Red Wings-at-Blackhawks exhibition game quick take: Wings skate into Chicago, take a 4-2 decision

The Detroit Red Wings jetted to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks at the United Center on Wednesday night, kicking off their 2024-2025 exhibition season.

The Red Wings scored only a minute and ten seconds into the game, via a Tyler Motte jab of a turnover retrieval by Joe Veleno, forwarded by try-out Austin Watson, but the Blackhawks would score the next two goals, and Detroit trailed 2-1 until late in the 2nd period, when Jeff Petry ripped a sneaky shot through a Carter Mazur screen to make it 2-2 at 18:38.

In the 3rd period, Lucas Raymond would score a power play marker on assists from Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat to make it 3-2, at 3:41, and just over ten minutes later, Emmitt Finnie turned, found Erik Gustafsson at the center point, and he laterally passed the puck to Olli Maatta, who ripped a top-shelf blast over Blackhawks goaltender Mitchell Weeks.

Things got scrambly late, but Sebastian Cossa was excellent in the 3rd period, stopping 10 shots; Ville Husso made a couple of mistakes on the 2 goals he let up, but stopped 15 of 17, and Detroit both went 1-for-3 in 5:22 of PP time, and killed 4 Chicago Blackhawks power plays.

Here are the teams’ lineups:

In the 1st period, the Red Wings opened the scoring only 1:10 into the 1st, when Joe Veleno and Austin Watson capitalized on a turnover and Motte tapped home a Watson pass to make it 1-0 Detroit:

The majority of the 1st period was inelegant to say the least. Lots of icings, bad pinches and sagging defensive coverage that was backing in far too easily against the speedy Hawks, breakdowns in the defensive zone and some very smart, if unspectacular, stops by Ville Husso, who looked fine for the first 10 minutes.

Hussos may have been benefited by the fact that neither the Red Wings nor Blackhawks were really generating rebound opportunities, nor driving the net with the kind of energy and “grease” that is apparent during the regular season.

The Wings got particularly clunky as the second ten minutes of the first continued, and Lucas Raymond was called for high-sticking at 13:01.

Detroit used an assortment of PK lineups over the course of the PK, and Husso made a couple of strong stops, Marco Kasper got a shallow breakaway that was stopped by Mrazek, and Detroit killed the penalty.

Regrettably, Dylan Larkin took a penalty at 15:39 for “interference” when it really was a revenge penalty. Lucas Raymond got football-hit by A.J. Spellacy at the right Wings blueline, the Hawks recoiled and regrouped at center, and when they raced into the Wings’ end, Larkin smacked Spellacy hard.

There was a scrum, and Albert Johansson got the worst of it, getting popped in the face by Spellacy as a retaliatory penalty…

But as you might imagine, the Blackhawks’ blogosophere was demanding a suspension already.

Detroit killed the penalty, and the Wings finished the period strong.

The shots in the 1st were 11-7 Chicago, and the Hawks were 0-for-2 in 4:00 of PP time;

Shot attempts were actually 16-14 Detroit;

Hits 3-3;

Giveaways 5-3 Detroit;

Takeaways 3-3;

Blocked shots 8-2 Chicago;

Faceoffs 11-9 Chicago (45%).

In the 2nd period, the Wings and Hawks both looked more energetic, and the Wings may have dodged a bullet as Alex DeBrincat went down awkwardly in front of his own bench, taking a “nick” to his face. The Wings’ trainers addressed whatever ailed him (there was no replay thereof, so I’m going by what the Hawks’ radio guys said).

Both teams were better in terms of their puck possession and execution as well, but Albert Johansson was tagged for hooking at 3:24, so the Blackhawks went to their third power play.

Thankfully, the Blackhawks were quite sloppy on their third man advantage, Justin Holl made a really good block-and-clear on a Bedard attempt, and while the Wings weren’t winning many faceoffs, they were doing a good job of regaining possession of the puck.

Marco Kasper did this, too:

Sadly, after a FULL MINUTE of Larkin line cycling and shooting on Mrazek, Detroit made a bad line change at center ice, Brodie and Donato found Craig Smith who roared in and put a backhand off the goalpost (as he beat Erik Gustafsson in a 1-on-1 race), and Husso lost the rebound, which Smith put into the net to tie the game 1-1 at 6:50 of the 2nd.

Worse, Connor Bedard stole the puck at the Red Wings’ right half boards and slid it across the Wings’ slot to Teuvo Teravainen, who backhanded the puck past Ville Husso, who committed to the butterfly and was unable to get his toe out to stop the 2-1 marker at 9:03.

