Red Wings-Predators quick take: Wings keep the Predators winless thanks to a big bounce-back win

The Detroit Red Wings and Nashville Predators faced off on Saturday afternoon in a battle of struggling teams. Detroit came into the game with a 1-and-3 record, while Nashville was facing significant pressure to earn its first win at 0-and-4.

Today, the Red Wings won a remarkable game to keep the Predators winless, sweeping the season series by a 5-2 tally. Nashville actually opened the scoring, but Vladimir Tarasenko (assisted by Marco Kasper), Dylan Larkin, Andrew Copp (2) and Simon Edvinsson scored for Detroit, and Alex Lyon stopped 37 shots, including this one:

The Predators and Red Wings hit the ice at Bridgestone Arena just around 1:30 PM EDT…

Detroit tweaked its lines a bit, per Ken Kal…

The Red Wings and Predators dressed the following starters and lineups:

In the 1st period, Luke Schenn was honored for having played in 1,000 games…

And then Marco Kasper drew in for the opening faceoff opposite Colton Sissons, and and Kasper won the draw to Seider, he laterally passed to Edvinsson, and the puck was deflected out of play, affording Detroit a blueline faceoff that Kasper lost.

Detroit managed to generate its first shot as Vladimir Tarasenko generated a shot opportunity in the slot near Saros, but he was in a little too tight to generate a scoring chance;

Then Schenn generated a shot on Alex Lyon, and Kane had to come back to assist Lyon in stopping the Preds’ second shot.

The line of Kane, DeBrincat and Compher generated some zone time, and Compher sent a lateral pass to Kane, but his shot attempt was blocked into the netting 2:05 in…

As the teams settled in some 2:30 into the 1st, Veleno and Copp cycled down low and did not quite connect off a big hit from Veleno;

Fischer, Copp and Veleno cycled well, Maatta pinched and Veleno held the point once, twice, and then Saros had to stop Petry…

Ultimately, the Wings rotated their 4 lines by 3:57 of the 1st period, and the game was pretty physical as well, with both teams bumping and grinding and sometimes struggling to get through the middle of the ice as the teams checked hard through center.

Detroit’s Compher line did its best to stifle O’Reilly, Forsberg and Nyquist, and Lauzon got a shot off on Lyon, a second shot on Lyon, and the Preds cycled deep with 5:35 gone, Lyon stopped a third shot and then DeBrincat and Seider pushed back, but could not sustain pressure.

Lyon made a good stop on Carrier when fed by Stamkos in the slot;

At least there was good flow in the game. The period sped by for the first seven minutes, and that was excellent from an entertainment perspective.

When play resumed some 8:00 into the 1st, Tarasenko and Larkin did their best to help their defense clear the zone as the Predators began to threaten on a regular basis…

Gustav Nyquist circled and sent a puck in front but the Wings were able to clear at 8:40;

Sadly, Luke Schenn fired a long shot toward the net and Alex Lyon did not pick it off as the puck floated past Lyon along the far post.

Schenn scored from Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist to make it 1-0 Nashville at 8:48. 1-0 Predators.

That goal felt like it was coming. And Schenn got it in his 1,001st game.

Detroit did its best to cycle back and charge up with the Kasper line getting help from Chiarot, but he was unable to facilitate offense, and while the Red Wings pushed the nexus of play back to neutral ice, the Predators got three shots off on Lyon in tight, and the third shot beat Lyon as Gustafsson and Maatta got caught watching.

Colton Sissons made it 2-0 at 10:57 of the 1st period. 2-0 Nashville.

Detroit challenged for offside, and they were correct. The score went back to 1-0 NSH.

Detroit was getting roughed up significantly as the Red Wings attempted to push for offense in the Predators’ zone, and when Andrew Copp deked and dangled in front of the net on a mini-breakaway, he flubbed the opportunity.

Thankfully, Vladimir Tarasenko came off the bench as Jonatan Berggren and Marco Kasper cycled down low, and Berggren found Tarasenko in the slot and chipped in a 1-1 goal at 13:26 of the 1st.

Tarasenko made it 1-1 at 13:26.

After the goal, Kane, Compher and DeBrincat attempted to cycle, and they were unable to do so, so Seider rand Edvinsson tried to play catch, DeBrincat bailed them out, and Detroit chipped and changed at 15:05 of the 1st.

Nashville was being given lots of time and space at the Wings’ blueline to race into the offensive zone, but Detroit at least held the slot clear, and Kasper, Rasmussen and Berggren generated a TREMENDOUS scoring chance that Saros stopped;

Rasmussen got cross-checked from behind, no call…

Larkin, Raymond and Tarasenko got a rare shift and looked quite good as they cycled deep and worked the puck from forward to forward, but they were unable to convert on their scoring chance;

Kane dropped to DeBrincat and his shot was blockered away with 2:19 left in the 1st…

DeBrincat, Kane and Compher were finding some chemistry, and DeBrincat made some strong moves, but Edvinsson tripped and Nyquist generated a scoring chance, Skjei, Jankowski, O’Reilly and Nyquist cycled hard, and Edvinsson blocked the puck with a skate to help clear the zone as he worked with Seider.

In the final minute of play, Veleno worked through two Preds, Copp helped in the Predators’ corner, but Nashville cleared, Petry and Chiarot worked with Fischer, the Preds held the zone and Marchessault was unable to take a centering pass as, again, Detroit did a good job of stifling the slot.

In the 2nd period, Kasper started the period again and he, Berggren and Rasmussen generated a scoring chance that Kasper could not quite finish, facilitated by Gustafsson;

Then the Predators pushed back, hard, and Roman Josi sent a shot into Lyon’s glove as the Predators cycled heavily opposite the Kasper line.

The Red Wings then iced the Larkin line, and Larkin had to come back with Tarasenko, Raymond, Seider and Edvinsson to parry the push of the Forsberg line.

1:40 into the 2nd period, Rasmussen, Compher and Kane generated a power play as Patrick Kane forced Michael Del Gaizo to sit at 1:58 of the 2nd period.

The Red Wings’ first unit were unable to generate many chances as Raymond, Kane, Gustafsson, Larkin and DeBrincat worked the perimeter, and Parick Kane fed DeBrincat down low, he was stopped by the goalpost, he regained the puck and fed Dylan Larkin who roofed the puck over Juuse Saros to make it 2-1 at 3:17 of the 2nd.

Larkin scored from DeBrincat and Kane at 3:17 to make it 2-1 Detroit. PPG.

On the bump-up shift, Kasper worked with Compher and Copp for a bit, and Detroit generated another power play as Schenn sat for holding Fischer against the boards at 4:10 of the 2nd period.

Larkin, Kane, Raymond, DeBrincat and Gustafsson worked quite well to generate a scoring chance as Raymond was fed by Larkin on a lateral pass;

Nashville then cleared the puck off the Saros save and ensuing faceoff;

Kane was blocked off, Gustafsson and Larkin could not feed DeBrincat successfully in the “net-front” position;

Larkin was blocked trying to feed Raymond and the second unit headed over the boards with 55 seconds remaining in the PP.

Kasper lost the deep offensive zone faceoff, and Seider and Compher worked with Berggren, Kasper, and Tarasenko, Seider worked the slot and SOMEHOW Saros made a HUGE STOP on a Compher tip.

The power play expired with no goal scored;

Nashville got a 2-on-1 as Forsberg and O’Reilly caught Seider pinching, but they were unsuccessful some 6:45 into the 2nd.

Then the Marchessault line got a great chance as Novak raced in alone and was stifled by Lyon, with Gustafsson and Maatta close behind;

And before a TV timeout at 8:56, Edvinsson and Seider got into it with Stamkos and Nyquist, though it was mostly pushing and shoving that occurred.

Rasmussen got dumped vs. Josi sans call, and then Rasmussen helped clear the zone, displaying grit and determination some 9:45 into the period;

Veleno, Fischer and Copp were OK as a checking line, and Copp couldn’t quite convert when DeBrincat and Raymond came off the bench and chipped a pass into Predator defensemen’s sticks;

Eventually, Saros had to make a shaft-of-the-stick stop on Seider, and at the TV timeout at 12:10:

12:10 2nd period.

