Red Wings-Stars quick take: From gut punch to groin kick

Both the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars attempted to rebound from difficult Saturday night losses as the teams tangled at the American Airlines Center on Sunday evening.

Detroit had lost a 5-1 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, while the Stars had lost 6-3 to Colorado.

If Saturday night’s loss was a “gut punch,” this was a kick to the groin. Dallas prevailed via scoring 3 1st period goals, over the course of just under 15 minutes of play, and while Simon Edvinsson (or Marco Kasper?) spoiled Jake Oettinger’s shutout late in the 3rd period, Dallas got their 3-goal lead right back, and they won 4-1.

Detroit out-shot Dallas 34-25, Detroit out-attempted Dallas 71-43, forced the Stars into 21 giveaways and out-hit Dallas 27-17, but it was the Stars who made the Wings look slow and plodding as their quick-strike offense victimized the Red Wings’ defense and Alex Lyon, who was fine.

Moritz Seider had 4 shots and 11 attempts on goal, as well as 6 shots, a takeaway and a blocked shots in 22:26 played, but not even Big Mo could help the Wings survive in Big D.

In pregame warmups, Alex Lyon and Jake Oettinger led their respective teams out onto the ice at the AAC…

The Stars iced the following lineup…

And the Red Wings listed their lineup just before game time:

The starters and scratches were as follows:

In the 1st period, Detroit started the Larkin line opposite the trio of Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston and Evgenii Dadonov, with Chiarot and Seider facing off against Heiskanen and Lundell.

In goal, it was Alex Lyon vs. Jake Oettinger.

The puck hit the ice at 8:09 PM, and the Stars won the draw, pushed the puck through center and Kasper recoiled, responded and battled in the corner as Raymond wrapped and Oettinger stopped #23 18 seconds into the 1st period.

Compher and company came out for the second shift, and Compher won the deep offensive zone faceoff, but the Stars chipped it out to center, and Moritz Seider was dumped by Dadonov, who sat for tripping at 24 seconds of the 1st.

On the power play, Larkin won the initial faceoff and Raymond lateralled to Kane, Kane and Larkin went to Seider for Raymond, DeBrincat battled, Raymond held the line and Kane fed Seider for a shot that was stopped; DeBrincat reversed to Seider, he fed Kane, Kane walked and fired down low for Larkin back to Kane bounces away, but Seider held the line for a moment, though Larkin had to regroup at center.

Kane fed Gustafsson for Raymond and back, DeBrincat to Raymond, DeBrincat jabs and is stopped by Oettinger and the Stars clear the puck down the ice with 44 left in the PP.

Berggren and Compher work with Tarasenko to find Compher, Rasmussen reverses, Tarasenko does the same, he regroups finds Gustafsson and to Berggren to Gustafsson stopped, with Rasmussen in front, Gustafsson to Tarasenko and back, shot stopped, rebound cleared but not out, tip by Rasmussen just wide of Oettinger, reverse for Compher, taken by the Stars as the PP expires.

Dallas’ even-strength corps generated an offensive opportunity as Duchene was blocked once, but intercepted a pass and fired a shot in on Lyon;

Detroit’s fourth line chipped and changed, Gustafsson reversed, and Larkin fed Gustafsson, who’s been a lot better, and the Stars iced the puck at 3:49.

As play continued, Dallas did its best to sustain puck possession, but the Wings were cycling well, and Larkin got a shot off on Oettinger from the top of the slot;

Detroit regrouped a couple of times, and Chiarot blocked a Robertson shot;

When Harley raced into the Wings’ end, Compher could not clear, and Chiarot hipped Johnston, sans call…

Detroit gave the puck away in front of the net, however, and Matej Blumel scored his first goal of the season as the Red Wings could not contain the scramble as Chiarot and DeBrincat actually pushed Lyon back into the crease.

Blumel scored from Blackwell and Hryckowian at 5:26.

Detroit regrouped on the bump-up shift, and Veleno, Kane and Rasmussen generated some scoring chances, but Oettinger held on with 13:36 left in the 1st, ushering the first TV timeout.

When play resumed, Justin Holl got a long shot in on Oettinger, but the Stars were able to chip the puck out of their zone with ease, and the Veleno line had some trouble battling Dallas’ defense.

Detroit was playing a good speed game, but it wasn’t efficient in generating scoring chances or even shots on goal.

Dallas was picking off pucks like the Wings were a turnover machine, and the Wings looked scrambly in all three zones.

With the puck bouncing all over the cold AAC ice, Dallas raced in 2-on-1, and Gustafsson stopped Bourque from feeding a teammate…

Detroit was just fighting the puck and fighting itself, and that’s not a recipe for success.

Instead of going forward, Detroit was pumping pucks back to the point when they gained the offensive blueline…Which didn’t mount much of a challenge for Oettinger.

Dallas was also a little clutchy and a little grabby, but the refs seemed not to mind it.

Larkin fed Raymond in the slot, but on the backhand, and nothing came of the opportunity;

When the Stars threatened, Detroit got scrambly, and Detroit was heading to the penalty box after a short 6-on-5 at 12:43, with Jonatan Berggren going for tripping.

On the penalty-kill, Larkin, Rasmussen, Seider and Chiarot almost immediately gave up a scoring chance after surrendering the initial deep defensive zone draw;

Compher and Rasmussen helped win a faceoff, but the Stars were able to regain possession at 13:05 of the 1st period, and as Moritz Seider’s blind pass was intercepted, the Stars worked the perimeter, Lyon made the first stop, but Jason Robertson tapped home a 2-0 goal.

The goal was Robertson from Duchene and Heiskanen at 13:05. 2-0 Dallas.

On the bump-up shift, DeBrincat fed Kane in the slot, but he was blocked off, and DeBrincat got a shot blocked, before Gustafsson came in from the point and was blocked as well…

And the Stars went the other way, Duchene raced up the right wing, he fed Mavrik Bourque, and Bourque made it 3-0 at 14:18 of the 1st.

Bourque scored from Duchene and Lybushkin at 14:18. 3-0 Dallas.

Detroit was in quite the hole.

Vladimir Tarasenko at least tried to generate some offense with 3:42 left in the 1st…

But Ken Daniels reported that Patrick Kane had left the Wings’ bench…after tweaking his right shoulder/elbow while chasing Mavrik Bourque on the Stars’ 3rd goal…

So Detroit kind of limped its way through the balance of the 1st period, with Dallas plucking pucks off Red Wings players’ sticks and Red Wings players turning the puck over to Stars players on a disturbingly regular basis.

The turnovers really were ridiculous–watching the Stars pluck pucks off Wings sticks and the Wings turn the puck over was disturbing, in all three zones of play…

The Wings’ lines went into a blender as the final seconds of the 1st period ticked down, and absolutely nothing came of it.

In the 2nd period, Patrick Kane at least returned to the ice to try and give ‘er a go for the remainder of the game…

The Larkin line took the initial faceoff, lost it, but regrouped and charged up the ice, where Larkin reversed to Chiarot and Oettinger made a stop…

But the Stars went the other way and aggravated the Wings a bit before Raymond flickered a shot just wide of Oettinger, and Kasper took the rebound and shot it into Oettinger.

As play continued, the Rasmussen-Compher-Tarasenko line were unable to generate much of anything…

Stankoven put a puck off the back of the net and into the slot to generate a scoring chance for the Stars which Lyon stopped;

Kane ended up playing his first shift with Veleno and Fischer, while Berggren was on the Copp-DeBrincat line…

But the Stars would generate scoring chances, and Lyon had to make a tremendous stop on Colin Blakawell to keep it 3-0.

Marco Kasper at least went toward the net to jam a puck into Oettinger some 2:40 into the 2nd…

On the next shift for Kasper and Larkin, the Wings were unable to penetrate the Stars’ back-checking forwards, however, and the most Seider and Larkin could do was dump and change.

It was just difficult to watch the Red Wings struggle against both the Stars and themselves as Dallas made playing defense and transitioning to offense look easy, punishing the Wings’ defensemen with aplomb.

All the Wings’ shots on Oettinger were single, unobstructed and unfollowed attempts.

Dadonov was able to set up in the Wings’ slot next to Kane and rip a slot shot wide off a Ben Chiarot block;

Detroit was just struggling against itself, mostly, and making simple plays complicated, and while the Wings were keeping up with the Stars shots-wise and attempts-wise…

The quality of the Wings’ scoring chances was very inferior.

Moritz Seider was playing a TREMENDOUS game, banging and crashing, generating offense, and generally causing trouble for the Stars in all three zones…

But a rip from the point from Holl was all that the Wings could get some 8:32 into the 2nd.

Kane joined the Larkin-Kasper pairing some 9:25 into the 2nd, but it was just for an icing call. Raymond returned to the line and cycled well, but Kasper couldn’t generate offense from the situation.

Lyon made a tremendous stop on a Duchene shot some 10:40 into the 2nd, keeping the score at least respectable…

And while the Wings were back-checking better, Dallas’ forechecking was making turnovers and shots off the Wings’ giveaways easy.

Things got worse as Matej Blumel almost scored at 12:30, and Larkin’s line seemed to have to skate through a phalanx of Stars defenders in order to get the same kind of chances that Dallas was getting for free.

Lucas Raymond at least deked and dangled through the Stars’ defense quite well at 13:12, but his scoring chance didn’t end in a goal.

Detroit was beginning to generate some scoring chances in Dallas’ zone as the period progressed, but their results were not successful.

Again, Seider and Chiarot were excellent in trying to generate offense, but their forwards seemed unable or unwilling to crash the net, so Kane got a couple of chances with 15:30 gone, and he nearly set up Veleno for a goal…

But the chances were nothing out of the ordinary for Oettinger to stop.

When Dylan Larkin did get to a loose puck from an Edvinsson shot with Oettinger swimming, he couldn’t tap it across the crease;

Detroit managed to earn a power play with 2:35 remaining in the 2nd as Michael Rasmussen was tripped up by Lundkvist, and Detroit headed to a rare power play.

On the power play, Detroit won the initial draw and Seider hit a body but Raymond ripped a shot into Oettinger that the Stars’ goalie saw, stopped, and Dallas cleared;

Kane, DeBrincat, Larkin, Seider and Raymond cycled around the perimeter, Larkin was stopped and the Stars chipped the puck down the ice;

Detroit regrouped with 1:10 left in the PP and Larkin worked with Kane and Seider, Kane dictated the pace of play and Larkin fed Seider for a boomer that went wide, Larkin held the puck in, Kane and Larkin connected again, and Raymond worked the leftt wing, Seider walked the line, to Larkin it went, Raymond didn’t connect with Kane, Larkin was blocked and the Stars cleared with 15 left in the PP.

Veleno, Edvinsson, Johansson, Copp and Rasmussen played the final 15 of the PP, and nothing came of their efforts.

The period ended with Dallas on the rush and Detroit defending the puck out to center ice, where the Stars took over.

In the 3rd period, Detroit did not win the opening draw, but they regrouped at center ice and chipped and chased, though Chiarot and Seider could not hold the offensive blueline.

Ultimately, Larkin sent a shot into Oettinger’s belly for all the Wings’ work over the course of 32 seconds of ice time.

Tarasenko generated a good scoring chance off a Stars turnover, and Edvinsson deked when he should have shot, he dropped to Johansson at the line, Johansson fired on Oettinger and Edvinsson sent the rebound wide;

Holl, DeBrincat and Berggren at least stifled a Stars 3-on-3 rush;

Detroit got a good cycle going as Raymond, Kasper and Larkin worked with Johansson and Edvinsson some 3:30 into the 3rd, but of course the puck went off Raymond’s skate and out to center ice from the offensive zone…

It was that kind of night.

Ultimately, Lyon had to stop a long shot against by Heiskanen, the Wings blocked another Heiskanen chance wide, and the Stars chipped the puck out of play with 4:06 gone.

Ben Chiarot had a prime opportunity to shoot off a Seider-and-Berggren play, but the Stars smelled out the play and blocked the shot once, and when Seider got a shot on the next rush, Oettinger snuffed it out.

A bad turnover by Edvinsson nearly led to a Dadonov rush-and-goal, but he fired the puck wide of Lyon;

Kasper’s forechecking was immaculate at least…

When Seider had a 3-on-2 to quarterback, Thomas Harley easily blocked Seider’s centering pass out and into the crowd.

Lyon had to make one good save and then the Wings had to defend pretty hard with 12:30 remaining…

Colin Blackwell got behind Edvinsson and Veleno and blasted a heavy shot in on Lyon, who came out to cut down the angle with 11:35 left;

Ben Chiarot at least clanged Oettinger’s mask and afforded Rasmussen a rebound-recoil-rush opportunity on Oettinger with 10:14 left in the 3rd…

And, bafflingly, Christian Fischer was hooked, held and tripped and hooked some more by a Stars defender, but he was called offside for his efforts.

Larkin did a nice job of finding EDVINSSON IN THE SLOT OFF A CYCLE PLAY AND THE PUCK WENT OFF THE GOALPOST? OR DID IT GO IN? THE REFEREES WERE UNCERTAIN, and the goal counted.

At 12:04 of the 3rd, Edvinsson scored from Larkin and Kasper to make it 3-1.

Detroit continued to cycle well in the offensive zone, but the Stars woke up a bit as well after the goal, and Tarasenko, Compher and Rasmussen had an up-and-down shift;

DeBrincat, Copp and Berggren worked with Holl and Gustafsson to cycle deep and regain some momentum, but the Stars were a pain in the ass, and Berggren and Edvinsson could not hold the blueline…

And Duchene knocked over Johansson at the Wings’ blueline no call…

So the Stars regrouped at center ice, skated into the Wings’ zone, and Wyatt Johnston was just on side as he charged toward the net, he got a gorgeous pass from Robertson, and Johnston scored a 4-1 goal with 5:51 remaining.

Johnston made it 4-1 at 14:09 from Robertson, off a Red Wings neutral zone turnover.

Detroit gave up the 4-1 goal 2:08 after scoring their 3-1 marker.

Then Lyon made a good stop with about 4:45 left as Dallas’ Duchene out-worked Seider and Kasper…

And Berggren fed Chiarot for a shot that hit the outside of the goalpost with 3:24 remaining on a Wings cycle…

Detroit really, really worked its tail off over the last half of the 3rd period, but it was just too late. Not too little per se, but too late.

Lyon had to make a couple of good stops in the final 2:30, and Dallas really flexed on Detroit, stifling the Wings’ speed and momentum for the most part.

Detroit pulled Lyon with 43 left in the 3rd, and Dallas’ Brendan Smith got tagged for interference with 37.4 left in the 3rd, so Detroit headed to a very late power play.

On the PP, Raymond reversed to Seider, he fed Raymond, back to Seider, blocked ,and Blackwell charged up, was checked by Seider and Detroit raced up, Kane and DeBrincat, Larkin to Kane to the net shot off a stick out of play with 9.3 left in the 3rd.

Dallas won the final faceoff and tied up the puck along the boards, though Raymond was fed by Kane to get one final shot on Oettinger, who gloved the puck and ended 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!

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