Red Wings-Rangers wrap-up: Wings’ emphasis is on defense after Panarin, Rangers sweep home-and-home series

What a mess. The Detroit Red Wings are 0-and-3 heading into a Saturday matinee against the winless Nashville Predators–in Nashville–after sustaining another body blow in the form of a 5-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Thursday night.

The Rangers ended up sweeping the home-and-home series, having won 4-1 on Monday night (so that’s an aggregate score of 9-2 Rangers), and after the Red Wings head to Nashville, they face a gauntlet of three Wild Card rivals in the Islanders, Devils and Atlantic Division-rival Sabres next week, all before wrapping up October against the Oilers and Jets.

If the Red Wings aren’t making changes to their roster in short order, perhaps we’ll see more movement by Halloween, because the Wings’ efforts over the past two nights have been largely inexcusable.

In any case, the Red Wings’ opponent simply let the good times roll on Thursday night, and Artemi Panarin, who scored a hat trick and added an assist, has posted a total of 11 points over the course of only 4 games. He told the New York Post’s Mollie Walker that he’s having a delightful time thus far:

“I was feeling good,” Panarin told The Post after the win. “The first two shots go in for me and then after, of course, you’re feeling great. We have so many power plays, too, which gives you the puck a lot.”

Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere have led the Rangers in their offensive onslaught to start the season, during which the team has racked up 13 five-on-five goals and 20 in total.

The line is always on the attack, and Thursday night was no different. Panarin, who became the first player in franchise history to record multiple points in each of the first four games of a season, has been the driver.

Facing Detroit for the second time in four days, the Rangers got the blood pumping early by surviving 3:18 of shorthanded ice time in the first period, which included a 42-second, 5-on-3 Red Wings power play.

The Rangers’ penalty kill has only given up two power-play goals so far, having fended off 13 of the 15 man-advantage stretches they’ve faced. They defended 3 of 4 on Thursday, after allowing one late in the third, but the early shorthanded success quickly created offense.

“I like the fact that we were faced with a little bit of adversity to start the game in the first period,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “Penalty killers did a really good job. I liked the response that we scored right after it was over.”

Laviolette continued while speaking with NHL.com’s Dave Hogg…

“I liked that we faced some early adversity with the penalty kill and responded so well,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “The power play was good all night and the penalty kill was big early in the game.”

…

Panarin then gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 8:30, scoring off a cross-ice pass by Trocheck after Alexis Lafreniere forced a turnover in the Red Wings end.

Panarin made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 15:39, putting a wrist shot over Talbot’s shoulder from the top of the left face-off circle.

Seider cut it to 2-1 at 1:27 of the second period, but Trocheck made it 3-1 at 8:46, tipping in Panarin’s shot on the power play.

Panarin completed the hat trick with another power-play goal to extend it to 4-1 at 11:42, a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Fox.

…

Victor Mancini scored his first NHL goal to push it to 5-1 at 12:20 on a wrist shot near the blue line. Mancini, a Michigan native, had a large cheering section.

“Words can’t really describe that feeling, especially in Michigan,” he said. “My mom and my grandmother were here, along with a lot of aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.”

At the other end of the ice, Jonathan Quick was good when he needed to be, as The Athletic’s Peter Baugh noted…

Quick had to come through for the Rangers early as the Red Wings pushed for the first chunk of the game. He made 10 saves in the first 11 minutes.

“Him keeping it 0-0 early was huge,” Vincent Trocheck said.

Detroit’s best scoring chances came on the 5-on-3, but the Wings weren’t able to get a shot off. Alex DeBrincat had an open net during that stretch but couldn’t get a shot on net from an odd angle.

The Rangers goalie continued his solid play when the score got out of hand. He halted a solid Ben Chiarot attempt early in the third, then 11 more in the period. The goals against were hard to blame on him. The Red Wings scored early in the second after nifty puck movement between Lucas Raymond, J.T. Compher and Mo Seider, who wristed in a dangerous look from the slot. Then, with under four minutes to go, the Rangers left Compher alone in front of the net on the power play and Chiarot found him for a goal.

Quick was a massive luxury as the Rangers’ No . 2 last season, posting a .911 save percentage in 27 games. Thursday was an encouraging start to his 2024-25 campaign. He finished the night with 29 saves on 31 Red Wings shots.

“All the way through he was on point,” Laviolette said. “I thought he played a fantastic game. That’s what you get with someone of his pedigree, a guy who has won championships and played as long as he has.”

The Red Wings readily admitted that they lost because their fundamentals are at odds with their play, as Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen noted:

“Playing in our own end, defending the rush, sorting things out when we’re coming back into our own end, these are all things that we work on every day,” Detroit defenseman Ben Chiarot said. “It’s obviously very early in the season, (but those are) things that we have to continue to work on, continue to get better at. Those are the most important things for us right now.”

They gave up three power play goals, two by Artemi Panarin, to the Rangers. They were down 5-1 by the 12:20 mark and goalie Cam Talbot wasn’t the problem. Coach Derek Lalonde pulled him with the hope of getting a spark.

“This game got away from us on the special teams,” Lalonde said.

