Red Wings-Maple Leafs quick take: Leafs stifle Detroit, win 2-0 with their ‘B Team’

The Detroit Red Wings dressed a mostly veteran roster opposite the Toronto Maple Leafs’ “B Team” for the start of a home-and-home series at Little Caesars Arena this evening.

Tonight, the Red Wings dropped a particularly frustrating 2-0 decision to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Detroit’s PP went 0-for-4 and gave up a power play goal against, Nick Robertson scored 2 for Toronto, Anthony Stolarz was good in stopping 29 shots, and Max Talbot was fine in stopping 26 of 28…

But the Wings were out-skated, out-hustled, out-worked and out-played over the course of 60 minutes, and it’s incredibly frustrating to watch an “A Team” lose to a “B Team” by being frustrated and flat.

The Red Wings said, “Hello” to young fans before skating onto the ice at Little Caesars Arena…

MLive’s Ansar Khan reported that the Wings’ lines reflected the morning skate’s groupings…

And it is dangerous to ever, ever underestimate a “lean” lineup, so the Wings better respect their opponent tonight:

Two Cup champs also said hello in Vladimir Tarasenko and Steven Lorentz:

Here are the starters for both teams:

In the 1st period, Toronto dumped and chased off the opening faceoff, Edvinsson sent the Copp line in, and Rasmussen got a pass from Fischer which went wide, Stolarz made a couple of stops and Rasmussen got a secondary scoring chance before the line went off 32 seconds into the game.

Detroit’s top line had an unspectacular shift before Kasper, Tarasenko and Kane worked together for a shift, and they were repelled, re-entered the zone and ground out some zone time, forcing Toronto to nearly ice the puck…

Then Veleno, Berggren and Motte took to the ice and continued to attempt to check the Leafs into submission, mostly getting the job done.

As the teams settled in, Detroit looked unpolished, and Toronto under-powered. It wasn’t an elegant game early on.

4:50 into the 1st, Bobby McMann took a slashing penalty as he and Simon Edvinsson got tied up in the Red Wings’ corner, and Detroit headed to the power play.

The Wings started with Kane, Larkin, DeBrincat, Raymond and Seider, and the Wings worked the puck around the perimeter, DeBrincat’s shot was blocked by Myers, the 2nd unit took to the ice with Berggren, Tarasenko, Rasmussen, Veleno and Petry worked together, and they did a better job of generating a couple of shots before the PP expired.

Edvinsson did a nice job of blocking a giveaway to Jacob Quillan…

At the other end, Larkin and DeBrincat generated scoring chances on Stolarz…

At 8:55 of the 1st, the shots were 4-1 Detroit;

Shot attempts 9-4;

Hits 2-2;

Giveaways 2-0 Detroit;

Takeaways 0-0;

Blocked shots 3-2 Toronto;

Faceoffs 5-3 Detroit (63%).

For lack of a better term, Cam Talbot’s rebound control just doesn’t inspire confidence. It’s kind of wonky. He’s a huge butterfly goaltender who makes great first stops, but he’s not perfect by any means when it comes to corralling pucks.

Detroit got a couple of good chances as Toronto started to dial up their hitting and intensity, with the Copp line almost converting 3-on-2, and Larkin almost tucking home a pass, but again, Toronto was happy to check the Wings into sawdust, and Detroit didn’t bite when, for example, Dylan Larkin was engaging in a pushing-and-shoving match at the Wings’ bench.

There was one good chance as Tarasenko got set up by Maatta and Kane…

At 13:48 of the 1st, Simon Edvinsson got called for cross-checking David Kampf, and the Wings headed to the penalty kill.

Copp and Rasmussen started the PK, but Kasper soon replaced Rasmussen, with Chiarot and Petry together on the D unit…

Toronto was slow but methodical as it set up for the PK, and Holl and Maatta helped Rasmussen and Motte work the puck in deep, then bounce a couple of passes off skates and shots off Stolarz or the Leaf defenders.

Holl made a nice block and clear with about 35 seconds remaining in the PK;

And Fischer, Veleno, Seider and Chiarot killed the rest of the penalty.

After a couple of OK offensive rushes, Patrick Kane took a tripping penalty at 17:18–it was minor, but it was a trip–and Detroit headed back to the PK.

