Red Wings-Utah HC quick take: bad juju

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a 3-game losing streak as they faced Utah HC on Thursday evening.

And the Red Wings were cursed, absolutely cursed, losing a 4-1 decision to Utah despite out-shooting Karel Vejmelka 40-19.

It wasn’t as if Alex Lyon sucked, or the Red Wings sucked…It was a situation where there were some very bad defensive reads–two by the Seider-Chiarot pairing–Utah got some very lucky bounces, and ultimately, losing Carter Mazur to a dislocated left elbow appears to have been too much for a fragile team to overcome.

So the Wings have lost 4 straight, they play 7 of their next 10 games on the road, and thing suddenly look quite desperate for a Detroit team that needs everything to break its way in order to make the playoffs over the final 19 games.

The good news? Detroit got goals from Larkin (25th) and Berggren (10th) to take a 2-1 decision in the 1st period, but really, after the Utah power play goal that made it 2-2, Detroit sort of nodded off a bit defensively, and…

I hope that whatever the Red Wings’ GM and management do, they find a way to un-curse themselves by the time that Detroit plays Washington tomorrow night at this time in the nation’s Capitol.

In pregame warmups, Alex Lyon and Karel Vejmelka led their respective teams out onto the ice at Little Caesars Arena…

And this happened…

And Utah posted its lineup quite early, after announcing that Nick Bjugstad would not play due to an injury…

While the Red Wings waited until much closer to game time to post their lineup, after MLive’s Ansar Khan reported that Joe Veleno was going to sit this one out:

The starters and scratches were as follows:

In the 1st period, Utah lined up Lawson Crouse, Jake McBain and Josh Doan up front, Olli Maatta and Sean Durzi on defense, and they started Karel Vejmelka in goal;

Detroit started Elmer Soderblom, Michael Rasmussen and Vladimir Tarasenko up front, with Ben Chiarot and Moritz Seider on defense, and they started Alex Lyon in goal.

The puck hit the ice at 7:10 PM and Rasmussen and Seider won it back to Lyon, who sent it up for Chiarot, up the right wing it went but Utah reversed flow and chipped and chased, Rasmussen reversed behind the net and Chiarot chipped it out to center, Tarasenko worked it to Rasmussen who tipped wide, and that line changed 45 seconds into the 1st;

Raymond, Larkin and Kasper came out and battled Keller, Schmaltz and Cooley, pushing the puck back out to center and then battling the puck into the Utah zone, with Edvinsson making a nice keep-in;

Detroit changed again at 1:25, and DeBrincat of all people came back into the slot to tip a puck out of trouble and into the crowd at 1:41…

Compher lost the deep d-zone draw and the HC cycled down low, to the line ,and Lyon blockered a Kesselring shot away, Compher battled, Kesselring sent a puck laterally and again laterally to Guenther, and the Hockey Club made it 1-0 easily at 2:08.

Kesslering and Kerfoot had assists on Guenther’s goal at 2:08. 1-0 Utah.

Mazur, Motte and Berggren took to the ice and forced Utah to ice the puck 1:38, and, off the icing, Motte won the draw and sent the puck to Holl, who blasted a shot on goal that Vejmelka stopped at 1:41.

The Wings kept rotating their lines as play continued, and Utah was generating zone time and some pucks in front of the goal, despite the Wings’ efforts…

And Elmer Soderblom sent a puck out from the deep right wing behind-the-net boards to the slot, with Larkin double-shifting with Tarasenko, and Larkin fell over as he flipped the puck into the top shelf over Vejmelka to make it 1-1 at 3:17.

Larkin scored from Soderblom and Tarasenko at 3:17. 1-1.

