Red Wings-Ducks quick take: Damned by the Ducks

The Detroit Red Wings began a three-game West Coast swing by visiting the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night. Anaheim had lost 5 of its previous 6 games, but its 5-8-and-2 record wasn’t that far removed from Detroit’s 7-7-and-1 mark.

As such, the Red Wings needed to at least earn a majority of the points from Anaheim, Los Angeles (on Saturday) and San Jose (on Monday night) to not head home from California looking like a struggling team.

When the rubber met the road on Friday night, the Red Wings fell on their faces, frankly, dropping a 6-4 decision to the Ducks–a team I don’t believe they respected.

Detroit raced out to a 3-1 lead on goals by Kasper, Berggren and Raymond, but Detroit surrendered 2 straight power play goals to the Ducks late in the 2nd and early in the 3rd, and Anaheim broke away after that, taking a 5-3 lead on bad goals against Lyon and bad play by a Red Wings team that was hobbled by the loss of Simon Edvinsson (knee bruise).

Ultimately, a Ducks empty-netter determined the course of the game, despite Alex DeBrincat’s late comeback marker, and the Red Wings will essentially head into their games vs. LA (tonight at 8 PM EST) and San Jose (Monday at 10:30 PM EST) needing to win both games to have a successful road trip.

This is what happens when you get out-worked and your special teams are not very good. Despite the 2 power-play goals for the Wings, their penalty-kill remains a liability, and on a night where their goaltending was “off,” they struggled.

In the pregame skate, Alex Lyon led the Red Wings onto the ice at the Honda Center…

The Ducks are without Robby Fabbri (knee surgery), Mason McTavish, Cam Fowler and Urho Vaakanainen, but their roster still provides a difficult challenge:

The Red Wings don’t announce their lineup until right before the game:

Here are the starters and scratches:

In the 1st period, the Red Wings started the Larkin line with Edvinsson and Seider opposite the Ducks’ checking line of McGinn, Lundestrom and Leason, with Pavel Mintyukov and the deadly Radko Gudas on defense. Alex Lyon faced off against John Gibson in goal.

Larkin drew in for the opening faceoff and tied it up, but the Ducks pushed the puck to center, Edvinsson flicked the puck deep, and Gudas battled Raymond and pinned DeBrincat to the boards as Anaheim chipped and chased.

Johansson joined the fray at 25 seconds of the 1st, and Gibson stopped a dump-in, the Wings stifled a dump-out at center, and Larkin went offside at 42 seconds of the 1st, yielding the first whistle of the game.

A second faceoff at center ice was taken by Compher and passed to the D, with Seider and Edvinsson chipping and Kane almost stuffing a loose puck before the Ducks generated their first shot–and scoring chance, as Lyon stopped Trevor Zegras’ backhand.

Sadly, the Ducks won the next faceoff, and Owen Zellweger ripped a floater of a shot through Lyon at 1:12 of the 1st, affording Anaheim the game’s first goal.

Zellweger scored from Lacombe and Carlsson at 1:12 of the 1st. 1-0 Anaheim.

As play continued, Michael Rasmussen was high-sticked sans call;

When the Larkin line took to the ice, DeBrincat, Larkin and Raymond worked with Petry to try and penetrate the Dicks’ shot-blocking defense, and Larkin almost set up Raymond once, then he set up DeBrincat;

Kane then fired another shot on Gibson some 3:32 into the 1st period, and Detroit re-set with the Copp-Compher-Kane line working together;

Anaheim actually had a very speedy counterattack, and Detroit seemed to struggle with the Ducks’ speed as Zegras and Strome tried to generate a scoring chance, but Tarasenko, Kasper and Berggren afforded Kasper a POINT BLANK chance in the slot that Gibson gloved.

As play continued, The Wings’ “third line” worked with Petry and Chiarot, who struggled against Carlsson, Killorn and company, and Detroit tipped a puck out of play at 5:21.

Detroit and Anaheim parried each other’s chances away as the Veleno line came out for its second shift, and Gustafsson and Johansson worked quite hard to ensure that the Ducks didn’t threaten Lyon while their “fourth line” battled the Ducks’ checkers.

Anaheim definitely had the momentum early on, and Detroit just looked kind of flat despite its scoring chances;

Larkin did find Raymond for a pass that went off the heel of his stick, Raymond deked and dangled, and Larkin got high-sticked by Brett Leason at 6:57 of the 1st, affording Detroit its first power play.

On the power play, Larkin was ready to go off the opening faceoff, so the high stick didn’t damage him, and he, Raymond, DeBrincat, Seider and Kane worked together, but Anaheim broke in 2-on-1 shorthanded, and Kane made a good block to stifle the Ducks’ rush;

As Detroit moved through center ice, Anaheim gave Detroit no space with which to work, however, and the power play changed units, with Tarasenko and Berggren working with Seider, Compher and Kasper, who SCORED A TOP-SHELF GOAL OVER GIBSON TO MAKE IT 1-1 at 7:58 of the 1st period.

Kasper scored from Compher and Seider at 7:58 of the 1st period to make it 1-1. PPG.

Detroit actually faced some stiff resistance from the Ducks, but Compher, Copp and Kane cycled and took off the ice, Larkin charged up 3-on-3 with DeBrincat and Raymond, Larkin was held up and Vatrano dropped to Mintyukov and Gudas slid the puck up the ice as the Ducks’ Harkins attacked, with Gustafsson and Johansson trying to stifle Anaheim’s threat.

Anaheim was able to generate a wraparound chance that Lyon stopped, and Kasper raced up the left wing, Chiarot pinched, and Detroit continued to battle the Ducks along the side boards, with Chiarot, Berggren, Tarasenko and Kasper generating a shot opportunity for Chiarot.

With the Ducks and Red Wings fans at the Honda Center chanting, “Let’s go Red Wings” and “booooooooooooo,” play continued, Veleno, Rasmussen and Raymond did some poke-and-hoping, Raymond reversed to Edvinsson, he was stopped off the rush, as was Larkin, and Anaheim cleared its zone;

After the first TV timeout, Compher, Copp and Kane pushed into the Ducks’ zone, and were supported by Edvinsson at center ice. Copp and Compher battled Zegras along the side boards, Compher stole the puck and Copp was stifled by Gibson;

Anaheim went the other way 3-on-2, and Terry, Vatrano and Zegras cycled, worked it to the point, and Zellweger blasted another shot wide of Lyon;

Anaheim cycled as Detroit slowly changed lines, Raymond and Larkin tried to break away, and the Ducks’ Harkins did a good job of blocking a “home run” pass;

The Ducks’ sticks and skates were in shooting and passing lanes, and so it wasn’t easy for Detroit to generate much of anything.

Of all people, Lyon had to stop a net-front-ram from Radko Gudas some 15:00 into the 1st;

On the next shift, Fischer, Veleno and Rasmussen had their hands full with Terry, Dumoulin and the Ducks, and Rasmussen stole a clearing attempt and slid a shot into Gibson, who made a smart stop to usher in another TV timeout.

When play resumed with 3:54 remaining, Anaheim actually won a rare faceoff, pushed the puck into Detroit’s zone, and forced an offside faceoff at the Wings’ blueline, which they won and chipped into the Wings’ end.

Seider and Edvinsson had to get help from Larkin to prevail in clearing the zone, Anaheim regrouped and Lyon made a good stop with a slot clear from Larkin’s skate;

The Compher line replaced Larkin’s and the neutral zone became the field of play for the most part, with Strome’s long shot punched away by Lyon;

Chiarot sent a big boomer toward the goal with 2:13 remaining, and as soon as the Ducks touched the puck, the Ducks’ hooking and holding ways were negated as Helleson sat at 17:47, and at 17:50, Gudas high-sticked Seider, yielding a 5-on-3.

On the power play, Kane, Raymond, Seider, Larkin and DeBrincat worked the puck down low, and cycled well, but DeBrincat’s back-door pass to Kane went off a defenseman and into Gibson’s big glove;

Detroit won the next faceoff, Seider and Kane worked the slam dunk pass wide, Raymond and DeBrincat worked it for Kane, he cycled when retrieving the puck, and Anaheim was able to clear the zone;

With 1:00 left in the PP, Larkin went offside, and Detroit pushed its second unit over the boards.

Compher, Berggren, Kasper, Gustafsson and Tarasenko worked the perimeter, and in the last minute of play, Tarasenko was blocked, Compher fed Gustafsson for a boomer that was tipped wide, and Tarasenko sent the puck to Berggren, who scored the 2-1 goal on the PP.

Jonatan Berggren scored the 2-1 goal on a Tarasenko pass (and a Kasper secondary assist) at 19:16. 5-on-3 PPG.

The first period expired–as did the power play–without another goal for the Red Wings, but that’s okay. Detroit headed into the intermission up 2-1, and Detroit was winning something like 65% of faceoffs.

In the 2nd period, Detroit started its Kasper line and Lyon stopped a dump-in, Seider and Tarasenko worked up the right wing, but Anaheim cycled back, Carlsson fed Killorn to Zellweger, and he fired a shot just wide of Lyon;

Detroit regrouped and Kasper chased Zellweger into a fall that yielded a Detroit change;

Leason battled Larkin as he came over the boards, Raymond was blocked off but fed by DeBrincat and LUCAS RAYMOND FINALLY SCORED AN EVEN-STRENGTH GOAL TO MAKE IT 3-1 THROUGH GIBSON’s LEGS.

Raymond scored from DeBrincat at 1:05 to make it 3-1.

Anaheim did not give up by any means; the Kane-Compher-Copp line still faced stiff checking, and when Veleno’s line came out to replace them, Anaheim took advantage of a late change to send a shot in on Lyon that he had to stifle;

Harkins then centered a puck to a teammate, Gauthier was stifled by Lyon, and the Ducks headed to the power play as Joe Veleno was tagged for slashing at 3:36.

On the penalty-kill, the Ducks broke in deep off a faceoff loss regroup, and Lyon had to use his head to stop Troy Terry;

Detroit was at least winning faceoffs and clearing the zone with relative ease, but Zellweger, Carlsson, Vatrano, Strome and the Ducks cycled well, Copp, Compher, Edvinsson and Seider cleared the zone and pushed the puck deep, and Detroit changed lines halfway through the PK;

Gauthier, Killorn, Mintyukov, and the rest of the Ducks battled Larkin, Raymond, Seider and Edvinsson, and Lyon made one good stop on a deflection;

Larkin then tried to break away, but the Ducks raced back Detroit’s way, Gauthier sent the puck in for a shot that was stopped, and Veleno came out of the box, dumped the puck and changed some 4:51 into the 1st.

As play continued, the Ducks did a good job of setting up Frank Vatrano for a 3-on-2 break vs. Seider and Edvinsson, but they worked the rebound out to Copp, and Compher and Kane nearly connected on a back-door play; Seider got a shot in on Gibson as well.

The first TV timeout hit at 6:50 of the 2nd.

Thereafter, the Ducks continued to threaten Lyon, but a lovely sliding block by Raymond made quite a bit of difference on a Duck rush;

Larkin centered the puck to an area and Raymond nearly scored his second goal of the night on Gibson at 7:32;

Detroit continued to battle away down low, but Anaheim kept breaking in 3-on-2 against the Wings’ defense, and while Detroit owned territorial advantage, Anaheim’s attack worried me.

As the period neared its halfway mark, Albert Johansson missed the net once, hit a Duck the second time, and Gustafsson blasted a shot off Cutter Gauthier, fumbled an exchange with Johansson, and the Ducks worked hard to pressure Veleno and company, Gauthier blasted a shot high and wide of Lyon on another chance, and Detroit looked to be on even footing at 9:35 of the 2nd.

Compher, Copp and Kane worked a nice little tuck and roll to Seider at the point, Detroit ruled the perimeter and ground it out down low, Seider walked the line and was blocked by Vatrano…

Detroit regrouped, Compher was blasted by Gudas, and Seider turned the puck over to Zegras, yielding a pass for Leason, but Detroit checked hard, and as the Ducks skated deep into Detroit’s zone, Raymond, Larkin and DeBrincat were alert and cleared their zone a couple of times.