Copp and Kasper started the PK but Copp stole the puck and fed it to Kasper 2-on-1, and Nicholas Robertson made a big stop to help bail the Leafs’ D out.

Sadly, Robertson lurked in the right wing circle and found a bit of a fan job that beat Talbot through the blocker hand to make it 1-0 Toronto at 17:54 of the 1st, on the PP, off a fine pass from David Kampf and Max Pacioretty.

On the bump-up shift, Talbot had to make a tremendous stop as Seider fell and Jarnkrok raced toward the net, beating Simon Edvinsson to the slot…

Other than Marco Kasper taking no shit when he got pushed and shoved at the end of the 1st period, the game was rather…blah.

Just as Toronto wanted.

Shots in the 1st were 9-5 Detroit.

The Red Wings went 0-for-1 on the PP and Toronto went 1-for-2 in 2:36 of PP time.

Shot attempts 17-11 Detroit;

Hits 8-6 Detroit;

Giveaways 4-1 Detroit;

Takeaways 1-0 Detroit;

Blocked shots 6-6;

Faceoffs 14-8 Detroit (64%).

In the 2nd period, Detroit started the Copp line again, and they earned a shot off the bat from Christian Fischer all of 10 seconds in.

The line then won a faceoff, cycled in the offensive zone, and nearly scored before Edvinsson pinched when he should have tried to hold the offensive blueline instead.

Edvinsson and Seider were working out some bugs.

The second and third shifts involved Toronto hemming the Wings into their own end of the ice, and standing up well at center ice in order to force Petry to take a particularly long shift before the second line took to the ice and Maatta helped the Wings, well…

Do very little.

Honestly, the Leafs were playing at 110% and the Wings were at 60%, and that’s not fun hockey to watch.

With the Kampf line dancing in the Wings’ zone, Seider got tagged with a penalty for a cross-check on Kampf, and the Wings went to the PK at 3:55, taking their third penalty of the night.

On the PK, Toronto really worked the perimeter well and Talbot had to make a couple of solid stops, including a kick save that afforded the Wings a boot-out-and-clear.

Detroit did kill the penalty, but Toronto continued to force the Wings to their own perimeter.

And Detroit just had no flow in what was rapidly becoming a “snoozer” of a game for the Wings.

Talbot made another good stop on Liljegren with 6:57 gone in the 2nd, and:

The shots were 7-2 Toronto in the 2nd, 12-11 Toronto overall.

Shot attempts 19-19;

Hits 8-7 Detroit;

Giveaways 4-2 Detroit;

Takeaways 1-0 Detroit;

Blocked shots 6-6;

Faceoffs 18-11 Detroit (62%).

I did like Marco Kasper’s jam, Tarasenko’s checking ability, the Maatta-Holl and Chiarot-Petry pairings, and of course the Copp line’s efforts, but the Wings were really struggling at times, especially against Kampf and Pacioretty.

As the halfway mark approached, things got a little chippier, Toronto began to cycle in the Wings’ zone for extended periods of time, and when Lucas Raymond had his stick slashed out of his hands, nothing was called.

Again, the Rasmussen-Copp-Fischer line was good, very very good, but they had a whole bunch of passengers alongside them.

Berggren, Motte and Veleno got a good cycle going, but Veleno was cross-checked, and the Leafs went the other way, with Kampf getting a shot off on Talbot, who made an easy swallow-the-puck save.

Sadly, Simon Edvinsson took a dumb cross-checking penalty on Jarnkrok at 12:32, and Toronto went to their 4th power play of the night.

On the PK, Detroit could not clear early, Robertson cycled to the point and back, but Chiarot made a block and cleared the zone;

Rasmussen did some poke-and-hope stuff before Chiarot flicked the puck out of play;

The Wings did dig in to some extent, however, and as the PK hit the 2nd minute, Maatta, Holl, Kasper and Motte worked well, Detroit hacked and checked a bit and they killed the penalty, with Talbot making a sharp stop as Toronto began to really take it to the Wings physically.

As Toronto hacked and whacked as a Craig Berube team was wont to do, players like Larkin got frustrated and hacked back, but the refs appeared to have swallowed their whistles, and with 3:57 left in the period, Kane walked into a slap shot that Stolarz saw and stopped.

