Red Wings-Penguins quick take: Edvinsson, Talbot help Wings squeeze out an OT win

The Detroit Red Wings hoped to stabilize their 6-7-and-1 record against the 6-9-and-2 Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night. Pittsburgh was reeling from a 7-1 loss to Dallas on Monday, and the team had vowed to turn their ship around starting tonight.

The Red Wings, who had lost 2 straight games, were veering into territory where the rest of the Atlantic Division was getting its act together, so it was simply time for the Wings to begin to capitalize on the quality of competition it faced as it began a difficult 4-game road trip.

The road trip heads West after tonight in order for the Wings to battle Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose.

On Wednesday night, the Red Wings just barely defeated the desperate Pens in overtime, via a Simon Edvinsson goal that was truly glorious.

Thankfully, the Red Wings won 3-2 in OT, but Detroit blew its 2-0 lead, and was challenged tremendously by the Penguins. Thankfully, Cam Talbot stopped 32 shots, many of them tremendous in their quality, and Berggren and Kane scored the regulation markers.

Detroit now sits at 7-7-and-1 as the Atlantic Division continues to push forward, and Detroit will have to push even harder as it faces the Pacific Division’s Ducks, Kings and Sharks–in a league where there are no pushovers any more.

In pregame warmups, the Red Wings and Penguins hit the ice just before 7 PM EST…

The Penguins posted their lineup at 7:01 PM, while the Red Wings waited for much closer to game time to reveal their starters and lineup:

Moritz Seider gave a short interview to the TNT crew…

And the starters and scratches were as follows:

In the 1st period, the Red Wings and Penguins went strength-for-strength, with Larkin’s line starting opposite Malkin & Crosby, Edvinsson and Seider battling Grzelcyk and Letang, and Talbot battling Nedeljkovic;

The puck hit the ice at 7:38 PM, and Crosby battedthe puck forward off a battle draw, Detroit skated out 2-on-1, and Larkin tipped a point shot onto Nedeljkovic, who made a stop; Larkin got a second shot off that Nedeljkovic stopped, Detroit held the puck in momentarily, and Detroit changed 39 seconds in;

The Pens raced into Detroit’s zone opposite Copp, Kane and Compher, but they fired wide, and Detroit parried and menaced the Pens, with Holl and Gustafsson at least clearing the puck to center ice before Detroit changed;

Kasper & company joined the fray and Tarasenko rushed around the net, Nedeljkovic made a good stop, and Detroit regrouped as Fischer, Veleno and Rasmussen attempted to generate some scoring chances, but were stifled by the Penguins’ fourth line.

Letang got the Pens’ first shot off about 1:30 into the 1st, and Veleno and Fischer couldn’t get a 2-on-1 going, but Petry and Chiarot chipped, Detroit chased, and Raymond wrapped to Edvinsson, whose shot through traffic was blocked away.

Pittsburgh and Detroit both looked particularly sharp and Larkin had to block Crosby from tapping home an empty-netter…

The Pens generated some good zone time before Chiarot skated up the right wing side and dropped the puck to a covered Kane, Detroit regrouped, and Gustafsson fed it to Copp, who was tied up in the slot as the Red Wings flipped a couple of pucks toward Nedeljkovic, with Kasper joining the fray;

Five minutes in, the shots were 5-1 Detroit.

A nice spin attempt by Edvinsson did not connect with Fischer;

Pittsburgh got the puck opposite the Larkin line, Raymond took the puck away, Chiarot and Larkin got their signals crossed, and Rakell fired the puck wide of the net;

Seider flipped and chase, Detroit changed lines some 6:00 into the 1st, and Holl got a good scoring chance on Nedeljkovic, who made a poke checking save;

Kane, Compher and Copp really struggled to generate much of anything as they were just “off” early on, but Berggren, Tarasenko and Kasper nearly generated a slot chance as Tarasenko also fired a puck flubby;

His next shots were on goal, and Tarasenko broke his stick off a fall into the end boards;

With the Penguins in the offensive zone, Detroit blocked an Acciari shot, Fischer fired a shot into Nedeljkovic that was stopped easily, and Detroit regrouped at their blueline.

Again, Detroit regrouped, Rakell got a long shot off on Talbot, and Detroit iced the puck with 9:28 gone.

As play resumed, the Penguins looked more authoritative, but the Pens chipped the puck into their own bench, ushering in the first TV timeout at 10:10.

When play resumed, Seider walked the line with Edvinsson as the Wings won an offensive zone draw, DeBrincat and Larkin cycled down low, but the Pens cleared the zone, Detroit negated it s own hand pass, and the Wings changed at 10:53;

A Karlsson shot was blocked into the corner, and Malkin fired a pass to a vacant point position, so Kasper fed Tarasenko, who tried to feed Berggren;

Holl held the line, Pittsburgh regrouped, chipped and changed, and the second TV timeout hit at 12:04.

Coach Lalonde was asked by Darren Pang if the Wings were getting enough traffic to the net, and he suggested that the Wings were doing so while preventing Pittsburgh from getting their own chances from back-of-the-net play.

As play continued, the Pens cycled down low, Lizzotte and the Pens pinned the puck into the Wings’ end, and both teams changed nearly 13 minutes in;

Crosby was able to break free off a pass hitting the end boards and Crosby got a shot off that Talbot easily stopped;

Detroit went the other way, Crosby, Larkin and Edvinsson cycled for DeBrincat, who fed Edvinsson, his shot was blocked, but Detroit persisted, with Raymond and Edvinsson sending a long shot on Nedeljkovic.

Copp and the Red Wings blocked off a couple of scoring chances by the Pens’ 3rd line before Compher, Petry and Kane cycled deep for a moment;

A bad turnover from Kasper yielded Rust, Bunting and Malkin generating a tremendous scoring chance that Talbot stopped, and Bunting tried to rile up Chiarot and Petry;

When the Penguins loaded up Crosby and Malkin, they won one faceoff, but their shots were blocked out by the Wings;

Copp won a draw and Compher made a turnover, but Detroit regrouped and chipped and chased, only to find Pittsburgh chip, chase, and Talbot send the puck to a Pen, who centered to Crosby. He was stifled, as was Malkin, and Malkin was STONED BY TALBOT IN TIGHT.

Crosby whined for a penalty as per usual, but there was no penalty called.

Detroit brought out the Larkin line for the next shift, and they were hemmed into their own end, and Talbot watched Lizzotte get hit by a puck in the face, and tried to tend to the Pens player as he went off for repairs.

As Pittsburgh attempted to surge forth with 3:15 remaining in regulation, Talbot stopped a Puljujarvi shot, Pettersson was blocked by Petry, and Rasmussen chipped and chased, grabbed a Nedeljkovic clear, and Detroit’s fourth line cycled a bit, but Bunting broke into the Wings’ end, Berggren, Tarasenko and Kasper had to deal with being pinned into the boards, and Malkin fed Rust for a shot that Talbot stopped with his stick.

Tarasenko did feed Berggren for a great chance in the slot, but Nedeljkovic made a strong save look routine, even with Kasper driving the net.

The Larkin line worked with a pinching Seider to generate a couple of shot attempts, and Raymond and then DeBrincat and Edvinsson were stifled by Nedeljkovic and the Pens’ shot-blocking defense with about a minute left;

In the final minute of play, Detroit battled through center ice, the Pens broke back into Detroit’s zone, and in the final 20 seconds of play, Malkin, Letang and company capitalized on a Kane turnover, but could not score as Benning and Grzelcyk whiffed wide.

In the 2nd period, Larkin and Crosby drew in for the second period faceoff and Crosby won it back to Letang, Pittsburgh chipped and chased, Seider and Raymond were overmanned, but Detroit cleared the zone once, twice, and three times before generating a long shot attempt wide;

Tarasenko fed Berggren for a BOMB from the left wing that flittered through Nedeljkovic’s blocker side as Kasper charged toward the net, occupying the Penguins’ defenders.

Jonatan Berggren scored from Tarasenko and Petry at 1:00. 1-0 Detroit.

The group was then hemmed into its own end for a bit, but Detroit managed to at least keep the Penguins off the board as Malkin, Rust and Puustinen tried to take advantage of a tired Kasper line.

Then Copp, Kane and Veleno worked together for a bit, with Gustafsson and Holl forcing Nedeljkovic to make a strong stop.

As play continued, Larkin, Raymond and Seider raced up 3 on 2 and DeBrincat was STIFLED by Nedeljkovic as Larkin lost a net-front-jab via a bad puck bounce;

With Holl and Gustafsson on defense, Veleno, Rasmussen and Fischer generated a power play as Rasmussen was tripped by Poulin at 4:24.

On the power play, Detroit won the opening faceoff, Seider flicked a shot on Nedeljkovic, and the Pens cleared the zone easily;

Seider regrouped with Larkin and Kane, but the exchange didn’t work, so Detroit Datsyuk Dropped for DeBrincat, Kane and DeBrincat got a shot on goal, and Nedeljkovic stopped the puck and held on with 1:21 left in the PP.

Larkin was tossed from the offensive zone faceoff, and the Pens won the draw, could not clear easily, and KANE SCORED ON A WIDE OPEN PASS FROM LARKIN.

Kane scored from Larkin and Raymond at 5:15 to make it 2-0.

Detroit continued to press the Penguins in terms of pressure, and Veleno, Rasmussen and Fischer had a good grind together, forcing the Pens to spend an entire shift in their own zone before Kane raced into the zone, fired a couple of shots in on Nedeljkovic…

But Bryan Rust got away from Moritz Seider, and he deked and dangled through Talbot to make it 2-1.

Rust scored from Bunting at 7:19 to make it 2-1.

Worse, Puljujarvi pulled Raymond’s shoulder during a flying check at center ice, and Raymond spoke with Piet Van Zant during the commercial timeout…

Raymond stayed on the bench, but the Penguins burst forth some 8:55 into the 2nd, with Erik Karlsson blasting some boomers toward Talbot, and Detroit was in tough against the Penguins’ toughness…

Larkin, Raymond and DeBrincat took to the ice vs. Malkin, Crosby and Rakell, Seider was tripped–slew-footed–by Malkin–and Seider and Edvinsson recovered to center ice, Detroit chipped and changed with the Kasper line coming out, and Holl and Gustafsson popped onto the ice…

After a Berggren swipe of a Nedeljkovic turnover, Larkin, out late, took a bank shot from Gustafsson and challenged Nedeljkovic;

Pittsburgh continued to challenge the Wings some 11:00 into the 1st, and the Pens were firing a lot of shots off the end boards intentionally;

A bad turnover yielded a good stop by Talbot on the Pens’ D, and Kane, Copp and Compher regrouped…

But Talbot put the net off, the gents got crossed up on a long shift, and Crosby fed the puck to Pettersson, he flipped a puck off Beauvillier’s stick and the Wings stood around as the Pens tied the game at 2-2.

Beauvillier from Pettersson and Crosby to make it 2-2 at 12:23 of the 2nd.

After the bump-up shift, DeBrincat, Larkin and Raymond gave up a chance to Malkin and another to Rust before Bunting scrummed with Edvinsson some 13:26 into the 2nd…

As play continued, Kasper’s line worked vs. Crosby and they got walked the first rush, but the trio was tough and Petry helped cycle the puck down low, found Tarasenko and he sent the puck into Nedeljkovic, who was able to stifle the Wings and the rebound.

After a TV timeout with 5:45 remaining, Pittsburgh was called for hooking on the draw as O’Connor grabbed Copp at 14:15.

Detroit worked Kane, Larkin, DeBrincat and Raymond cycling, but the Pens chipped the puck away from Kane;

Larkin held the puck in for a moment on the next rush, but the Pens cleared it, and Seider Datsyuk Dropped it to Kasper as the 2nd unit took the ice;

Gustafsson fed Tarasenko for a shot that was blocked, Gustafsson fed Berggren for a shot that had no screen or rebound, and while Compher was doing an admirable job of being the “bumper,” no screen in front of Nedeljkovic made the job harder.

Ultimately, Detroit was unable to score on the power lay, and Rust raced in and was stopped by Talbot as O’Connor was forcefully pushed from the net.

The Pens kept loading up on Malkin, Crosby, Letang, etc. as they got offensive zone faceoffs against the Wings, and Detroit’s fourth line faced a challenge off an icing, especially as Veleno was warned for cheating, so Grzelcyk got a good shot off that was blocked out of play.

The Wings struggled to some extent as the period wound down, and Rasmussen, Fischer and Veleno had their hands full to be certain as the Crosby line buzzed, but even as Malkin and O’Connor came over the boards, Ben Chiarot went off for high-sticking at 17:26.

On the penalty-kill, Detroit managed to at least clear the puck on the first rush;

Pittsburgh battled Larkin, who was held up, Seider, Edvinsson and Compher, and Detroit was able to chip dump-ins out for the first minute of PK time;

Malkin and Rakell dropped to Rust, but he was blocked, Crosby cycled to Rust and then back to Karlsson, Rust looked for a shot pass to Crosby, the Pens held and Detroit blocked shots and cleared the zone as Edvinsson and Seider blocked and blocked as best they could;

When Karlsson did get a shot on goal, Talbot made a good stop.

The Pens’ power play concluded with a good block from Petry on Rakell, Detroit held the Pens to one shot on goal, and Detroit managed to exit the second period without surrendering a goal against.

In the 3rd period, Larkin and Crosby drew in for the opening faceoff, Detroit won it, and Seider pitchforked a pass to DeBrincat, who put the puck on Nedeljkovic’s doorstep…

Crosby went the other way, and was stifled by Talbot after breaking away from Seider and Edvinsson…

And Raymond and Beauvillier traded glove-on punches in a post-whistle scrum.

Talbot had to make another good stop on Letang off the ensuing faceoff loss;

And Detroit was called for a penalty at 36 seconds as Seider was called for cross-checking.

On the penalty-kill, Copp, Chiarot, Petry and Compher drew in, Compher cleared the zone and broke in himself to fire a shot into the corner;

Pittsburgh broke back into the Wings’ zone and cycled, Malkin fed Karlsson and he blasted a bomb high and wide, Malkin fed Crosby, Karlsson fed Rakell and he fired wide, Crosby fed Rakell and Talbot stifled Rakell.

With 1:09 left on the PK, Larkin, Raymond, Edvinsson and Holl took to the ice, and they cleared the zone once, twice, the Pens set up in Detroit’s end, and Puljujarvi fed Malkin, Crosby centered and Talbot made a very lucky stop;

Karlsson and Crosby tried to convert back-door, and they could not, ending the penalty-kill;

Letang then got a wide-open shot attempt that he blasted wide;

With 16:52 left in regulation, Petry and Tarasenko fed a shot into Nedeljkovic and he held on…

Compher, Copp and Kane haven’t had a whole lot of chemistry as of yet, and they worked with Gustafsson and Holl, putting pucks into Penguins players, struggling to get through center ice, and ultimately blocking a couple of shot attempts against;

Malkin & company took to the ice and Talbot had to make a really good stop on Bunting at 4:22.

The Larkin line then worked the puck in deep, but could not hold the offensive blueline, and the Wings were at least talking while Pittsburgh parried a Wings rush, executed a 3-on-2, and were stifled by Larkin and Chiarot;

When the Pens raced the other way, Bunting went offside at 5:12;

Pittsburgh was stacking its top lines, going Malkin, Crosby, Malkin, Crosby some 5:39 into the 3rd…

But Pittsburgh was winning the 1-on-1 puck battles and dominating the neutral zone play, so Detroit had a hard time establishing possession and control in the offensive zone–hell, they had a hard time establishing possession and control, period.

So Detroit was hemmed in for a bit as the Kane line just isn’t very good chemistry-wise, and Detroit did counter-attack with Compher finding Kane, but the puck went off Letang’s skate instead.

Compher, Kane and Petry cycled as well, but Nedeljkovic stopped the puck with 12:39 left in regulation time.

The Wings continued to seem to be playing on their back skate, with passes just not connecting, rushes falling apart and back-door passes going nowhere…

8:30 into the 3rd, Crosby and Chiarot fought for the puck, the Kasper line just looked “off,” and Rakell skated the other way and was blocked off by Chiarot;

Letang fed Beauvillier in the slot, but he was stopped by Talbot…

Copp, Compher and Kane then worked with Edvinsson and Seider as the Penguins cycled away, and Seider was tripped, Kane did a great job of blocking off Bunting’s stick, and Copp and Kane worked with Seider on a broken play, Compher fed Gustafsson, and his shot was blocked, but Kane retrieved a D pass, Detroit cycled away, and the Pens got away with a couple of penalties;

As did Kane when he tied up Bunting.