Frank Nazar then took a high-sticking penalty on Michael Brandsegg-Nygard at 9:13, and on the power play, Carter Mazur earned a shift with Gustafsson, Larkin, Raymond and DeBrincat. Mazur did a good job of going to the front of the net to attempt to screen Mrazek, but Petr was wise to him.

The second PP unit consisted of Soderblom, Kasper, Veleno, Brandsegg-Nygard and Edvinsson, and Edvinsson hit the post…

But Brandsegg-Nygard took a penalty at 11:49 for tripping.

Instead, Lucas Raymond got a breakaway opportunity on the PK, but Mrazek, again, was sharp, and while both Raymond and Marco Kasper looked sharp generating scoring chances on the PK, Detroit could not quite dent the Blackhawks’ goaltender.

When the penalty expired, Alex DeBrincat fired a shot in and out of Petr Mrazek’s glove, and then high and wide over the net.

It was good to hear the Hawks’ radio crew praising Kasper’s pluck and tenacity…

And Albert Johansson looked quite smooth overall, even though he was playing alongside Justin Holl.

A little later, Connor Bedard almost scored on a deke-and-dangle, but Husso made the first stop, Bedard chipped the puck through a swimming Husso’s legs, and Johansson made a nice block as Martinez snuck in…

And Detroit’s second and third lines slowly but surely found their footing, challenging the Hawks’ defense with smart plays, like Johansson and Mazur nearly connecting on a tip-in, and Brandsegg-Nygard using his shot to sneak pucks onto the net…

And the Red Wings did connect. Carter Mazur dove as the Hawks tried to clear the puck from their right faceoff circle, jabbing the puck back to Jeff Petry. Petry ripped a heavy shot through a Marco Kasper screen to tie the game at 2 at 18:38.

Kasper and Mazur both received assists on the Petry goal.

The shots in the 2nd period were 15-6 Detroit, 23-17 Detroit overall;

Chicago is 0-for-4 in 7:56 of PP time; Detroit is 0-for-1 in 1:56.

Shot attempts 47-25 Detroit;

Hits 12-9 Chicago;

Giveaways 12-9 Chicago;

Takeaways 9-4 Detroit;

Blocked shots 15-3 Chicago;

Faceoffs 24-21 Chicago (47%).

In the 3rd period, Sebastian Cossa took to the net for the Red Wings, and Mitchell Weeks took to the net for Chicago.

2:15 into the 3rd, Craig Smith took a hooking penalty on Justin Holl, and the Red Wings headed to the power play.

The first unit of Larkin, Raymond, DeBrincat, Mazur and Gustafsson was full of fumbles and passes that didn’t quite work out, but they remained on the ice long into the power play…

And Dylan Larkin found the $8 million Raymond with a lateral pass at the Hawks’ hash marks, and Raymond ripped a shot off the juncture of the goalpost and crossbar and in past Weeks to make it 3-2 Detroit on the power play.

DeBrincat got the other assist at 3:41.

Chicago honestly had the get-up-and-go going in the 3rd period’s first 5-or-so minutes, but Detroit scored the go-ahead goal, and Cossa was making smart stops on every shot that he was able to see.

Honestly, Cossa looked a lot more comfortable in his goaltending equipment, and that was excellent to see, if only for the first half of the 3rd period.

As the 10-minute mark passed, Detroit really got going in the Hawks’ zone, with the Larkin line circling the net and out to the blueline, circling the net and going out to the blueline, then firing some long bombs on Weeks, and as the Kasper line succeeded Larkin’s, Carter Mazur drew a hooking penalty on T.J. Brodie at the Blackhawks line 12:02 into the 3rd.

On the power play, Raymond fed Larkin for a good shot in the slot, but Weeks made a stick stop and Chicago cleared, and then Larkin blubbed the puck to Nazar in his own zone, and Joey Anderson missed the net…

The Wings’ second unit of Kasper, Soderblom, Brandsegg-Nygard, Petry and Mazur were no better, so the power play expired.

And Emmitt Finnie found Erik Gustafsson on the cycle in the Hawks’ zone, Gustafsson slid the puck laterally to Olli Maatta, and Maatta made it 4-2 at 14:42 of the 3rd.

Cossa looked really solid as the clock ticked down, and Elmer Soderblom definitely deserves a shout-out for making a kick save after a bad Erik Gustafsson turnover yielded a 2-on-1 in tight. Soderblom took the puck off the inside of his knee, and that stung.

Chicago pulled Weeks with 1:45 remaining, and the Red Wings looked scrambled like eggs at Denny’s as the Blackhawks stormed and swarmed the Red Wings’ zone, but Detroit did a decent job of preventing the Blackhawks from setting up in the Red Wings’ zone, and Detroit would prevail 4-2.

Statistics:

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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!

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