our first of the season.”

Coach Darryl Sutter, for whom a game like Thursday’s 3-0 snoozefest is must-see-hockey, was satisfied with his charges’ efforts…

“Jacob probably made the saves he had to and slowed the game down for us,” Sutter said. “I think he made important saves at critical times that kept the momentum with us — or they didn’t have any. He managed the puck really well, he moved the puck really well for our defencemen. They talk to each other in terms of how to move the puck and I thought they did a good job of it.”

And Markstrom wasn’t overly tested from a Red Wings partisan’s perspective, but from a Calgary perspective, he was a 33-save stalwart, as Calgary Hockey Now’s Steve MacFarlane suggested:

The defence played a solid, fairly unremarkable (except for Gudbranson’s offensive stats) contest. The forwards were dedicated to being responsible. But it was Markstrom who got the Flames through the early onslaught and a second period that could have been a travesty. The Flames goaltender had to make a half-dozen saves before his teammates tightened their skates.
“Jacob probably made the saves he had to and slowed the game down for us,” said Flames head coach Darryl Sutter. “I think he made important saves at critical times that kept the momentum with us.”
Minor understatement.
Among the 33 saves Markstrom made to earn his fourth shutout in a Flames uniform was a highlight-reel, desperation dive early in the second period that would have swung the momentum even further away from the Flames.
With the Flames getting into some penalty trouble, Markstrom faced 14 shots in the second period alone. The Flames finished that 20-minute barrage with just three of their own.
“They got a lot of momentum. We got caught out on a lot of long shifts. They were throwing a lot of pucks at the net, at me,” said Markstrom, who allowed three powerplay goals against in the first two games but shut the Red Wings down on Thursday. We take pride in (the penalty kill) and me as the goalie needs to be the best penalty killer out there.”

Calgary shut down all three Red Wings power plays, and they did so with relative ease.

Overall, the Flames were particularly satisfied with their effort, as they told the Associated Press…

The Flames, who never trailed, took control of the game midway through the second period. Left wing Johnny Gaudreau set up the first goal by center Elias Lindholm by backhanding the puck through the skates of Red Wings defenseman Danny DeKeyser. Lindholm received it in front of Alex Nedeljkovic and fired a shot over the goalie’s left shoulder for his third of the season at 10:06.
Calgary defenseman Erik Gudbranson, who assisted on that goal, did it again on Andrew Mangiapane’s goal about four minutes later. Gudbranson blasted a shot on Nedeljkovic, and Mangiapane backhanded the rebound into the net for his second of the season.
”Today, we went to the net,” Mangiapane said. ”And that’s where goals are scored, right?”
Matthew Tkachuk added an empty-netter with about two minutes left in the game after Detroit pulled its goalie.
Detroit had scored three, four and six goals in its first three games, but couldn’t get the puck past Markstrom in this one.
”The Wings have been successful and they come out going hot,” Markstrom said. ”I was prepared to be a lot better than I was the other night and improve every game. And the (defense) kept the rebounds away from them.”
Sutter noted that the Red Wings hadn’t yet lost in regulation in the young season.
”They have a lot of energy and a lot of speed, and use the building to their advantage,” he said. ”But once we got past that, we were pretty good tonight.”

And Mangiapane made an interesting remark to Sportsnet’s Eric Francis, and it’s a point that the Red Wings might want to take note of:

“I think the last couple games we’ve been getting shots and good looks, but not second and third shots,” said Mangiapane. “Tonight we went to the net. I don’t think we were too happy about the first two games, so this game we wanted to come out and win a game and get things rolling for us.”
Both first-period goals came after Milan Lucic turned the tide with a fight versus Givani Smith that seemed to settle the Flames down somewhat after a shaky start.
“After Looch’s fight I thought we really woke up, so good job by him,” said Markstrom.

Smith’s fight was poorly-timed, at best, and Smith’s game was equally…Frustrating to watch.

Anyway, on what Winging it in Motown duly noted was very bad ice at LCA–the day after the Pistons played their home opener–the Red Wings were frustrated with the Flames’ ability to suck the life out of Detroit’s players, as they told NHL.com’s Dave Hogg:

“I thought we created enough chances to score in the first two periods, but we didn’t finish any of them,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “The third period just wasn’t good enough.”
Lindholm gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 10:06 of the first period. Red Wings forward Robby Fabbri was injured blocking a shot and couldn’t get off the ice, and eventually Lindholm scored five-hole from the low slot after receiving a pass by Gaudreau from behind the net. It was the first time Detroit had trailed in regulation this season.
Andrew Mangiapane pushed the lead to 2-0 at 14:33 of the first, scoring on a backhand after getting the rebound of Gudbranson’s initial shot.
“We played with some urgency in the first five minutes of the game — I think we outshot them 5-0 — and in the second period,” Blashill said. “We needed that urgency for all 60 minutes.”
Detroit outshot Calgary 14-4 in the second period but struggled to create dangerous chances. That included two opportunities on the power play, during which the Red Wings didn’t register a shot on goal.
“We scored on the power play in the first two games, but everyone in this league looks at tape, so you can’t expect the same things to keep working,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. “We have the players in this lineup to be good on the power play, but we have to do that on the ice.”

Coach Blashill noted the downward trajectory of the Red Wings’ attack whie speaking with DetroitRedWings.com’s Brett McWethy…

“I thought over the first two periods, we created enough chances to score, and we didn’t score,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “Certainly in the first, I thought we started well. Then I did not like our game after about the five-minute mark.
“The second (period), obviously, we carried the majority of the play, and we had chances. So it wasn’t like we didn’t have open looks in the slot area. The third, I thought they did an excellent job of a road win. They just put it in, made us go 200 feet. We stayed on the outside too much, and I didn’t think we shot enough pucks. We didn’t have, to me, the same level of energy that we’ve had, especially in the third period.”

Larkin told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan that the Red Wings’ power play was 0-for-3 for a reason…

The Wings failed on three power plays, while killing two Calgary power plays.The Wings’ power play had an opportunity to make an impact, especially in the second period with the Wings trailing 2-0 but the Wings seemingly possessing all the momentum, but couldn’t covert.
“Everyone (opposing teams) watches video and does their homework,” said forward Dylan Larkin, of the Wings’ power play that has stalled a bit. “The passes weren’t crisp enough, we fumbled pucks and we have to be way sharper as a five-man unit. The whole game was kind of choppy. There was no flow, guys fighting the puck and not much going on. Give them credit, Calgary played a good road game.”
Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 27 shots while looking for his first win of the young season (0-1-1), and couldn’t match Markstrom’s performance.
“Ned was good, gave up two (goals) and we didn’t score for him, it’s hard to say anything, but he played good,” Blashill said. “Their goalie played real good, too, and we didn’t get it by him.”

Nedeljkovic was more than fine–he was the reason that the Wings only lost 3-0–and you can take this for what you will:

Blashill said Wednesday he likes to break the schedule into five-game intervals, while grading players individually into 10-game segments.
“If you get six out of 10 points every five-game segment, if you extrapolate that over 82 games, including the couple extra games you have in there, you’re at about 98 points for the season, which generally is a playoff team,” Blashill said. “It helps kind of give you a parameter of where you’re at.”
The Wings have a chance to reach that six-point benchmark Saturday in Montreal, the first of a quick two-game road trip (Sunday in Chicago). Ironically, both teams have struggled out of the gate and will likely be desperate teams.
“Calgary was desperate, they hadn’t won, and they were more desperate than we were,” Larkin said. “Montreal and Chicago, they’re going to be fighting and scratching and clawing for everything they can get. We have to have the same attitude and match their desperation.”

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen ends what was a forgettable night that needs to be learned from by doing what I suppose is necessary in poking the bear:

The Red Wings’ next game is Saturday in Montreal where they will meet a desperate Montreal team that has started 0-5. The Detroit squad will be without Tyler Bertuzzi who can’t enter Canada because he refuses to be vaccinated. He says his decision not be vaccinated is “a personal choice.” Bertuzzi leads the Red Wings with five goals.
What that means is Filip Zadina or Robbie Fabbri will likely move up to the first line, and other lines will be shuffled.
The expectation is that Canadiens, struggling without Shea Weber and Carey Price, will come out with more emotion than the Flames did. The Canadiens have only scored four goals in five games.
Blashill said the Red Wings can’t afford to have off nights when it comes to energy and emotion. The rebuilding Red Wings aren’t yet good enough to win on talent alone.
“We have to be close to perfect in that (energy) area,” Blashill said.

Detroit also plays Toronto in Canada’s largest city–on the back half of a back-to-back with the pesky Panthers, and during a stretch of 3 games in 4 nights–without Bertuzzi, but there’s not much that can be done other than find a way to manufacture energy with the lineup that Detroit has.

Ultimately, the line that “team work makes the dream work” isn’t bullshit, and the Wings will at least get 2 of their 9 Bertuzzi-less games out of the way early, affording them the opportunity to learn how to better win when shorthanded.

Actions have consequences, and you make due with what you have–so that’s what Detroit has to do, starting Saturday. Make due.

Multimedia:

Highlights: Sportsnet posted an 8:12 highlight clip:

NHL.com posted an 8:49 highlight clip:

Post-game: The Flames’ website posted coach Darryl Sutter’s 2:27 post-game remarks…

“He made important saves at critical times.” #Flames head coach Darryl Sutter on the play of Jacob Markstrom tonight. pic.twitter.com/XzckwXzj6k— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) October 22, 2021

The Flames also posted post-game interviews with Andrew Mangiapane and Jacob Markstrom…

“It’s a long road trip for us, it’s a good way to start.”

Andrew Mangiapane reflects on tonight’s victory over the Red Wings. pic.twitter.com/Jj89x8hzGD— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) October 22, 2021

“It was an important win for us.”

Jacob Markstrom shares his thoughts on the victory in Detroit to start the road trip. pic.twitter.com/LOgea39Euk— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) October 22, 2021

And CalgaryFlames.com’s Brendan Parker also broke down the Flames’ win:

.@BParkerTV wraps up tonight’s 3-0 win in Detroit in Game Over, presented by @McDonaldsCanada! #Flames | https://t.co/qT9ohKZtDU pic.twitter.com/FTrDXMGNfK— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) October 22, 2021

Bally Sports Detroit posted a 3:35 clip of Dylan Larkin’s post-game remarks…