Red Wings-Maple Leafs quick take, rematch version: undermanned Wings, Husso keep things respectable in a 3-2 loss to Toronto

The Detroit Red Wings concluded their 8-games-in-11-nights preseason schedule by traveling to Toronto with their “B Team” to play the Maple Leafs’ “A Team” on Saturday night.

To some extent, the “how’s” of the Red Wings players’ performances would matter much more than the result of the game, because the Leafs’ constellation of stars tends to overwhelm visiting teams’ best lineups; going into the game, the Red Wings possessed a 3-3-and-1 record over the course of 7 exhibition games played, so mastering the details of the game and systems play–and getting Ville Husso some “reps”–were what counted on Saturday night.

Still, Toronto’s “B Team” took a 2-0 decision from the Red Wings on Thursday night, and these teams are always rivals, so the Red Wings wouldn’t mind taking a chunk out of the Leafs on Saturday evening.

Ultimately, the Maple Leafs out-lasted the Red Wings, and out-shot the shit out of them, with Toronto taking a 33-20 shot advantage–and a 15-1 shot advantage in the 2nd period–en route to a 3-2 win over the Red Wings.

Christian Fischer tipped a shot from Andrew Copp past Joseph Woll only 3:33 into the 1st, and after Stephen Lorentz tied the game, Copp scored a goal of his own from William Wallinder and Joe Snively on the PP at 16:58…

But from there on out, it was all Toronto, and Ville Husso is the reason that the score didn’t get out of hand…

Well, Husso, and players like Copp, Fischer, Rasmussen, Veleno, Berggren, Mazur, Johansson, Wallinder and the rest of a very young Wings team, which received tons of ice time and lots of good lessons learned against an All-Star Maple Leafs team.

Detroit wraps up its preseason going 3-3-and-2 while playing 8 times in 11 nights; the players have tomorrow off from practice, but the team will have to make its cut-down from 41 to 23 players by Monday at 5 PM.

Most likely, the Wings will make their cuts on Sunday, deciding the fates of 18 players, including Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, who may stay in North America after all.

In terms of the game’s narrative…

The teams dressed the following players:

Toronto lined up as follows…

While Ken Kal kept Wings fans in the loop:

FYI:

In the 1st period, the Copp line and Paccioretty line faced off, and, ultimately, the Leafs began to cycle in the Wings’ zone as Matthews & company came over the boards, with Knies and Reilly generating shots on or near the goal…

Mazur, Berggren and Veleno countered for the Red Wings, and Berggren sent a screened shot in on Woll…

But Toronto brought the Nylander line onto the ice, and they began to cycle, with Husso making a glove stop and then a sharp pad stop against Nylander.

Ryan Reaves made the first dirty hit of the night by sealing off Danielson in his own zone, and by 3:30 of the 1st, all four lines had taken to the ice…

And when Max Paccioretty blubbed a puck to Andrew Copp at the blueline, he sent a puck toward the Leaf goal, and Christian Fischer tipped the puck in behind Woll at 3:33.

Detroit led 1-0.

Veleno, Berggren and Mazur played the bump-up shift opposite the Matthews line, and they actually pestered the snot out of the Leafs’ superstars, with Mazur nearly kneeing Matthews, and the line did a really good job of generating some deep zone time before Toronto blazed back on a 3-on-2.

Detroit continued to pursue the puck and charge up the ice when they had the puck, but the Leafs had the talent advantage on the ice by a wide margin, and their puck movement was crisper.

Again, Veleno and Berggren worked the cycle and Mazur helped aggravate the Leafs, and Berggren fed Johansson for a TREMENDOUS CHANCE that Woll gloved out of the air, with Mazur generating some traffic after the goal.

Husso made another good save on Knies as the TSN broadcasters were surprisingly complimentary toward the Wings’ youngsters, and of all people, little Eemil Viro (6,’ 184) really impressed me with his smoothness and crisp passing.

It was not easy to watch the Matthews and Nylander lines cycling and dekeing and dangling in the Wings’ zone, but Detroit was hanging onto its one-goal lead, and the Veleno and Copp lines were really causing the Leafs problems.

Regrettably, Ryan Reaves bumped a Wings defender (Tuomisto), Stephen Lorentz dumped Nate Danielson and Toronto soared toward the Wings’ net, with Reaves reversing the puck out front to Lorentz, who roofed the puck over Husso to tie the game.

TicTacOmar is a necessary evil. He’s a Leaf fan through and through, but he’s a prolific Gif maker, and without any TV but ESPN+ tonight, I’ve got to rely on him to give you some highlights, biased as they are.

It was 1-1 at 12:18 of the 1st.

I like Tuomisto, but he is really effing slow.

Anyway, the Red Wings and Leafs definitely had the feel of a game where both teams wanted to get the hell out of the preseason and get going for real on Wednesday (Toronto vs. Montreal) and Thursday (Detroit vs. Pittsburgh), respectively, but at least half of the Wings lineup was out-playing its Leaf opponents, and the Leafs were sort of going at 2/3rds speed, which benefited the Wings.

Toronto’s Reaves-Lorentz-Paccioretty line was really pestering the Red Wings in their own zone…

But as the Leafs headed to the PK at 15:18, Detroit aimed to regain the lead, with Bobby McMann sitting in the box for a hook.

The first PP unit consisted of Dries, Johansson, Berggren, Copp and Veleno…

And Jonatan Berggren drew a 5-on-3 as David Kampf shoved Berggren into the boards at 16:24.

Rasmussen, Berggren, Danielson, Johansson and Brandsegg-Nygard worked the perimeter on the PP and MBN really got some good chances going and Danielson nearly put a pass off Berggren into an empty net…

Better, the kids kept cycling and cycling and cycling so Brandsegg-Nygard hit the goalpost and had 4 shot attempts on the 5-on-3.

On the 5-on-4, Brandsegg-Nygard nearly scored on a rush with Jonatan Berggren and Rasmussen, but Woll did the splits to stop MBN…

And on the next shift, Andrew Copp won the faceoff, cycled with Snively and Copp, and Copp found a Wallinder shot that bounced off a Leaf defender, leaned into it and scored the 2-1 goal at 17:58.

It was 2-1 Detroit.

Matthew Knies and Morgan Rielly nearly scored at the end of the first, but Detroit did a fine job of helping Husso, and that was the first period. Shots were 9-9 and the score was 2-1 Detroit.

Shots in the 1st now listed at 10-9 Detroit;

Shot attempts 22-21 Detroit;

Hits 10-6 Toronto;

Giveaways 7-4 Toronto;

Takeaways 1-1;

Blocked shots 7-6 Detroit;

Faceoffs 9-9 (50%).

In the 2nd period, the Red Wings started with the Copp line, opposite the Paccioretty line, and Detroit was pushed back into its own zone a couple of times before Fischer nearly set up an interfered-with Rasmussen for a goal opportunity, and the Wings’ D cycled and did a nice job of pushing the puck laterally to generate a secondary shot on goal.

56 seconds in, Jonatan Berggren hooked Matthews, and Berggren headed off for a hook, but not before Husso absolutely robbed Matthews on a shot off a pass from Nylander.

The Red Wings’ PK had its hands full, but Copp, Dries, Holl and the rest of the PK’ers did a fine job of stifling Toronto, and Husso made some very big stops…

Husso made a particularly good stop on Kampf, too…

But Marner found Matthews off a faceoff win, and Matthews sent an unstoppable shot over Husso to tie the game 2-2 at 2:52.

2-2 tie from Marner and Knies. Matthews with the unstoppable goal.

Detroit went with Dries’ line for some reason, and Husso made more heroic stops as the Maple Leafs just felt all their oats and were cycling hard in the Wings’ zone, really grinding Detroit down as the Tavares line generated scoring chances.

Toronto built an 8-1 shot advantage, and William Wallinder took a dumb penalty interfering and tripping Knies at 4:59 of the 2nd, affording Toronto its second power play.

Again, the Leafs were walking around the Wings’ PK units, so Husso was making more spectacular saves, and of all people, Nate Danielson and Austin Watson were the best PK unit.

Simon Benoit went for a ticky-tack high rough at 10:51 of the 2nd, giving Detroit a power play.

On the power play, Copp, Berggren, Veleno, Johansson and Snively worked together, and it was a little shaky for a while, with Johansson doing a lot of learning on the job…

Rasmussen, Brandsegg-Nygard, Wallinder, Mazur and Soderblom worked the 2nd unit, and Matthews sent a shorthanded shot wide, and then Knies and Holmberg got a 2-on-1 and Detroit had to defend that.

No shots on the power play.

The Wings looked to run out of gas after the halfway mark of the 2nd period, and Detroit really struggled as the shot total piled up on Husso and the Leafs cycled and cycled and cycled and cycled and cycled in Detroit’s zone.

Bafflingly, Christian Fischer was called for breaking his stick intentionally on the icing–a “delay of game” call–at 15:22, giving Toronto its 3rd power play of the period.

Coach Lalonde and the Wings were incensed, but they could not do anything about the call.

Nylander, Matthews, Tavares, Marner and Rielly took to the ice and worked vs. Danielson, Johansson, Holl and Snively.

The crowd was expectant, but Husso made a good stop 1:09 in–with the Leafs really trying to cycle the puck for a too-cute chance…

Domi hit the goalpost, however, and Husso made a couple of nice stops after Knies swiped the puck off Watson’s stick…

But Detroit killed the penalty, and very late in the 2nd, Johansson and Holl worked with Brandsegg-Nygard, Berggren and Dries to at least pester the Leafs away from Detroit’s own net for a bit.