On the post-goal shift, Kasper got an “almost” on Vejmelka, but Utah blocked off the Wings’ attempts;

Kasper centered for Seider on a rush and he juuuuuust missed the puck, Kane cycled with Larkin on a line change and Larkin got a scoring chance, and some 4:30 into the 1st, Detroit had a 4-2 shot advantage;

Gustafsson joined Compher and Kane and DeBrincat cycling hard, and Gustafsson tipped a puck off DeBrincat’s right skate and into Vejmelka, who got very lucky in stopping that shot at 5:00…

Utah did a fine job of reasserting itself in the Wings’ zone, however, and they forced Lyon to skitter around the crease as the Rasmussen line didn’t play very well defensively;

Chiarot made a smart play to clear the zone once out of the air, then twice as the Motte line worked hard…

And Carter Mazur got hurt immediately at 6:35 and headed down the tunnel…

As play continued, Raymond and Kasper generated scoring chances, but Raymond also gave up the puck and Cooley battled Gustafsson in the defensive zone, with Raymond and Larkin bailing Gustafsson out…

When play resumed after a TV timeout, Compher got a scoring chance, and the Wings snuck Soderblom onto the ice to help Chiarot blast a bomb in on Vejmelka, who made a good blocker stop;

And Detroit did a fine job of generating a goal on a delayed penalty, with Erik Gustafsson dumped, Berggren held up at the side of the net, and when Utah could not clear, Patrick Kane fed the puck to Berggren at the side of the net, and Berggren made it 2-1 at 8:49.

With Kane double-shifting, he and Motte got the assists on Berggren’s goal at 8:49. 2-1 Detroit.

Utah generated some scoring chances on Lyon against the Larkin line on the bump-up shift, but Kasper and Raymond weren’t having it, and they generated some zone time far away from their own goaltender as play progressed…

A bad set of plays by Seider and Chiarot below the goal line didn’t result in anything with 8:25 remaining in the 1st, but it should be noted that their play wasn’t pretty;

Lyon made a TREMENDOUS stop and Edvinsson made a TREMENDOUS clear just short of 12:00 into the 1st, at the side of the net;

Kasper got his double shift with Berggren and Motte, and with Edvinsson and Johansson on the ice for a very long shift, Lyon made a good stop, Utah cycled and Durzi missed the net, so Tarasenko was able to clear, but not north of center, and I’m fairly certain that Edvinsson and Johansson were out for another 2:30 shift…

Dylan Larkin made a beautiful move to keep the puck on side at the Utah line, and he got a great cycle going with a shot on Vejmelka, which Kasper built upon, and by the time the first line went off, Detroit was out-shooting Utah 11-4;

With Seider and Chiarot playing much better, the Compher line hemmed Utah in for a bit, and when Durzi deked and dangled into Detroit’s zone, Motte made quick work of the backcheck.

Raymond was skating with Berggren and Motte for a bit, and off a weird change, Lyon had to make a couple of stops and alert seals as the “Hockey Club’s” Lawson Crouse pushed and shoved in front of the Red Wings’ net.

When play resumed after another TV timeout, Seider and Chiarot combined for a nasty hit on a Utah forward, Schmaltz was stifled, and Larkin almost fed Raymond, who was then blocked off by Sergachev;

Patrick Kane was hit heavily and the Utah team charged up the ice, lateralled D to D, and Maatta took a nice slapper that Lyon had to stifle;

Liam O’Brien and Seider gave and got some pushes and shoves behind the Wings’ net, and at the other end of the ice, Soderblom and Seider nearly connected…

Vejmelka made a TREMENDOUS stop on Larkin off a fine pass from Lucas Raymond, all facilitated by a deke and dangle through traffic by Kasper;

And in the final minute, Raymond made a great little grab to keep the puck in at the blueline, Detroit regrouped at center ice, and Larkin put a shot off the outside of the net trying to center to Kasper, with Detroit ultimately taking a 15-6 shot lead by the end of the 1st period.

This news broke, however:

In the 2nd period, Rasmussen drew in vs. Cooley and the Hockey Club pushed the puck deep, held the line and Maatta sent it over for Crouse, who missed sent the puck wide on a Grade-A scoring chance;

As play continued, Kasper made a fine backcheck on Doan, and a Keller pass to Cooley was blocked off by Edvinsson, who was hacked in the backs of his skates.

Edvinsson had to go down the tunnel to be checked by the training staff.

As play continued, DeBrincat got dumped at center on a bit of a takedown that equally went unnoticed, Utah made a bad turnover 4-on-2 and DeBrincat fed Kane for a fantastic chance that Vejmelka stopped…

And Edvinsson returned to the bench around 2:50.

The 2nd period was much more tightly-contested in terms of territory, and the “Hockey Club” was checking Detroit incredibly tightly.

Soderblom made a superb steal and deked and dangled but was stopped by Vejmelka, Holl held for Rasmusssen, and Soderblom was dumped by Durzi, who afforded Utah an easy clear;

But the next wave was Larkin, Raymond and Kasper, who were stifled by Doan and company once, then Sergachev twice, but Kasper sent a slithery shot in on Vejmelka that the big right-catching goaltender stopped.

Off a chaotic faceoff, Kasper got another good scoring chance, before Utah sent the puck into Detroit’s zone, and Sergachev got away with MAJOR interference on Kasper, without a call…

Edvinsson then got a couple of good attempts, and somehow Detroit was penalized as DeBrincat was called for…well, it wasn’t easy to tell befor Barrett Hayton went ape for being tripped, head-locking DeBrincat.

DeBrincat sat for a “trip” that was a toe pick at 5:59.

ON the PK, Lyon made a good stop off the point to start, the Utah team worked the perimeter, Sergachev cycled with Guenther, Seider broke his stick and Raymond gave Seider his stick, Sergachev fed Keller who was blocked, and Larkin cleared the zone with 1:10 left in the PK;

Compher and Motte had a good, quick PK shift;

Cooley raced in, reversed for Durzi, to Cooley, stopped, rebound TOED and cleared by Chiarot, held in by Durzi, but out came Kasper and DeBrincat, and the Wings just couldn’t hold onto the puck as Kasper was going in 2-on-1.

Kane fired a shot just wide off Vejmelka on a 3-on-1 attempt where it was men over skating…DeBrincat centered the puck to the slot as well, and DETROIT got a power play out of the exchange.

Kevin Stenlund went off for tripping at 8:48 of the 2nd, affording the Red Wings their first power play of the night.

On the power play, Larkin won the draw to Kane to Seider, for Raymond lw to DeBrincat down low for Seider for Larkin, to Seider center point to Raymond lw side drop to Seider for Raymond lw half walks to Seider for Kane rt half looks looks skates to Larkin down low rt wing side loses it and Sergachev clears.

DeBrincat chugs up the gut for Kane up and in held by Seider for Raymond rw side for lw side blocked off, and McBain chipped and changed with 55 left in the PP;

Seider carries to center dumps and changes, 2nd unit on, Rasmussen, Tarasenko, Compher, Gustafsson off the linesman bad pass tipped by Kerfoot almost a breakaway for Kerfoot.

Detroit skates up Berggren for Tarasenko for Compher cycles around the net to Gustafsson to Tarasenko to Gustafsson for Rasmussen down low Berggren reverse of flow taken Utah PP over…

Schmaltz lateral for Kesselring stopped Lyon and cleared with 8:55 left 2nd.

Things were getting loosey-goosey, or, in plain English, messy, for both teams, and the next goal felt like it would be monumental.

And Albert Johansson was sent off for a free hand grab at 11:43, called “holding,” affording Utah the power play they needed.

On the second PK of the 2nd period, Larkin drew in for the d-zone draw, tied it up and Chiarot chased a Seider slide, Larkin cleared the zone over the heads of the Utah defense, and Vejmelka set up Schmaltz.

Schmaltz walked up and skated in dropped but was blocked off, Sergachev held the line, to Guenther nad back, to Keller, Guenther, Keller, down low Schmaltz to Keller for Sergachev, to Guenther, walked to Guenther stopped off a broken stick, turnaround shot Schmaltz blocked Chiarot, Sergachev across and Schmaltz had a wide-open net to tap the lateral pass into at 13:01.