Thankfully the RCF line got to work, Rasmussen drew a hooking penalty on the Maple Leafs, and Cade Webber sat with 2:11 left in the 2nd.

during the power play, DeBrincat, Raymond, Larkin, Seider and Kane cycled well, kept the zone, and Stolarz had to make a big stop on DeBrincat.

On the next rush, Seider sent an un-screened slapper into Stolarz, DeBrincat fired wide, was blocked, Kane pass-shot it to a Leaf who blocked him out, DeBrincat and Larkin cycled to Kane, Larkin worked the puck to the middle but Seider held the Leaf clear in, Kane worked to Larkin for Raymond and he was tied up heavily…

So Kane worked to Raymond for DeBrincat to Seider for Kane Rifai blocked and cleared, end of the 2nd. PP over.

Shots in the 2nd were 12-7 Toronto, 17-16 Toronto overall.

Toronto is 1-for-4 in 5:36 of PP time; Detroit is 0-for-2 in 4:00.

Shot attempts are 32-27 Detroit;

Hits 13-12 Detroit;

Giveaways 6-4 Detroit;

Takeaways 5-0 Detroit;

Blocked shots 10-8 Toronto;

Faceoffs 22-17 DET (56%).

In the 3rd period, the Copp line started again, but they lost the opening faceoff, and Edvinsson and Seider got cute and had to chase the puck around the ice until Toronto’s Max Pacioretty took a ticky-tack hook and Detroit headed to the PP 16 seconds in.

The Wings were, again, held south of center ice for a fair portion of the bump-up shift, and Seider got ran as he moved the puck up ice to Larkin, Motte and Raymond cycling together…

After Talbot made a really good 5-hole stop on Lorentz, the Wings skated into the Leaf zone, and the 4th line got some good puck possession going, but centering passes were going to no one all night long, on all four lines, so the cuteness overload continued.

At 7:32 of the 3rd, Cade Webber took the 4th cross-checking penalty of the evening, and Detroit headed to its 4th power play.

Larkin, Raymond, DeBrincat, Kane and Seider started the PP, and a stray pass was taken by Toronto to afford them a shot and a hold by Talbot with 1:43 remaining in the PP as Detroit did a poor job of back-checking.

When the Wings set up in the Toronto zone, and Mickey Redmond noted that the Leafs were trying to smother Larkin, DeBrincat and Raymond nearly connected, but the pass was a couple of inches astray;

Then Berggren, Rasmussen, Veleno, Tarasenko and Petry cycled, Veleno got hooked down sans call but Detroit held the zone, Veleno and Tarasenko passed side to side, and then Rasmussen shanked a pass to Veleno, who missed.

The Leafs killed the penalty.

A little later, Vladimir Tarasenko got a gorgeous pass from Patrick Kane in the slot, and Stolarz flashed the leather and gobbled up his slot shot…

Sadly, Toronto scored a 2-0 goal when Chiarot and Petry got caught out long, Jason Robertson roared up the gut past Chiarot and Pacioretty found Robertson in the slot. He deked Talbot and made it 2-0 at 14:34 of the 3rd.

The Red Wings looked detached and disinterested to some extent. Long stares, iPad glances and nobody hunched forward on the bench as the final 5 minutes began to tick down.

Motte nearly got a goal as Berggren found him at the left faceoff dot, but Stolarz made the stop;

Kasper charged in and Stolarz made an easy stop on the deke-and-dangle in the slot from #92;

Detroit pulled Talbot with 4:10 left in the 3rd, and their six were Kane, Tarasenko, Larkin, DeBrincat and Seider.

The gents worked the perimeter, DeBrincat did a great job to keep the puck in the offensive zone, as did Seider…

Sadly, again, the Red Wings took an ill-timed penalty as Dylan Larkin accidentally but forcefully checked Rifai in the head and sat down with 16:42 gone in the 3rd.

Talbot made a couple of good stops opposite Pacioretty, Robertson and Kampf and Detroit killed the penalty…

When he hit the ice, Rasmussen smeared a Leaf and forced a turnover, and the Wings pulled the goaltender again…

Toronto iced the puck, Detroit looked for a goal with DeBrincat firing a shot off a leg wide, Rasmussen worked with Larkin and Detroit cycled, cycled, and cycled more, but the period expired without a goal.

Toronto won 2-0.

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!