Shots in the 2nd 15-1 Toronto, shots 24-11 Toronto overall.

Leafs 1-for-3 in 5:56 of PP time; Detroit 1-for-4 in 4:42.

Shot attempts 49-29 Toronto;

Hits 13-9 Toronto;

Giveaways 9-8 Toronto;

Takeaways 5-2 Toronto;

Blocked shots 15-11 Detroit;

Faceoffs 21-18 Toronto (46%).

In the 3rd period, the final period of 8 games in 11 nights, I’m certain that both teams just wanted to get out of the exhibition season with no injuries, but pride always has to be taken into account…

So Rasmussen, Copp and Fischer started the period, Rasmussen ended up helping Viro check with Rafferty on the blueline, and Detroit couldn’t get north of center ice for a bit.

Berggren, Veleno and Mazur broke the plane for a little while, and the Wings began to ramp up their attack, but they were held to the perimeter, and again, it was a “next goal wins–any goal wins” type of game.

Detroit definitely ramped up its hitting game as much as it could as the 3rd period progressed, but Detroit was called for a penalty at 3:54, with Rasmussen being called for, um…stick in the hands.

On the PK, Johansson continued to get oodles of ice time with Holl, and Danielson and Dries worked together vs. the Matthews unit.

Husso made a couple of good stops, but Husso made a puck-handling mistake, Matthews stole it, worked the puck to Tavares, and as Antti Tuomisto skated right past Tavares’ line of sight, Tavares adjusted and fired a puck over Husso at 4:58.

It was Tavares from Matthews and Marner at 4:58 of the 3rd. Toronto led 3-2.

From there, the Wings FINALLY GOT A SHOT OFF as Soderblom wrapped around an empty net, but John Tavares bailed out Woll…

Husso made three good stops before the next TV timeout, and with 8:30 remaining, Conor Timmins sat for slashing, affording Detroit a power play.

Veleno, Berggren, Copp, Johansson and Snively worked together on the first unit, and they actually displayed good energy, and Johansson was superb in terms of keeping the puck in the zone and cycling around with Berggren and Snively.

Johansson sent a bomb wide, OEL cleared, and Detroit received a fortunate bounce as OEL put it into the Wings’ bench off a bounce…

Brandsegg-Nygard, Wallinder, Danielson, Mazur and Rasmussen worked the 2nd unit, and they looked OK, but the Leafs out-checked them.

The power play expired.

Tuomisto of all people had a good shift against Tavares and Nylander, and Soderblom and Danielson worked heavily in the offensive zone to cycle, with Soderblom and Bberggren connecting for a nice little set of skating around with Wallinder and Danielson, who got a Grade-A chance.

But time was ticking down. 4:19 remained as the final TV timeout hit.

Detroit sort of knew that the game was up, and they didn’t have the firepower to tie things as Toronto led 33-16 in shots, but the Wings still checked dutifully, and Mazur really added a dimension to the Veleno-Berggren line, Johansson and Wallinder had good games…

With 2:05 remaining, Detroit pulled Husso…

The Wings put out the Copp line with Mazur instead of Fischer, with Johansson and Brandsegg-Nygard and Berggren…Berggren got a shot off, Johansson held the line, Berggren and Rasmsusen wrapped and Woll made a nice stop…

Detroit called timeout with 1:14 left in the 3rd, and Alex Tanguay explained what the plans were to be…

Copp drew in vs. Matthews and he won the draw over Copp, so Johansson blocked an empty-net attempt by Holmberg, Detroit chipped and chased, Copp blindly passed it to OEL, Detroit continued to cycle, however, Rasmussen and Copp worked the puck down low, Matthews cleared it and Johansson was hooked by Holmberg but he kept the net clean.

The Leafs put the puck out of play, too, so the Leafs headed to the box as Timmins sat for delay of game with 19.7 left.

Toronto would win the game on a good clear.

Detroit finished the preseason 3-3-and-2 having played 8 games in 11 nights.

Shots in the 3rd 9-8, shots 33-20 Toronto overall.

Leafs went 2-for-4 in 7:00 of PP time; Detroit 1-for-6 in 7:00.

Detroit’s goals: Fischer (1) from Copp (1) at 3:33 1st period, ES;

Copp (1) from Wallinder (1) and Snively (1) at 17:58 1st, PPG.

Shot attempts 67-45 Toronto;

Hits 21-12 Toronto;

Giveaways 11-9 Toronto;

Takeaways 5-2 Toronto;

Blocked shots 20-15 Toronto;

Faceoffs 32-24 Toronto (43%).

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!