Schmaltz scored from Hayton and Keller at 13:01 to make it 2-2, power play goal.

On the bump-up shift, Lyon stopped Doan, and Detroit broke out, battled in the Utah zone, and Utah had a man advantage but didn’t see it, so Detroit cleared and changed with 6:10 left in the 2nd.

Rasmussen joined Kane and DeBrincat for a brief moment, before being replaced by Compher, DeBrincat made a nice pass to Compher and Liam O’Brien blocked it off.

A bad bounce over Lucas Raymond’s stick yielded a Chiarot reverse, Compher held up skating into the Utah zone, and more Utah magic with the puck as Seider had to block a Marino shot…

Utah was pressing the Red Wings into their own zone for extended periods of time, and Larkin and Raymond could only force a TV timeout via a Vejmelka glove save and hold.

When play resumed with 4:24 left in the 2nd, A good break for DeBrincat yielded a Compher pass to Edvinsson that was sticked into the netting by Vejmelka, who really knows how to milk pucks shot out of play “off the goaltender.”

Soderblom and Tarasenko connected for a fine play that Tarasenko got cursed upon–he is cursed, after all–fanning off a backhand attempt…

And Moritz Seider tried to force a pass to Kasper instead of shooting the puck at the left point, and that yielded an easy Utah clear when Detroit was dominating possession and control.

Edvinsson almost sprung Motte for a breakaway with about 2:15 left…

And at the other end of the ice, Lyon made a tremendous stop through traffic and off bodies on O’Brien with 1:49 left in the 2nd.

Chiarot was pinching wildly, but he fed DeBrincat for a TREMENDOUS SCORING OPPORTUNITY THAT DEBRINCAT FLICKERED INTO VEJMELKA’s GLOVE.

Soderblom and Rasmussen then fed Tarasenko for another fine shot–the 27th of the game for Detroit, with 1:24 left in the 2nd…

And Sergachev POPPED SEIDER IN THE HEAD TWICE with 53.2 left in the 2nd period, due to a heavy hit by Seider in the jaw…

And Sergachev got called for retaliation with 54 seconds left in the 2nd, giving Detroit a power play.

On the power play, Larkin lost the initial draw and Kane held the right point, battled deep, dropped to Larkin to Seider, for Raymond to Seider walks the shot wide, Kerfoot and the Utah HC can’t clear, Seider regains for Kane rt wing side, 20 left 2nd, Larkin slides for Kane wide, Kane walks high, looks, looks fires to the slot tip Larkin stopped Vejmelka Raymond to DeBrincat stopped before he could send a puck in on Vejmelka…

END 2nd.

In the 3rd period, Detroit began with 1:02 of PP time, and whether it was deserved is one question that I’m not going to answer given that Seider and Sergachev gave as good as they got in their exchange.

On the power play, Larkin tied up the draw to Raymond who fed it back to Seider, he walked to DeBrincat lw side to rt side for Kane lw to Larkin chip deep for Kane for DeBrincat too far Raymond reverses flow taken by Marino but blocked off Stenlund to Marino cleared down the ice with 34 left PP.

Seider walks through center drops for Raymond rt side spinaround Larkin drops for Kane to DeBrincat shot bobbles stopped rebound taken by the Utah Hockey Club and cleared with 8 left PP.

Gustafsson rips a shot around the back boards but that’s the end of the PP.

Edvinsson sets up behind the Wings’ net sends up for Soderblom to Rrasmussen lateral blocked off Schmaltz Soderblom stands up Gustafsson to Tarasenko sent in but the Hockey Club takes…

1:45 3rd period.

The Wings were relying on the boards a bit too much to make the puck move, and instead, the Utah team was trying to score back-door goals off lateral passes, and Kerfoot nearly beat Compher to tuck in a 3-2 marker at 2:24.

