Red Wings-Maple Leafs preseason quick take: Wings survive preseason with 4-3 win over Toronto

The Detroit Red Wings concluded their exhibition season with a bit of a wild one, a wacky 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs’ “B team” on Saturday night.

It turns out that Toronto’s “B team” was pretty good. They pushed Detroit down 2-0 by the halfway mark of the 2nd period. However, Detroit rallied from a 2-0 deficit with 3 goals in 1:57 of the final minutes of the 2nd period, and the wings poured on the fire hose in the 3rd period, out-shooting the Maple Leafs 14-7, and a late goal by Sean Lafferty on a 6-on-4 advantage did not sully the Wings’ 4-3 victory too much.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=XVjw-2TmFhk%3Fsi%3DVGXW63fPUCSS0LJ-

Ultimately, the Red Wings end their 8-games-in-12-nights preseason with a 5-2-and-1 record, and I watched most of those games. Ther are some concerns, like Alex DeBrincat’s adjustment period and how long that will take, but on a night where Larkin, Chiarot, Veleno and Sprong scored 4 straight goals, Ville Husso stopped 21 shots, and Detroit ended up with 12 points (Christian Fischer and Jeff Petry, who played with Ben Chiarot, had 2 assists), a +10, and 65 shot attempts on Joseph Woll…

All feels pretty good in terms of the Wings’ preseason performance as a whole. As Ville Husso told Trevor Thompson, the Red Wings’ fit and finish could have used more stops, but he felt satisfied with the Wings’ performance, too:

In terms of the game’s narrative…

The Red Wings dressed the following lines:

In the 1st period, the Red Wings slowly but surely established a forecheck, and began to roar up the ice and establish possession, control, and then take a shot on Joseph Woll, again, again and again:

Though there were some shenanigans…

And some surprising chemistry:

Joseph Woll’s skate lace broke, and there was a bit of a delay before he returned to the crease just under 8:00 in.

And we got a nice little video of Nate Danielson’s best preseason moments from Bally Sports Detroit:

Detroit pushed out to an 11-3 shot attempt lead 10:00 into the 1st, but it remained 5-3 on the scoresheet in terms of real shots on goal, so Toronto was blocking a lot of shots (5).

Detroit began to threaten…

Yes, it was a preseason game between the “A Team” of Detroit and the “B Team” of Toronto, but it was also Detroit’s only time hosting the Leafs this season (the other “home game” will be in Stockholm):

And while it’s preseason hockey, which doesn’t count, hacks still hurt:

Paying for that cursed site has its benefits (I do it for Tweetdeck, which I need for work. I am no fan of Elon)…

Dylan Larkin took the first penalty of the game for a hold at 19:00.5 of the 1st period, giving Detroit a penalty-killing battle.

The first period ended with a scrum as the Leafs had checked Seider from behind, and Rasmussen took offense.

In the 2nd period, Detroit began the period with 1:31 of PK time, so Toronto had a big opportunity to upset the apple cart, as it were.

Toronto did really get their skates under them at the end of the PK, but Detroit averted disaster due to a goalpost and a veteran play:

At the 4:43 mark of the 2nd, Easton Cowan sat for holding, and Detroit headed to the power play.

Compher, Raymond, Fabbri, Petry and Sprong worked the 2nd unit, and Raymond deked, dangled and hit the goalpost. The Wings jammed away…

Seider, Gostisbehere, DeBrincat, Larkin and Perron worked the 2nd PP unit, and they didn’t generate any offense until after the power play expired.

Sadly, Toronto scored the first goal at 7:05 as Kyle Clifford chipped the puck up ice to Max Ellis, and he rushed up the left wing, took Moritz Seider across the ice with him, and slid a puck back toward the net over Seider’s stick and under Husso’s glove. 1-0 Toronto.

Instead, Toronto took the lead and took momentum throughout the 2nd period's first half, and Detroit's attempts to generate scoring chances blubbed.

Toronto took a 2-0 lead as Moritz Seider attempted to block a Maple Leafs shot, but the puck went off his knee and through Ville Husso, affording the Leafs' "B Team" a 2-0 lead at 10:41 of the 2nd period.

Tommy Miller got the goal from Kyle Clifford and Max Ellis.

Between you and me, when the puck drops, I could give two shits who is local and who is not. You wear the home team's jersey or you don't. You're not a friend if you're a member of the visiting team.

At 14:12 of the 2nd period, Roni Hirvonen sat for tripping, but Shayne Gostisbehere got called at 14:50 for another trip, yielding a 4 on 4 and a short power play for Toronto.

Detroit would kill the penalty and Perron, Larkin and Fischer would skate up the ice and jam the puck toward the goal, and Christian Fischer would score the 2-1 marker at 17:25 of the 2nd period.

After some very scrummy play, Detroit won a faceoff deep in the offensive zone, Ben Chiarot ripped a hard one-timer toward the goal, and Detroit tied the game at 2-2 as Chiarot scored from Petry and Copp at 19:04.

Even better, Joe Veleno saw a slithery deflection of a Christian Fischer point shot off a Leaf defenseman's skate, and "JV" chipped the puck into the net behind Joseph Woll with 6.9 seconds left in the 2nd, making it 3-2 Detroit:

In the 3rd period, Detroit and Toronto very simply played the final game of the 8-game preseason for both teams, and it really took until the final couple of minutes of the 2nd for Detroit to engage, but the fire hose was open to start the 3rd.

At 3:03 of the 3rd, Mikko Kokkonen took a holding penalty, and while the Red Wings did not score on the power play, they scored shortly thereafter.

Daniel Sprong scored at 5:09, on a one-timed shot that bounced down to his stick and riffled over Joseph Woll's blocker. Raymond and Petry got the assists.

Meanwhile, the NHL was taking note of the Red Wings' second-period exploits:

At 10:11 of the 3rd, Daniel Sprong sat for the Wings' third tripping penalty of the night.

Detroit managed to kill the penalty, and Sam Lafferty took an interference penalty for taking down Seider at 12:05, yielding another Red Wings power play for 1:53.

Ultimately, Detroit went 0-for-4 on the PP.

Toronto wanted to finish strong, but the talent disparity was showing.

I will admit that Moritz Seider and Jake Walman were quite porous defensively, and that concerned me. Alex DeBrincat's lack of goals in the preseason? That's adjustment time. Walman and Seider getting walked by the Leafs' "B Team?" That worries me a weeeeeeee bit.

Speaking of Walman, he headed to the box for interference with 2:45 left, and Detroit went to a 6-on-4 disadvantage as Toronto pulled Woll.

Sadly, Sam Rafferty ripped a chipper in through Husso off a bump from Gostisbehere at 18:48 to make it 4-3.

Woll headed back into his net as Toronto called timeout.

Seider made it no easier on the Wings as he took a holding penalty with 28.2 left in regulation...

And Toronto's "B Team" gave a frenetic finish to the Red Wings' regulars, but Detroit emerged victorious.

Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary, as well as the Roster Report:

I would show you the scratches, but Detroit and Toronto's entire reserve lists make up the scratches.

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!