Red Wings-Stars wrap-up: Wings lose Larkin, defensive poise vs. Dallas

The Detroit Red Wings struggled for the second consecutive road game, dropping a 3-0 lead en route to a 5-2 loss to the Dallas Stars on Tuesday evening.

Perhaps just as worrisome, Dylan Larkin, who scored a goal in the 2nd period, was removed from the game in the 3rd due to COVID protocol, which could mean a positive test, a false positive…Whatever it means, a team that spits and sweats and bleeds together has been visited by COVID-19, and things could go downhill in a hurry if things spread.

Right now all we can do is wait and hope for health and not blame anybody when we’re dealing with a stupid virus…

And we have to look at what we can talk about, which is the fact that the 8-8-and-2 Red Wings have lost 2 straight, 3 of their past 4 games, and 6 of their 9 total road games–with road tilts left to face in Vegas on Thursday and in Arizona on Saturday.

On Tuesday, the Stars built up a 3-0 lead on the Red Wings, allowed the Wings to close to within 3-2 in the 3rd period, and then pulled away via consecutive goals for Jason Robertson, one an empty-netter.

According to the Dallas News’s Matthew DeFranks, the Stars, who are now 6-6-and-2, are looking to turn their season around, even if they had to beat the “rebuilding Red Wings” to do it:

After beating the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night following a players-only meeting on Wednesday, the Stars needed to build on their momentum. A loss on Tuesday to the rebuilding Red Wings would have stunted that heading to first-place Minnesota on Thursday night. Instead, a win gives Dallas confidence that a turnaround could be around the corner.
“We just want to get this thing rolling,” Robertson said. “We showed against Philadelphia that we could kind of take the game over. Alternatively, we showed today that we could get a lead. Even though they push back, we can hold on to it and continue to get the win. Two different types of wins, and it’s good to learn how to do both.”
Of course, there are qualifiers for Tuesday’s win. It’s the second straight Stars opponent playing on the second night of a back-to-back. Detroit is expected to be at the bottom of the Atlantic Division standings this season. The Red Wings have played four more games than the Stars this season.
But circumstances nonetheless require responses to garner results.

Shit, man, the Red Wings are a .500 team, even after these 2 road losses. Maybe Detroit has merited enough to not be viewed as a perennial doormat that simply ahs to be dispatched to prove that there’s a heartbeat…

Anyway, as DeFranks points out, the Stars roared out to that 3-0 lead, and they didn’t sit on it, either:

The Stars played one of their best games of the season, controlling the first period, withstanding a Detroit push in the second after opening a 3-0 lead, and adding Robertson’s insurance tally in the third period. Oettinger made big saves on Lucas Raymond twice to preserve the then-one-goal lead.
Dallas’ top line of Robertson, Hintz and Joe Pavelski was the best one on the ice.
Robertson created Suter’s goal with a nifty move in the neutral zone to retain possession and help the Stars enter the offensive zone with speed. Hintz scored for the third straight game, whipping a puck past Alex Nedeljkovic after Esa Lindell disrupted a zone exit. Robertson scored from below the goalline on a wraparound in the third period to give Dallas a two-goal lead. He added an empty-net goal, as well.
That doesn’t even count the numerous shots from the slot the line created that Nedeljkovic saved — or the Hintz one Tyler Bertuzzi stopped with his chest.

DeFranks wrote a secondary article discussing Jason Robinson’s performance in the game…

After a two-goal, one-assist performance during Tuesday night’s 5-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings, Robertson is well on his way to meeting his expectations. The second-year left wing now has nine points in eight games this season after he missed the first six due to a shoulder injury.
He scored a wraparound goal in the third period that gave the Stars a two-goal lead, and then iced the game with an empty-netter. Robertson also picked up the secondary assist on Ryan Suter’s first-period goal.
Perhaps just as important as Robertson’s points on Tuesday was the trust that Stars coach Rick Bowness showed in the 22-year-old. No Dallas forward played more in the third period than Robertson did (7:19) and he was on the ice when the Red Wings pulled their goalie as the Stars tried to protect a two-goal lead.
“Coming back now, feeling a little more confident, especially getting pucks out when we’re up by a few goals,” Robertson said. “Last year, on the ice, I might be a little cautious, but this year, I feel more confident getting pucks out and having Bones trust me do that. Definitely taking the right step in that direction and just being a better forechecker. Doing the little details that makes our life successful and our team successful.”

And a third article discussing goaltender Jake Oettinger’s “debut“:

For the first time, Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger played in front of a full NHL arena, as 17,764 fans filled the American Airlines Center to watch Dallas defeat Detroit, 5-2.
Oettinger made his NHL debut in the Edmonton bubble without fans and played all of last season in Dallas with reduced crowds across the league due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He said the previous biggest crowd he’d played in front of came in the Minnesota High School State Tournament.
“Yeah, way different,” Oettinger said. “You can’t really simulate noise like that and atmosphere. When we score, it’s just the coolest feeling ever.”

Oettinger continued while speaking with NHL.com’s Taylor Baird:

“I just tried to put myself in a good spot and take away the lower half of the net and be patient,” Oettinger said. “Obviously, those guys are so good in tight. Thankfully, I was able to come up with a few saves in tight there. Those were turning points in the game, and it’s the goalie’s job to step up, especially if you let in a couple goals that aren’t the strongest, it’s important to respond and give those guys confidence.”
Jason Robertson had two goals and an assist for the Stars (6-6-2), who have won two straight.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves for the Red Wings (8-8-2), who were coming off a 5-3 loss at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.
“We’ve got to get better defensively, that’s just the reality of it,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “We’re a pretty good team when we have the puck. We’re a pretty good team when we’re hounding. We’re a pretty good team when we’re playing offense. We’re not a good enough team defensively right now.”
Ryan Suter gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 13:33 of the first period. Radek Faksa eluded Marc Staal in the right circle while the Stars made a line change before finding Suter, who shot through a screen from the high slot.
“They came out hard, they pushed the pace,” Detroit defenseman Danny DeKeyser said. “They play fast, especially in this building. They come out fast, they play hard. They’re a big, physical team. They try to win net-front battles at both ends. They play a simple game, get pucks to the net and try to outwork you in front of the net. Tonight, they played harder than we did, and they came out faster and were more ready to go than we were.”
Jamie Benn extended the lead to 2-0 at 1:06 of the second period when he redirected a point shot from Miro Heiskanen.
“We need to get pucks out when there’s chances to get pucks out,” DeKeyser said. That’s how a lot of offense is created in this league is from turnovers or from a defensive play that doesn’t work out how you want it to. For us, we’ve got to win more battles.”

DeKeyser is right, of course–the Red Wings need to simplify things defensively, and increase their “compete level” in the defensive and neutral zones instead of cheating toward offense–and DeKeyser offered this take to the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan as well:

“We started slow and we got better as the game went on,” DeKeyser said. “But we gave up too many chances, too many good chances against, and we got ourselves back in the game but we weren’t able to create enough offensive opportunities.”

That being said, the Red Wings were understandably taken aback by Larkin’s removal from the game:

“He was removed from the game for COVID protocol,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “Other than that, that’s all I can say.”
Larkin was going to remain in Dallas and quarantine, while the Wings headed to Las Vegas. The Wings are completely off Wednesday, no game or practice, and play Thursday against the Golden Knights.
Blashill said there is sequence that Larkin must now go through, and the Wings will monitor the situation in the next day or two.
“I don’t know (what’s next),” Blashill said. “I don’t know that answer. You go through that sequence of other things. Hopefully the next time we talk, I’ll have more (information). Obviously it was the middle of the game, which was tough (when Larkin was removed). We have to figure out exactly where everything and talk with (general manager) Steve (Yzerman) tonight and tomorrow and figure out what we’ll do on Thursday.”

DeKeyser offered an apt description for losing Larkin:

“Obviously he’s our leader, he drives the bus for this team and he had that big goal at the end of the second period,” DeKeyser said. “Not having him in the third obviously was a big loss. But we have to step up in those circumstances and get the team going.”

Put bluntly, as Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff noted, the Red Wings have to shore things up defensively–fast:

Tuesday’s loss marked the sixth time in 18 games this season that the Red Wings surrendered at least five goals.
“We got to get better defensively,” Blashill said. “That’s just the reality of it. We’re a pretty good team when we have the puck, we’re a pretty good team when we’re hounding. We’re a pretty good team when we’re playing offense. We’re not a good enough team defensively right now.
“Certainly, our D-zone coverage isn’t close to good enough, so that’s one area for sure that has to get way better. Our slot coverage has been terrible, so that has to get way better. I think we’ve given up some easy chances out of our O-zone play back into our own end off of rushes.”
…
The Red Wings opened the season by winning two of their first three road games. Since then, they’ve gone 1-5 in games played away from Little Caesars Arena.
“When you give up four goals plus the empty-netter it’s hard to win that way,” Blashill said. “If we want to win on the road, if we want to win consistently, if we want to win when maybe we don’t score enough goals, we got to get better defensively.”

All the Red Wings can do for now is wait, hope nobody else gets COVID, and move forward as a team, watching as much video as possible via ZOOM as the team attempts to mitigate whatever COVID spread there might be.

And again, there is no enemy there but the virus.

That, and bad defensive play.

Also: for what it’s worth, I didn’t use the AP’s recap in this roundup of recaps…it has some quotes you haven’t read here, but it just didn’t fit the narrative.

Multimedia:

Highlights: NHL.com posted a 9:06 highlight clip: