Red Wings-Predators quick take: Talbot’s 40 stops pace Wings to a 3-0 win

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to end their winless streak at one game as they faced the Nashville Predators on Saturday night. With both teams having lost their home openers, the Wings and Preds were in no mood to drop to 0-and-2 on the young season.

For the Red Wings, who are playing a stretch of 3 games to be played over the course of 5 nights, turning the ship around is particularly imperative, because losses add up in a hurry.

On Saturday night, the Red Wings were able to win from the goal on out, and by that, I mean Cam Talbot, who stopped 40 shots and faced a stunning 87 shot attempts.

Thankfully, the Red Wings blocked 34 shots en route to a 3-0 victory in which J.T. Compher, Andrew Copp and Dylan Larkin (empty net) were able to slowly but surely assail Juuse Saros (and the net behind him) in a game where the Red Wings really did skate uphill against the stacked Predators at times, but the Red Wings did prevail thanks to superb defensive play, a commitment to withstanding the Predators’ physicality (though the team did lose Christian Fischer to an upper-body injury), and just plain old out-working the Preds.

The teams will reprise their rivalry (it’s still a rivalry!) next Saturday in Nashville.

Both teams hit the ice at 6:30 PM EDT, and the Predators lined up as follows…

While the Red Wings tweaked their lineup slightly over the course of the last couple of practices…

Here are the starters and scratches:

In the 1st period, Nashville won theopening faceoff, chipped and chased, reversed a Fischer outlet, and Detroit dumped the puck into Nashville’s zone, where Saros tried to wrap the puck around the boards. It didn’t work, but Nashville eventually charged out to center ice, and Maatta hit Jankowski hard along the side boards, Larkin flipped a puck in that Saros played away, and Detroit regrouped at their own blueline.

Seider and Chiarot fed Kane, he dropped the puck to Larkin, and his lateral pass to DeBrincat went off the heel of DeBrincat’s stick…

At the other end of the ice, Chiarot had to hook Filip Forsberg’s hands at 1:40, so Chiarot sat for the interference call and Nashville headed to their first power play.

Compher, Copp, Edvinsson and Holl worked the PK, and Compher was dumped by Skjei attempting to attack the puck in the Predators’ zone;

Talbot kicked away a Predators shot at the other end of the ice;

Stamkos and Marchessault came out some 45 seconds into the PP, and Maatta, Seider, Fischer and Rasmussen worked the PK opposite the Predators’ quintet.

Detroit made some strong blocks, Talbot made a good stop on Forsberg, Maatta flicked the puck down the ice, Marchessault reversed for Forsberg skating in deep and Talbot made a blocker stop to end the penalty-kill.

Detroit was having some difficulty at even strength, however, and the Predators added their 5-shot advantage before Kane and Larkin blazed away and Larkin fed Kane for a shot that was stifled by Saros…

And Larkin was hit heavily by two Predators, who were not penalized as Larkin went off feeling less than 100%.

The teams continued to trade stretches of possession as Tyler Motte was laid out by Jeremy Lauzon some 6:30 into the 1st period, again, sans penalty, and the heavy-hitting game continued…

Seider and Chiarot worked the point and Fischer and Rasmussen attempted to sustain the Red Wings’ possession and control in the offensive zone, but they could not do so…

Nashville’s line of Sissons between Marchessault and Stamkos almost surrendered the game’s first goal to Larkin and Kane, but again, Larkin’s pass to Kane flittered just wide of his stick blade…Thanks to a Steven Stamkos back-check.

As the period progressed, Nashville’s shot advantage over the Red Wings remained noticeable, and Detroit was doing its best to not get hemmed into its own zone…

The Wings also looked somewhat out-of-sorts in terms of making mistakes without the puck on their sticks, which was a little bit concerning.

Jonatan Berggren generated a good scoring chance some 10:40 into the 1st, with Joe Veleno screening Saros, but the Predators goaltender gobbled up the shot and left no rebound.

At 10:43 of the 1st period, Steven Stamkos took a slashing call for hacking the stick out of Alex DeBrincat’s hands…

The first unit of Compher, Kane, Larkin, Raymond and Seider cycled well, but they were jittery, and Detroit sent a Seider shot in that was stopped, Seider and Raymond fed a pass through the slot, Larkin fed Raymond and Saros got a piece of the puck, Detroit cycled and cycled heavily and maintained possession until Sissons stole the puck from Compher and fed the puck right back to Saros for a seal and a stoppage of play.

On the second unit, Berggren, Rasmussen, DeBrincat, Tarasenko and Chiarot could not hold the zone for a lengthy period of time, they worked the puck back in and O’Reilly chipped the puck down ice to end the power play.

After the PK expired, Nashville got right back into the hitting game, and Detroit had to brace itself for contact whenever its players got anywhere near the puck.

Kane fed Larkin for a back-door goal, but his pass was blocked;

Off a dump-in from Johansson, Veleno tried to retrieve and tuck the puck into the net, Motte stole the puck back from Skjei but Tomasino cleared the zone, and the Red Wings’ fourth line and third defensive pair got lucky in that Cam Talbot stopped a big Roman Josi chance, the Preds continued to cycle in Detroit’s zone and the Wings needed to change lines after they alleviated the Preds’ pressure.

