Of recap-related note after the Red Wings’ 6-2 win exhibition win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night:
MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a superb summary of the Red Wings‘ win…
Dominik Kubalik scored a pair of goals – one on the power play and one shorthanded – and the Detroit Red Wings whipped the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2 Tuesday in their preseason opener at PPG Paints Arena.
It was the first exhibition as a Red Wing for many, including new head coach Derek Lalonde, whose team that consisted of only a handful of regular players defeated a Pittsburgh club that dressed stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel and Kris Letang. Crosby, Guentzel and Letang each posted a minus-3 rating.
Filip Zadina had a goal and an assist and Michael Rasmussen picked up a pair of assists for Detroit, which was outshot 33-21.
Elmer Soderblom scored a goal in his first-ever NHL preseason game. Tyler Spezia and Steven Kampfer (power play) also scored for Detroit.
Victor Brattstrom started in goal and stopped 19-of-20 shots in 31 minutes before giving way to Sebastian Cossa, who turned aside 12-of-13 shots in 29 minutes in his NHL preseason debut.
The Free Press’s Kirkland Crawford also posted a recap from the Red Wings’ perspective; Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a recap focusing on Dominik Kubalik’s training camp comments; the Free Press posted a 10-image photo gallery, and the Detroit News posted a 12-image photo gallery; DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills offered the following post-game quotes from coach Derek Lalonde (and one quip from Dominik Kubalik)…
Lalonde on the win over Pittsburgh: “I’m really happy for the group. They did a lot of good things. They played the right way, blocked shots and showed a lot of second effort.”
Lalonde on how the Red Wings responded after falling behind, 1-0, in the opening frame: “They responded good throughout. We talk about being process-oriented and not worrying about the score… We want good habits. We want to try to stay on top of them and for large parts of that game, I think we did that.”Lalonde on his post-game message: “You got what you deserve. Camp is a grind, and that day off is important tomorrow. Then, this group will be ready to practice and get better two days from now.”
Kubalik on Detroit’s overall effort on Tuesday: “We helped each other out and played together. Everything was clicking for us. We blocked shots and that winning attitude was there. For our first preseason game, an overall good game.”
And, among The Athletic’s Max Bultman’s “10 Red Wings Thoughts,” spanning both training camp, Tuesday’s morning skate and Tuesday night’s game:
5. The thing that’s struck me watching [Dominik] Kubalik so far, beyond the shot, is how hard he’s forechecked. You saw it on the goal, of course, but I also noticed it after the Red and White game.
“I kind of like it,” he said then. “Kind of like to be the first guy. Get my legs going, hopefully put some pressure on them, and hopefully make some turnovers that there’s always a chance you can get the puck, right?”
That turned out to be prophetic Tuesday, and if he keeps it up, you can bet new coach Derek Lalonde will appreciate it. We’ll see how it progresses from here, and I’m not going to overreact too much to a good preseason opener. But I’ve been impressed by Kubalik in the early going, and a redemption arc for him would be huge for the Red Wings.
6. Kubalik was not the only Red Wings player to carry a nice showing in Traverse City into the opener, though. Filip Zadina might have been the top story coming out of camp, and he picked right back up against live competition Tuesday.
He scored a goal, had an assist, forechecked like a hound and even killed some penalties for the Red Wings. The goal was especially nice to see because, for as good a scorer as Zadina was coming out of the draft, he has struggled to finish in the NHL. This one — a one-timer from the slot set up by Michael Rasmussen — was a no-doubter, though. And again, it beat Pittsburgh’s starting netminder.
Zadina might have been the single player who most needed a fresh start, and now that he has one, he’s been running with it. It’s been really something to watch.
Bultman continues, of course…
If you’re interested in the Penguins’ side of things, PittsburghPenguins.com’s Michelle Crechiolo had a post-game conversation with coach Mike Sullivan; the Penguins posted a clip of Sullivan’s post-game remarks, too, as well as quips from Brock McGinn and Bryan Rust; the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Seth Rorabaugh posted a game recap and a notebook article about Jeff Petry’s adjustments made after his trade from Montreal; the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Matt Vensel discussed the Petry-Marcus Pettersson pairing on the Pens’ defensive corps; The Athletic’s Rob Rossi offered a slate of post-game observations; and, from Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s Dave Molinari’s recap:
Detroit got its second power-play goal after Penguins defenseman Jeff Petry was assessed a roughing minor for punching Red Wings right winger Jonatan Berggren in the back of the head at 5:50 of the second period.
Petry didn’t dispute the call, but said that sequence didn’t go exactly the way he intended, either.
“I was just trying to punch/push the top of his shoulder, to kind of knock him off-balance,” Petry said. “It grazed off the top of his shoulder and went up. I wasn’t trying to punch him in the back of the head, or anything like that.”
The Red Wings will play the Chicago Blackhawks at home at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday at 7:30 PM EDT, and the game will air on Bally Sports Detroit Extra and WWJ Newsradio 950.