With 9:30 remaining in the 3rd, O’Connor was blocked off after firing a blast over Talbot’s crease and wide;

DeBrincat and Larkin worked a cycle and Chiarot got tied up in the slot, preventing a slot chance;

DeBrincat, Raymond and Larkin then struggled to prevent the Pens from chipping and changing;

Kasper’s unit came on, and they worked with Edvinsson and Seider to cycle deep, and a giveaway by Graves yielded a shot and a slug into Berggren’s face that was uncalled.

The next TV timeout hit with 7:50 remaining…

When play resumed, Larkin and company lost a deep offensive zone faceoff, and Acciari nearly broke away as a result;

Detroit was just losing puck battles, and the Pens were more desperate.

Larkin fed Petry for a shot from the point that was blocked by Karlsson, and the Pens set up with 6:45 remaining;

Rakell dangled and put the puc koff the outside of the post;

Beauvillier sent a one-timer wide of Talbot;

Copp, Kane and Compher then worked with 6:00 remaining, and Kasper’s line succeeded them;

Tarasenko, Berggren and Kasper at least got a deep cycle going for a moment–a moment–before the PEns came back the other way;

Petry tied up Malkin sans call against;

With 5:00 remaining, the Veleno line took to the ice, and Holl and Gustafsson worked hard to help Fischer and Rasmussen cycle as best they could for a bit;

Both teams changed with 4:23 remaining, and Crosby walked in, dropped to Rakell, a point shot was tipped over a stick, but Edvinsson iced it opposite the Crosby line…

Pittsburgh won the d-zone draw, but Raymond, DeBrincat and Larkin at least pushed the Pens back into their own zone before surrendering a long shot against, and Larkin chipped and chased, Raymond fed Chiarot for a long shot that was stifled by Nedeljkovic, Chiarot and Larkin tried to cycle a backhand pass to the back door, and Petry fired a shot to Rust skating in and Petry dirtily slashed Rust…

But he got away with it.

With 2:23 left, Copp, Compher and Kane tried to establish a forecheck, and Kane tried to beat the Pens’ 2 D, but he could not, Berggren centered ffor Kasper, Kane stayed on the ice long and fired a shot into traffic, Kasper and Berggren battled hard, Tarasenko was sealed by Puljujarvi and the Pens got rid of the Wings’ pressure.

The Veleno line then took to the ice, Rasmussen tapped a puck deep, but Nedeljkovic came out to help his Pens teammates, and Crosby put the puck off a stick to yield a timeout with 1:00 remaining.

When play resumed, the Larkin line worked hard with Seider’s help to cycle and wrap but Nedeljkovic stopped Seider’s chance to score;

Bunting held up Seider, Rust battled Larkin, Detroit cleared the zone, and Seider regrouped, Edvinsson and Seider played catch, and Edvinsson tried to feed Fischer, but instead, Puljujarvi missed the net on a one-man breakaway.

In overtime, Larkin, Raymond and Seider started opposite Crosby, Rakell and Letang…

The Pens won the draw, Crosby dropped to Rakell, for Crosby, blocked, the Pens cycled and Larkin raced up the right wing, to the left side, he regrouped at center, and Raymond deked through, walked, stopped, looked for Seider to Larkin skate to stick drove the slot and the Pens took the puck away.

Karlsson and Malkin were STOPPED BY TALBOT with a huge stop, and with 3:45 left, Seider set up slowly, fed Kane, he dropped to DeBrincat, he fed it to the slot and EDVINSSON SCORED THE GAMER OVER NEDELJKOVIC!

Edvinsson scored from DeBrincat and Kane at 1:30 of OT to make it 3-2.

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!

One thought on “Red Wings-Penguins quick take: Edvinsson, Talbot help Wings squeeze out an OT win”

  1. Decent win. I’d love it though if one game could go by where I don’t see one or more of Gustafsson/Holl/Petry making beer league level mistakes. At this point it’s just baked in.

    Reply

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