Coach Lalonde wasn’t thrilled by some of the Wings’ four power plays surrendered or six penalties taken…

“I’d have to look back at the penalties,” Lalonde said. “I don’t know if they stood out. I don’t like the hold of the stick because that ended up starting on a turnover. And then we get extended D zone time and again. We’re 2-1 in the second. We’re pushing, it feels really good. And then we take a penalty. So it’s 3-1 and 4-1. It’s the game. “

The Red Wings have been outscored 15-6 in their three losses. Every loss has been a little different, but the common thread is poor execution of their objectives.

“I think the defending is where it’s going to start and be most important,” said Detroit center J.T. Compher who scored one of Detroit’s goals. “And we got plenty of guys that can score in our locker room.”

Coming into the season, scoring was also a concern. They now have nine goals in four games. A 2.25 scoring average isn’t going to carry a team to the playoffs.

“It’s (about) how we defend,” Chiarot said, “and I think the rest of the stuff will kind of happen on its own. The goals and everything will kind of stem from defending well and getting the puck back.”

Coach Lalonde continued while speaking with the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan…

“Special teams tonight,” said coach Derek Lalonde, of what the difference in this game was. “The outburst was their power-play goals, which was three of them, to extend the lead. It was a big part of the game. We didn’t execute. That was it. This game got away from us on special teams.”

Lalonde felt the Wings had a good start, and had the two-man advantage but didn’t convert, and the Rangers began to take control with Panarin’s two first-period goals.

“That’s momentum,” said Lalonde of the three Rangers power-play goals. “It’s a frustrating game in that we start very well and they score on their first (offensive) chance and on the first power play and we find ourselves down 2-0 and we had played a pretty good (first) period.”

Once the Rangers began having success on the power play, the Wings’ penalty killing slumped.

“We got slow on it,” Lalonde said. “You get a little gun shy when you lose some confidence in your penalty kill and your pace. To their credit, they score three goals from distance, but they got a stick on it and it was a simple power play as talented as they are. We got a little slow with our pace and rotation and gave them a little time to move the puck around on the perimeter and they got their looks.”

Said Chiarot: “Their power play got going there. Three in a row and it’s a top power play, it’s a real good power play and when you give them that many chances and feeling good, that’s what happened.”

Chiarot summarized the importance of the Wings stopping their skid in short order…

“Very important,” said defenseman Ben Chiarot, of not letting this losing streak get out of hand. “It’s only a couple of games, and we’re playing top teams every night. That’s a team (Rangers) that has been to the Final Four a couple of times the last couple of years. We’re playing some stiff competition, which is good for us early in the season. It’s a good measuring stick and it shows where we have to get to. We have a lot of work to do.”

And Coach Lalonde told the Hockey News’s Connor Eargood that he understands what the Wings’ rough start means to the paying customer:

“Everything at the beginning of the season is magnified,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said after the loss. “You’re gonna go through these type of stretches throughout the year. It just happens to be on the front end. And again, we knew it’d be a tough stretch, just a little frustrating the way some of these have played out.”

Chiarot suggested that the Wings may have yet to have integrated new faces into their roster…

“It’s not something you just flip a switch and it happens,” defenseman Ben Chiarot said about defensive buy-in. “It’s not just guys knowing the structure. We have a lot of offensive minded players, guys that want to go on offense. To get those kind of guys to buy into playing defense, it takes time. It’s a process to buy in. You hear teams every year talk about buying into what the coaches are preaching, and we’re in that process right now. And it doesn’t just happen one night two nights (in). It takes time, and you gotta have lessons like tonight (to) make you change it in a hurry.”

What exactly has to change? The first four games including Thursday’s exposed so many issues going on at once. Defensive play, goaltending and special teams have been decidedly weaknesses of the Red Wings, with little shown progress night to night.

“It’s only a couple games, and we’re playing top teams every night,” Chiarot said. “that’s a team that’s been to the final four a couple times now in the last couple years. So we’re playing stiff competition, which is good for us early in the season. It’s a good measuring stick, and it shows us where we got to get to. We got a lot of work to do. Thankfully, it’s early in the season and we can kind of learn our lesson early, as opposed to fooling ourselves early on, winning a couple easy ones, and then facing teams like this down the stretch when we really need those points.”

Among DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills’ post-game quotes:

Lalonde on what adjustments Detroit tried to make on its penalty kill after Monday’s loss “We just got slow on it. You get a little gun shy when you lose some confidence and your pace on your penalty kill. To their credit, they scored three goals from distance, but they got a stick on it. Simple power play, as talented as they are. Just thought we got a little slow with our pace and rotation, and gave them a little time to move the puck around the perimeter and get their looks.”

Lalonde on bringing Lyon in for Talbot “Have to slow it down, but the goalie change sometimes is your chance to get a timeout.”

Compher on if failing to convert on a 5-on-3 chance in the first period took away any momentum “I don’t think so. We were in a good spot after the first. We got some good chances on the 5-on-3, I think Cat had an empty net that he missed. There were some good chances. I don’t think it really zapped us.”

Chiarot on improving defensively as a team “Obviously playing in our own end, defending the rush and sorting things out when we’re coming in our own end. These are all things that we work on every day. It’s obviously very early in the season. Things that we have to continue to work on and get better at. Those are the most important things for us right now, is how we defend. I think the rest of the stuff will happen on its own.”

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Highlights: ESPN posted an 8:17 highlight clip: