Red Wings-Blackhawks preseason wrap-up: Wings skate out of United Center with a win to build upon

The Detroit Red Wings opened their exhibition season with a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night, kicking off the 8-games-in-12-nights stretch with a victory that took approximately as much effort as one might expect from what was the first game in five months for both teams.

As the Chicago Sun-Times’ Ben Pope noted, even the Blackhawks felt that the game was tinged with rust from a lengthy off-season:

Because the Hawks have scrimmaged so much in training camp, they haven’t spent much time practicing power-play situations yet, and that was evident Wednesday. Their first opportunity produced some good looks, but their three man-advantages after that yielded little. That was one of many areas where the Hawks weren’t sharp in their preseason opener.

“[There were] a lot of sloppy plays…on both ends,” Connor Bedard said. “But it’s all of our first games in four or five months, so [that’s] to be expected a little, I guess. There’s definitely a lot of areas to clean up for both teams.

“It takes a few games to get your legs feeling it. I feel like I did more conditioning than I’ve ever done, and I was still pretty gassed.”

Bedard assisted Teuvo Teravainen for the Hawks’ second goal; Teravainen said his United Center return “felt like the old days” again. Goalie Petr Mrazek saved 20 of 22 shots during his two periods of action.

Mrazek almost stole the first forty minutes for Chicago, as Chicago Hockey Now’s Jim Lynch noted…

Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson highlighted the play of Petr Mrazek following the loss. Mrazek made 21 saves on 23 shots during the first 40 minutes before Mitchell Weeks took the net in the third period.

“Petr played really well right from the opening shift,” Richardson said. “We kind of gave them some free opportunities to really test him, and he looked really sharp.”

I am a little concerned about this observation from NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis, as it might incur some league intervention…

AJ Spellacy getting a crack at center between Ryan Donato and Craig Smith felt like a reward for his strong showing at the prospect showcase and early part of camp. He made his presence felt in the first period by laying a hit on Lucas Raymond, which prompted Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin to take a run at Spellacy immediately after. You could tell Spellacy played football growing up by the way he hits.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – SEPTEMBER 25: Dylan Larkin #71 of the Detroit Red Wings collides with AJ Spellacy #79 of the Chicago Blackhawks during the first period of a preseason game at the United Center on September 25, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – SEPTEMBER 25: Referees separate the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings during a scuffle during the first period of a preseason game at the United Center on September 25, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

Larkin ended up with an “interference” minor at 15:39 of the 1st period, but his hit on Spellacy was nasty–intentionally so–and while it was encouraging to see the captain step up to retaliate for Spellacy’s hit on Raymond, I’m worried that he might get suspended as a result.

We’ll shift perspectives to those of the Detroit media corps, with the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan telling the game’s narrative…

Tyler Motte scored the only goal of the first period at the 1:10 mark on a deflected shot. Austin Watson and Joe Veleno assisted on the goal. The Blackhawks took a 2-1 lead on goals by Craig Smith and Teuvo Teravainen in the second period. Smith’s goal on Ville Husso came at the 6:50 mark on assists by Ryan Donato and T.J. Brodie. Teravainen’s goal was scored at 9:03 with Connor Bedard assisting on the goal.

Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry tied the game 2-2 at 18:38. Carter Mazur and Marco Kasper had the assists.

Husso played two periods and stopped 15-of-17 shots. Sebastian Cossa played the third period, making 10 saves.

Former Wings goalie Petr Mrazek allowed two goals on 23 shots in 40 minutes. Mitchell Weeks took over from Mrazek in the third period.

The Red Wings and Blackhawks will meet again on Friday at Little Caesars Arena at 7 p.m. The Wings will also play at home on Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7 p.m.

Minus the whole game-winning goal part, which Ansar Khan will discuss:

Lucas Raymond scored a power-play goal early in the third period Wednesday to snap a tie and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 in their preseason opener at the United Center.

Raymond snapped a 2-2 tie by scoring on the power play at 3:41 of the third. He took a pass from Dylan Larkin and whipped in a wrist shot from the slot area.

Tyler Motte, Jeff Petry and Olli Maatta also scored for the Red Wings.

The Free Press’s Helene St. James states the obvious regarding Raymond’s goal…

Lucas Raymond picked up where he left off, scoring in the Detroit Red Wings‘ first of an eight-game exhibition slate.

Raymond’s goal came early in the third period Wednesday at United Center, when he was wide open to take a pass from Dylan Larkin to put the Wings ahead en route to a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Raymond just signed an eight-year, $64.6 million contract last week that reflected what a performance he delivered last season, which he finished by pumping 11 points into the last six games.

Raymond’s goal came on the power play. In addition to fielding his unit on man advantages, the Wings also gave some looks to youngsters, including 2024 first-round pick Michael Brandsegg-Nygård.

Regarding the youngsters, the Hockey News’s Connor Eargood noted that both Marco Kasper and Carter Mazur had particularly good showings…

Wednesday after morning practices, Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said that he feels a player’s NHL readiness is based on their ability to impact the whole game — not just individual areas.

“I really think a two-way game where you’re playing the right way all the time, you can make an impact in winning shifts,” Lalonde said. “To me, that’s when the player is ready.”

In that case, forward prospects Marco Kasper and Carter Mazur put together a lot of NHL ready tape against Chicago. Both players were assertive at both ends, killing plays defensively and giving extra effort to create them offensively. In their bid to force their way onto the roster — whether now or later in the season — they made outstanding cases for themselves.

Mazur in particular had a tremendous effort on Jeff Petry’s second period goal, diving after an out-of-reach puck and poking it into Petry’s wheelhouse for a seeing-eye shot. But beyond that one highlight reel play, he also consistently found his way to the net in a way where he could be useful to his teammates. Defensively, he got into battles and held his own.

Kasper, meanwhile, leaned on quick skating to dash all over the ice and control play. There were shifts when he would wreak havoc deep in the offensive zone before skating back quick enough to defend without missing a beat. He also had a nice scoring chance on the penalty kill working off Watson’s aforementioned efforts, a shift that saw him play just as well defensively in disrupting the Blackhawks’ structure and limiting their ability to even attempt shots. Overall, impressive stuff.

And DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills spoke with the Wings’ players and coach regarding the game’s process and results:

“It feels really good,” Carter Mazur said. “We put in the work in during camp, so to see it finally come to life and be a win — you want to win every single game, even if it’s preseason — feels pretty good.”

Ville Husso and Sebastian Cossa split goaltending duties for Detroit, combining to stop 25 of 27 shots. Husso, who was limited to just 19 games last season because of multiple lower-body injuries, turned aside 15 of 17 shots he faced through 40 minutes.

“Really optimistic and promising from [Husso’s] first period,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said. “Him being able to see pucks, catching pucks through traffic. Obviously the second period probably a little rust there, and I thought Cossa played well.”

…

Lalonde said he appreciated the effort his players gave on Wednesday, and hopes they can keep it going moving forward.

“I liked our young guys,” Lalonde said. “Obviously some of our vets got some good touches tonight. There are some things we still want to clean up.”

Multimedia:

Highlights: We’ll have to use Tweets to show the Wings’ goals:

Post-game: The Red Wings posted a 5:03 post-game comment clip:

Photos: The Chicago Tribune posted a 29-image gallery;

The Blackhawks’ website posted a 19-image gallery;

The Free Press posted a 15-image gallery;

And the Detroit News posted a 9-image gallery.

Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

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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!

One thought on “Red Wings-Blackhawks preseason wrap-up: Wings skate out of United Center with a win to build upon”

  1. I really have concerns of Yzerman and his signing and playing vets. You have to start moving your draft picks along. Burying a Mazur or Kasper in the AHL and promoting them when they are no longer waiver exempt is a recipe for mismanagement.

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