Seider, Kane and DeBrincat almost worked out a 3-on-2 chance, but again, the puck fluttered under DeBrincat’s heel…

Bluntly speaking, the Predators had an easier time skating up and down the ice, possessing the puck, generating scoring chances and generally playing hockey. Detroit was still skating uphill after Thursday night’s loss.

Jonatan Berggren and Tyler Motte worked out a fine exchange that Saros booted out, and then Tomasino was stifled as the Preds intercepted a Red Wings clearing pass, with Talbot making an alert stop.

A couple of nasty hits by Seider yielded a 3-on-3 where Larkin managed to feed the puck into DeBrincat’s feet, and at the other end of the ice, Seider gave Marchessault a forearm shiver, retaliated upon by a hack on Seider. No penalties called.

Talbot looked to be in control as the Predators generated 17 shots over the course of the 1st period. He was sharp, sharp, sharp as the Predators did a fine job of generating scoring chances again and again thanks to good puck retrieval.

In the 2nd period, Johansson and Maatta started the 2nd period with the Copp line, and they managed to clear the zone, chip and chase, and get checked (well, Christian Fischer did) before Seider skated out with the puck, gave it up, and Raymond sent a shot in that was blocked by Brayden Schenn.

Thankfully, a floater by Ben Chiarot was tipped in by J.T. Compher near the crossbar, giving Detroit a 1-0 lead…

The goal was reviewed and deemed to be legal. Compher from Chiarot and Seider at 1:02 of the 2nd. 1-0 Detroit.

The Predators extracted their pound of flesh, however, seemingly injuring Berggren and then Raymond as the two went back to the Wings’ bench in discomfort as the Preds hit hard and hit nastily…

The physicality included knocking over referee Chris Rooney…

Joe Velenoe made a perfect pass to Tyler Motte that was stifled by Saros…

Tarasenko worked with Copp and Rasmussen for a shift, with Holl and Edvinsson, then Holl and Seider, and Raymond reemerged with DeBrincat and Larkin, but Fischer exited the bench…

Nashville and Detroit traded some Grade-A chances and some significantly difficult stretches of pressure.

Nashville seemed to understand that they could push the Wings around to some extent, and they did just that, finishing every check and blocking every pass with their sticks as they set up cycles and generated zone time in the Red Wings’ end of the ice some 7:30 into the 2nd.

Talbot made a sharp stop on a Josi shot where Steven Stamkos screened the Talbot with Seider’s help…

Tarasenko, Compher and Raymond worked on a line together 9:10 into the 2nd, and Raymond nearly scored on a 3-on-1 in tight;

Johansson and Maatta had a lot of good chemistry and just natural pluck, and I was really impressed by how Johansson simply slid into his position and disappeared into the woodwork, playing capably and smartly.

Joe Veleno and Jonatan Berggren generated really lovely shots on Saros with 10:14 gone in the 2nd, but Saros sealed the goalpost twice;

At 10:31 of the 2nd period, Jeremy Lauzon went for interference as he held up J.T. Compher, and it was a soft call, but it counted.

Raymond, Larkin, Compher, Seider and Kane worked the PP, and Detroit got very lucky on a shorthanded chance that Talbot made;

Larkin got a slot shot off at the other end that Saros stifled;

Kane fed Raymond who was beaten to the puck, but Compher held for Seider, back to Compher and Raymond, Larkin and Kane reversed around the back boards and the Predators cleared….

With 45 left in the PP Seider fed the puck to Rasmussen, raced toward the net, and Fabbro made a great block;

DeBrincat, Berggren, Rasmussen, Tarasenko and Chiarot worked the puck around the perimeter well, and Tarasenko sent a shot high, Berggren fed Rasmussen once, twice, DeBrincat shot but Saros stopped the puck, and the penalty expired.

Filip Forsberg tried to walk Chiarot once and Seider again and the duo stifled his attempts;

Off an icing, Motte, Veleno and Berggren ground out the puck in their own end several times to play a successful shift;

Josi walked in and Talbot made an excellent stop;

Sadly, at the other end of the ice, Dylan Larkin was flying around the ice, making great chances happen, and he also happened to high-stick Filip Forsberg at 14:25 of the 2nd period, giving Nashville its 2nd power play.

On the penalty-kill, O’Reilly, Stamkos, Marchessault, Josi and Forsberg worked vs. Seider, Chairot, Compher and Motte, and Seider mad an AMAZING block to stop Forsberg.

The Preds’ stacked PP unit was really dominant, but Detroit blocked shots and did its best to counter the Preds’ star power.

The Preds’ not-bad-at-all 2nd unit worked with Nyquist, Skjei, Evangelista and company, and Skjei was stifled by Talbot as the PK expired.

Nashville cycled away and Talbot stopped Carrier well…

Larkin came out of the box and he and Veleno nearly connected…

Johansson made a lovely play to lean on Smith without generating a penalty, as Mickey Redmond noted, really pushing the bounds of what is a “legal lean”…

Talbot made an amazing stop on Steven Stamkos point-blank as Stamkos snuck away from DeBrincat…

When Gustav Nyquist chose to try to push Talbot into the net, both DeBrincat and Seider grabbed Nyquist and led him away from the scene of the interference crime…

Larkin lost a faceoff, but got back to pitchfork O’Reilly away from his goaltender as Talbot made another big stop;

Forsberg was blocked by Copp…

But Moritz Seider was pissed off as he got tagged with 58.1 seconds left in the 2nd for a trip on Nyquist.

The Wings won the initial faceoff, and Compher, Motte, Chiarot and Holl cleared the zone, afforded the Predators a set-up, the Preds got physical, and Talbot made some beautiful stops and Holl made a beautiful block to clear the zone and end the 2nd period.

Detroit would have 1:02 left in the PK to start the 3rd.

In the 3rd period, well, it was preceded by this news:

Detroit had to kill 1:02 of a PK to start the 3rd.

Larkin, Compher, Chiarot and Holl were all “walked” by Forsberg and Josi off the opening faceoff, but Talbot made a HUGE STOP to stifle that opportunity…

Detroit killed the penalty and Nashville did not stop coming, but the Red Wings did their best to send the puck back into Nashville’s zone, Kane, DeBrincat and Veleno worked together deep in the offensive zone, and they cycled vs. the Predators’ heavy defenders…

But not much happened other than good defensive play.

Cam Talbot had stopped 30 shots by the 2:43 mark of the 3rd period.

Detroit had 18 shots.

The Predators continued to threaten offensively as Seider and Chiarot worked with Compher & company, and as Mickey Redmond said, the Predators were really emptying their tanks offensively, but Detroit was playing soundly enough defensively to stifle the Preds’ best chances.

SAROS charged out to stop Larkin and Larkin chipped the bouncing puck wide of the net…

Veleno, Berggren and Motte did a good job of putting the Predators offside after generating some offensive pressure…

And off a lovely job’s worth of sustained pressure by Copp, Raymond, Rasmussen, Holl and Edvinsson, an Edvinsson shot flickered off a man to Raymond, Raymond’s shot went wide but Copp chipped it into Saros, and the puck found the back of the net.

Detroit took a 2-0 lead. Copp from Edvinsson and Raymond at 6:35 3rd.

Motte, Larkin and Kane worked hard with Edvinsson and Holl to generate more offensive chances, and Detroit looked to be in control of the game for the first time over the course of the game.

Raymond, Rasmussen and Copp were a thing, and they played quite well together…

Veleno worked with Compher and Berggren for a bit…

The game finally began to flow some 10:42 into the 3rd, when the Red Wings began to establish possession and control on a semi-regular basis, but Nashville kept battling back, and Talbot had to make a huge stop on O’Reilly, Skjei crashed the net, and Filip Forsberg ripped a puck wide of the net off a giveaway.

It became a battle off equally-matched teams, as it was most of the night, throughout the 3rd period, and as the “Jared Goff” chants rained down with 7:30 left in the 3rd.

Detroit really began to methodically disrupt the Predators’ offense as the period began to wind down toward the final 5 minutes, playing patient, sometimes boring hockey in order to disrupt Nashville…

Raymond lost a stick into the crowd, Compher lost his stick, DeBrincat gave Compher his stick, and DeBrincat received one from the bench…pretty impressive stuff.

Detroit was doing a fine job of blocking shots and blocking passes as well, because Nashville got a 4-on-2 with about 5:00 remaining, and the Wings stifled the rush…

Thankfully, Michael Rasmussen got absolutely hammered by William Carrier at the Preds’ blueline, and Rasmussen got back up and was fine…

Saros whacked a puck away from Motte on a blind dump-in for the Wings…

Carrier, Smith and McCarron nearly scored, Talbot made a glove stop that bounced right back out, and Saros wanted to go…And he left with 2:58 left 3rd…

Larkin and Compher missed empty-net chances, and Seider chipped a Predators shot wide of the empty net on a clear, yielding one, two, three icings…

Then Moritz Seider made a kick save, Stamkos, Josi and Nyquist played slick hockey and got 2 scoring chances on Talbot, who made 2 stops…

Talbot got lucky on his first shot against by Steven Stamkos, who hit the goalpost, but Talbot made a superb second stop to bunt the puck into the crowd…

Larkin, Compher, Seider, Chiarot, Raymond, all back for the final 1:25, and the Preds kept the puck in the zone, but Talbot made an easy glove stop…

With 1:17 left, Nashville called timeout, and it was kind of cool to see that Raymond was being used defensively as a shut-down player…

Detroit kept icing the puck over and over again, but Larkin was winning faceoffs, and so they could afford to dump pucks away…

O’Reilly did win one draw and TALBOT made a tremendous stop on Marchessault via O’Reilly…

With 40.1 left in the 3rd, Larkin beat Stamkos, Forsberg kicked the puck back and it went too far so the Preds didn’t get an icing call, they raced to center, Larkin got the EMPTY NETTER AND IT WAS OVER.

Dylan Larkin scored at 19:40.4 to make it 3-0. Unassisted, steal from Nyquist.

Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

Published by

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!