Shots 4-4 in the 2nd, 15-15 overall;

Detroit 1-for-2 in 3:19 of PP time;

Shot attempts now 26-26;

Hits 18-18;

Giveaways 8-4 Detroit;

Takeaways 5-4 Detroit;

Blocked shots 7-6 Detroit;

Faceoffs 13-10 Nashville (43%).

When play resumed, Rasmussen generated a great scoring chance on his own blazing up the wing, but Saros stifled him…Off a smart pass from Petry and furtherance thereof by Berggren;

Edvinsson and Seider were doing a fine job of battling Evangelista, O’Reilly and Filip Forsberg, who got loose, and after Forsberg jabbed at Lyon, LUCAS RAYMOND went after both O’Reilly and Forsberg, and Larkin went after O’Reilly.

Forsberg and Raymond sat at 15:25 of the 2nd period for roughing.

On the 4-on-4, Compher was unable to put a puck on goal off a great three-line pass by Chiarot;

Copp and Compher worked together on the 4-on-4, with Chiarot and Petry, and Compher found Chiarot for a good scoring chance off the wing that was stopped by Saros;

Tarasenko and Kasper worked together with Seider and Edvinsson, and they worked the 4-on-4 man-on-man, generating a neutral shift;

Veleno and Copp got some time together with Maatta and Gustafsson, and Lyon had to blocker away a shot from Josi;

And the 4-on-4 expired and the Predators remained in charge of the puck until Raymond cleared the zone once, Forsberg fed Sissons, who fired a shot wide, and Detroit managed to at least generate a wee bit of zone time in the Preds’ end.

Nashville was crawling back into the game, however, and Raymond, Larkin and DeBrincat struggled vs. Jankowski, Smith and O’Reilly, but when O’Reilly jabbed at Lyon again and threw down Edvinsson…

EVERYBODY PILED IN to take care of one another.

Cole Smith took the only roughing penalty at 16:52 of the 2nd, affording Detroit its third power play.

Detroit worked the PP laterally with Kane and Gustafsson cycling, Larkin was tripped terribly and that was not called…

So Nashville cleared the zone, Gustafsson sent the puck back to Kane who blazed through center with DeBrincat, the puck came out to center off a Nashville skate, and Detroit regrouped;

Larkin blazed through the middle, fired a shot off Josi and the netting, McCarron cleared the zone for Josi and he hit the crossbar behind Lyon!!!!

Detroit’s second PP unit surrendered a chance to Gustav Nyquist with resulted in a penalty to Seider at 18:30, giving Nashville 4 on 4 for 22 seconds and then a PP…

Worse, Ben Chiarot was called for tripping with 1:04 remaining, giving the Preds 1:34 of a 5 on 3.

Compher won the initial faceoff to clear the zone;

Compher, Rasmussen and Petry worked together to clear the zone again with 35 left in the period;

Marchessault, Stamkos, Forsberg, Josi and Forsberg worked together, LYON MADE A GIGANTIC STICK STOP ON STAMKOS and Dylan Larkin almost got a breakaway on the second flourish, with Lyon making another stop before the period ended.

With that, the 2nd period ended.

In the 3rd period, the Predators began with 30 seconds of 5-on-3 time and 56 seconds of total power play time,

So the Red Wings started won the opening faceoff, Compher, Edvinsson and Petry set up for the PK, and Lyon made a big stop on Stamkos all of 17 seconds in…

Compher won another draw but Petry could not clear the zone…

And wouldn’t you know it, Stamkos scored on the third try, tying the game 2-2 at 32 seconds, from Forsberg.

Stamkos made it 2-2 at 32 seconds of the 3rd period, from Forsberg.

There was a lengthy delay to determine whether Ben Chiarot could come out and return the game to 5-on-5, and the Wings got the call in their favor.

So it was 2-2 32 seconds into the 3rd.

And Moritz Seider SMOKED Filip Forsberg after the draw, sans call against, with Forsberg returning a hit to Seider on the Predators’ offensive foray.

Seider kept hitting and the Wings kept the Preds from generating scoring chances on Lyon as the Kasper line did a good job of working the puck to the perimeter, for the most part, and while the Wings were bending…

They did not break.

Lyon had to make a big stop on the next shift, with Maatta and Gustafsson working with Veleno, Copp and Fischer, but he wasn’t going to be able to get away with making no saves in the 3rd…

And Christian Fischer, Joe Veleno and Andrew Copp scored a goal that went off Copp’s skate and through Saros’ 5-hole to make it 3-2 Detroit at 3:29 of the 3rd.

Fischer, Veleno and Copp scored at 3:29 to make it 3-2.

The Kasper line then had a very good bump-up shift with Seider and Edvinsson, generating scoring chances and zone time…

At the other end of the ice, Lyon made a big stick save on a deflected shot about 5:00 in…

And he made some big stops on Stamkos and Forsberg to nurse the Wings to a commercial time-out 6:10 into the 3rd.

As the period progressed, Copp continued to have a very good game by Copp standards, generating some offense and back-checking quite well on Forsberg;

As the period continued, Berggren, Kasper and Rasmussen nearly scored in tight, Lyon made a big stop on O’Reilly on a back-door pass…

Long story long, the teams traded some tremendous chances at times, but the Wings were giving up shots and not chances most of the time.

Lucas Raymond almost scored on a mini-breakaway, but he was checked by Brady Skjei…

Detroit was being badly out-shot–the shots were 11-3 Preds some 10:10 into the 3rd–but Lyon’s workload was manageable, and Detroit did a good job of limiting the secondary scoring chances.

Sadly, Simon Edvinsson got hurt and left the bench with some 9:00 remaining in the 3rd, resulting in a 5-defenseman situation for the Red Wings…

Detroit did its best to hang on with 5 D, and Edvinsson returned from the locker room…

So the Wings and Preds seemed to run out of gas for a couple of minutes, Fischer, Veleno and Copp had a very good shift with 6:35 remaining, Josi sent a pass to Skjei for a shot on Lyon…

Raymond made a steal and DeBrincat sent a shot wide of Saros;

Seider hit a Pred and Carrier fired a shot in on Lyon with 5:28 left in the 3rd…

5:28 left 3rd period.

Shots 14-3 Nashville in the 3rd. Shots 37-20 Nashville overall.

Shot attempts 68-42 Nashville;

Hits 27-25 Nashville;

Giveaways 16-8 Detroit;

Takeaways 11-5 Detroit;

Blocked shots 13-12 Detroit;

Faceoffs 29-24 Detroit (55%).

The Kasper line got hemmed into its own zone, but Berggren and Kasper worked hard with Rasmussen, and LYON STONED FORSBERG when his shot was tipped off Edvinsson.

To their credit, the Predators were emptying the tank in terms of territorial play and resolve, but Detroit wasn’t getting caught with its hockey pants down, either.

As the period wound down, I will be honest–the Predators looked to be tiring Detroit out and wearing the Wings out in general, but Detroit held on with every bit of its strength, again, the Kasper-Berggren-Rasmussen line was excellent…

The Predators pulled Saros with 2:09 remaining in regulation time, and Larkin, Raymond and Compher came out with Seider and Edvinsson to tangle with the Preds’ best.

Larkin won the initial draw and Seider iced the puck with 2:02 remaining;

Larkin won the next draw, and the Wings did not ice the puck;

The Predators stayed patient and poised, and waited their turn to some extent…

But the Preds were fumbling the puck and SIMON EDVINSSON took a Nyquist mishandle and chipped it all the way down into the empty net to make it 4-1 Detroit at 18:43 of the 3rd.

Edvinsson, unassisted, 18:43 of the 3rd. 4-1 Detroit.

The Predators pulled Saros again anyway, and the Kasper line worked vs. Stamkos and company, Rasmussen fed Copp and he SCORED AGAIN INTO THE EMPTY NET.

Andrew Copp scored at 19:18 from Rasmussen to make it 5-2.

The game ended as such.

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!