Anaheim tried to center a puck to Killorn in the slot, but again, the Larkin line was deliberate, and it survived the Anaheim assault.

Chiarot and Petry replaced Seider and Edvinsson, and Chiarot skated deep into the Ducks’ zone, was bumped by Gudas, and he reversed flow for Berggren and Tarasenko, Kasper flittered a backhand to Berggren, and Johansson chipped a long shot into Gibson’s glove.

After a TV timeout, Johansson got a good shot off that Gibson had to stop, and the Ducks iced the puck;

Larkin actually lost an offensive zone faceoff, and it resulted on a shot by Johnston that Lyon gobbled up;

DeBrincat, Larkin and Raymond returned to the ice and pushed the puck into the offensive zone, but up came the Ducks again, with Killorn battling Chiarot, and DeBrincat retaining the centering pass; he was hit, Gauthier battled deep to Killorn, Chiarot and Petry kicked and jammed, and Larkin and Raymond at least alleviated the pressure the Ducks were beginning to create on a regular basis.

Anaheim continued to press, and a big Gudas blast was stifled by Lyon at 14:12.

When play resumed after a TV timeout, again, the Ducks were pressing pretty heavily, and Detroit got very quiet, which is a bad sign.

Anaheim faced Seider and Edvinsson, however, and they were stout, with the duo facilitating a fine scoring chance by Andrew Copp high on Gibson.

Regrettably, Kasper got penalized for a trip on Zellweger at 16:32, and Anaheim headed to the power play, off a weird play where Kasper kind of fell over and tripped Zellweger accidentally…

And Simon Edvinsson and Lucas Raymond began to throw punches at Strome after the Wings surrendered a shot against.

Lyon stopped the shot, Detroit cleared teh next attempt, and when Troy Terry deked and dangled his way all the way up the ice…

Lyon made a stop.

Anaheim was using their own “Datsyuk drop” at center ice to stifle the PK, but Detroit was learning quickly, and Compher, Copp, Chiarot and Petry worked hard to stifle Zellweger, but he walked through Chiarot, and he centered to Zegras, who flicked a shot over Lyon’s blocker at 17:44 to score a power play goal for the Ducks.

Zegras scored from Zellweger and Killorn at 17:44. PPG, 3-2 Detroit.

Worse, Tarasenko took a penalty for kneeing a Duck with 1:48 left, affording Anaheim another PP.

On the penalty-kill, the Ducks won the opening draw, and Larkin, Raymond, Edvinsson and Seider boxed out the Ducks, Larkin raced up 3-on-1 and fed for Raymond, but he was blocked off;

Zellweger fed Strome to Vatrano, back to Strome it went, and he put the puck off the side of the goal;

With the Larkin unit out long, and Petry on for Seider, Anaheim cycled deep, Lyon made a good stop on Vatrano, a second shot was blocked by Edvinsson, who was stung, Anaheim cycled and Lyon made a good stop, with Raymond ripping the puck down the ice.

Alex Killorn thought he was going to be broken out by a Gibson home run pass, too, but Anaheim was changing, so Killorn was offside–but he did not heed the whistle, and the Red Wings were displeased that the Ducks emerged with a 3-2 lead after 2 periods of play.

In the 3rd period, the Red Wings started the Veleno line, and they won the faceoff to Seider, he chipped the puck down the ice, and the penalty expired with Lyon stopping Strome in tight.

Tarasenko rejoined the fray, but he could not help the Wings’ PK’ers, so he headed off the ice.

The Larkin line succeeded Veleno’s, and Detroit remained on its “back skate,” with Zegras bumping Petry, but Detroit regaining the puck;

Up, down, up, down, the play was sort of “loosey goosey” as the period’s first 90 seconds expired, and Detroit tried to clamp down, but a flubbed pass by Kane yielded a delayed offside and a regroup that Cutter Gauthier nearly put in the Wings’ net.

Ultimately, Detroit cleared its zone and changed, with Kasper’s line coming over the boards, but Anaheim was pressing in a 2-1-2, and Moritz Seider took a penalty for bumping Jansen Harkins with his butt. Seider sat at 2:45 for “interference,” and the Ducks headed to the PP.

On the penalty-kill, the Wings won the intital draw, but could not clear the zone, and Raymond, Larkin, Petry and Chiarot worked together to box out the Ducks as best they could.

Zellweger, Strome and Vatrano all got looks–Vatrano with Lyon on his back–but Detroit emerged unscathed as Lyon simply fell over;

Sadly, Anaheim’s Troy Terry ripped a shot through NO traffic that handcuffed Alex Lyon at 3:54, and the game was tied. 3-3.

Anaheim tied the game at 3-3 at 3:54 due to a Troy Terry goal from Zellweger and Carlsson.

Detroit put out a hybrid line of Kasper with Berggren and Kane for a moment, before Tarasenko rejoined the fray, and Detroit was at least able to cycle deep before Chiarot and Gustafsson were backed into their own zone for a bit;

Kasper dropped to Tarasenko, he battled and was pinned by Lacombe, and the Ducks broke out as Detroit changed;

Seider dumped a Duck–Harkins–as the Ducks’ fans whined away for a penalty–and Harkins lost a skate blade, so the whistle was blown.

Detroit continued to battle as Larkin’s line took to the ice, but they backed up a bit and had to regroup before attacking Gibson, with Larkin nearly assisting as Raymond tucked a puck into Gibson, who made a very lucky save.

Carlsson, Killorn and Zegras really pushed the Veleno line into its own zone, and cycled hard, but Chiarot and Petry bailed the fourth line out…

With 12-and-a-half left in regulation, Kasper, Tarasenko and Berggren could not connect, so Strome and Terry threatened Lyon, Zellweger cycled deep and back to the line, and Tarasenko laid the boom down on Lacombe.

Compher, Copp and Kane joined the fray, and Johansson and Seider played a bit together as Simon Edvinsson was not on the bench for a period of time…

Gustafsson worked with a double-shifting Johansson when play resumed after a TV timeout, and when Detroit flicked the puck out of play, they got lucky in that they were able to deflect the puck out instead of getting called for delay of game.

Detroit then had Veleno and company hit the ice, and it was at least able to generate a scoring chance when Chiarot flittered a point shot into Gibson’s big glove;

With 10:54 remaining, Kasper’s line took to the ice, lost a deep offensive zone faceoff, and the group regrouped, for lack of a better term.

Killorn, Carlsson and Zegras got unlucky due to a smart Jonatan Berggren backcheck, and Detroit changed lines again with 10:00 left in regulation;

Sans Edvinsson…

Seider worked with Chiarot, which is always a volatile pairing.

They helped Copp, Compher and Kane push the puck deep with 9:23 remaining, but the Ducks were going from a 2-1-2 into a 1-4, and they did a good job of pushing Detroit back into neutral ice.

Worse, Cutter Gauthier beat Albert Johansson to a loose puck off the rush, and Gauthier tucked the puck through Alex Lyon to give Anaheim a 4-3 lead with 8:51 left in the 3rd.

Gauthier scored from Helleson and Dumoulin at 11:09 to make it 4-3 Anaheim.

Detroit needed to wake the f*** up, and it was still playing sleepy and shorthanded.

And they lost the game, or nearly so, when Johnston tipped a re-direction of a Harkins pass over Lyon’s glove to make it 5-3 at 11:47.

Helleson had the second assist on Johnston’s goal from Harkins. 5-3 Anaheim.

Detroit brought Berggren’s group over the boards, and Seider put the puck out of play, and Kasper nearly got into a fight with Zegras and Lacombe…

With 7:10 left, the Ducks were just pressing Detroit back to center ice, back to center ice, and Kane, Compher and Copp tried to work a back door play, Gustafsson fired a shot into traffic, and the Ducks’ Lundestrom blocked it right out of play.

Lucas Raymond fed a big pass to Albert Johansson off an offensive zone faceoff draw, and Gibson fell over, but the puck went wide of the net;

Raymond, Larkin and DeBrincat tried to regroup, cycling the puck into the Ducks’ zone, but Anaheim pushed the puck back to center…

Pushed the puck back to center, pushed the puck back to center, etc. etc.

And Ellison put the puck off the post as the Seider-Chiarot pairing were hemmed in with Kasper on the ice.

The final TV timeout hit with 5:32 left in regulation.

When play resumed, Detroit was pushed back into their own zone again, and Copp, Compher and Kane tried their best to generate some offense on a delayed penalty, Larkin came off the bench 6 on 5….

Seider walked to Kane, Kane walked to Seider and his shot was blocked into the crowd.

Zellweger sat with 4:50 left in regulation time for a hold on Copp.

On the power play, Raymond, Larkin, DeBrincat, Seider and Kane all worked together, the Wings tied up the draw, and the team worked the perimeter for a long time, and Raymond shanked a shot through Gibson but wide of the goal.

DeBrincat, Kane, Larkin and Seider could not connect on the next exchange;

Seider dropped for Raymond, who blzed through center and attacked the net, but the Wings went to Seider and Kane, Seider sent a shot that DeBRINCAT PUT INTO THE NET AND IT WAS 5-4.

Alex DeBrincat utilized a Dylan Larkin screen to ensure that he could jam a 5-4 shot into the goal with 3:44 remaining in regulation time. Raymond got the other assist.

Detroit then put the Kasper line on the ice, they pressed in a 3-1, and Berggren flubbed a puck but Chiarot held it into the zone, Kasper, Tarasenko and Berggren worked with Petry, Detroit pushed deep, Gudas and Killorn took their pushes and shoves on the Wings and Detroit changed with 2:45 left…And Anaheim iced the puck with 2:43 remaining.

Detroit could not win the deep zone faceoff, however, and Johansson was overpowered by Terry, Gustafsson struggled vs. Strome, and Lacombe fanned on a shot and Lyon got lucky as a Strome centering pass went off of Lyon;

Anaheim cycled deep for 30 seconds as the Ducks shoved and held the Red Wings in their own zone, and with 1:45 left, Johansson desperately flicked the puck out to center ice.

Lyon gave the puck to Seider, he fanned it out of the zone and the Wings iced the puck with 1:29 remaining.

Larkin won the defensive zone draw with Kane and DeBrincat, Larkin dropped to Kane, he chipped, Detroit chased, Gibson flicked it around and Raymond and Kane cycled, Larkin ffed DeBrincat, to Seider, to Raymond, ddown low to Larkin and he sent one wide;

With 50 seconds left, Detroit cycled deep, Kane could not help Seider much, and the Ducks flicked the puck down the ice and Seider retained it;

Detroit blazed into the offensive zone, but gave up the puck, and Anaheim scored with Strome making it 6-3.

Strome scored from Vatrano and Dumoulin at 19:36. 6-3 Anaheim.

Anaheim pinned the puck deep and they won the game.

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!

3 thoughts on “Red Wings-Ducks quick take: Damned by the Ducks”

  1. lyon was remarkably, uncharacteristically awful in this one. otherwise same old, same old:

    – PK not even close to NHL caliber and far too passive;
    – defense allowing another embarrassing goal without 53 on with petry/chiarot looking like lost puppies on the ducks’ 5th goal;
    – petry -2, tarasenko somehow -3(!);

    …with all of this adding up to 2 points absolutely *squandered*.

    very frustrating. it goes without saying this team is not playoff caliber without changes, and the changes needed aren’t going to be easy to make in-season. i’m not for knee-jerk firing the coaching staff, but they have to appreciate the PK and defensive problems with this team by now, and those problems simply aren’t. getting. fixed. it blows my mind that they keep playing petry. this team continues to look lottery rather than playoff-bound. it’s on everyone from the GM to the 23rd man.

    good for kasper and berg, btw. otherwise, UGH.

    what really sucks is how they’re losing. it’s process, not luck. i know the season isn’t even a quarter over, but i’m not watching *this* broken record until april. no f*cking way.

  2. I sure hope Simon’s okay. Mo needs to share some of his Deutschland toughness.

    More Munich, less Stockholm

  3. Fire the coach and get a team that takes a hit to make a play. A whole team of playmakers no one will get the puck or take a hit. Have to make major changes with this roster.

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