And awfully, a Kesselring shot was blocked right to Kevin Stenlund, who chipped a loose puck off the crossbar and down behind Lyon to make it 3-2 Utah

Stenlund scored from Kesselring at 2:55 of the 3rd…

But Utah immediately took a high-sticking penalty at 3:19…Cooley sat for high-sticking Kasper.

On the PP, Kane tried to beat Vejmelka, was gloved, then Raymond blockered, and Raymond fed DeBrincat but that was blocked into the netting behind the net by the Utah Hockey Club, which loves to put pucks out of play...

With 1:35 left PP Larkin lost a draw and Utah cleared with ease, but Seider stopped it at the Wings’ blueline and Detroit broke through center, only for DeBrincat to be stood up at Utah’s line.

Raymond raced in for Larkin lw side, reverse but the Utah team took it and cleared it did McBain, and the 2nd unit came out with 1:00 left PP, Kasper pushed deep, for Tarasenko for Compher shot stopped Vejmelka and the crossbar.

Compher drew in with 42 left PP, tied up and Utah’s Sergachev clears it down the ice for Lyon.

Gustafsson drops for Kasper to Compher up for Tarasenko battling down low with Kasper and Compher, Tarasenko to the point for Gustafsson return now Gustafsson back to Tarasenko to Gustafsson to Compher shot wide as the PP expires 14:35 left 3rd.

The boo birds were already out and being countered by a tepid, “Let’s go Red Wings” chant…

Kerfoot was stood up by Motte trying to break away in front of Utah’s bench, and Motte got away with some serious interference there…

After a TV timeout with 13:10 left, Utah kept winning faceoffs, taking a sizeable lead in that department, and that was disrupting the Wings’ puck possession game.

There was a lot of play in Detroit’s zone and Lawson Crouse made it 4-2 off the forecheck, dekeing and dangling to score a top-shelf marker at 7:51 from Jamie McBain.

Crouse scored the 4-2 marker from McBain at 7:51. Deke and dangle off the dump-in, another bad skate-up the ice by Gustafsson this time, lost Chiarot, and bang bang, it was 4-2.

On the bump-up shift, Raymond raced in to be stopped by a backchecking Utah defenseman Sergachev, and then Larkin was stifled by Vejmelka…

Utah kept winning faceoffs–even against Larkin–and kept pressing into the Wings’ zone, generating more and more zone time, with the Wings looking particularly flat-footed with 11:00 left in regulation time.

Out-shooting Utah 34-15, Detroit was down 4-2.

As the 10-minute mark passed, the Utah HC was standing up at their blueline, Vejmelka was good, and Detroit was really struggling to generate much of anything…

But bad breaks and bad stick breaks and bad bounces add up.

And Utah had a bizarre set of great bounces and great chances.

The bad news then came down from Facebook that Mazur suffered a dislocated left elbow, and had to have it reset in the ER.

Anyway, as play continued, Seider and Chiarot walked in, but Vejmelka made a good stop, Seider fed DeBrincat for a wide chance, Kane fed Chiarot to Seider, glove stop no screen.

As play continued, with 7:30 remaining, Seider and Berggren and Motte worked with Chiarot and Tarasenko, and the Wings were able to clear the zone, Seider dropped to Tarasenko, but his shot was blocked…

Then a terrible turnover by Larkin yielded a HUGE STOP FROM LYON with 6:45 left…

Guenther was blocked off by Lyon as Edvinsson and Johansson struggled to plain old defend–and we know they’re being targeted now…

SO Raymond walked in, reversed, fed Larkin from the point, wide, Edvinsson walked it around the net to the slot and Kasper jammed wide, Raymond took it and then lost it as he was stood up by Schmaltz…

And time clicked off the clock.

Kane had a good backhander stopped by Vejmelka as the Wings hit 37 shots with 5:00 left in the 3rd…

And the boo birds got louder.

DeBrincat deked for Holl for Compher, he couldn’t finish…

Gustafsson got stood up and Kane got penalized with 4:23 remaining for interference–holding the stick of one Olli Maatta at the Wings’ blueline at 15:37.

On the PK, Utah won the draw, and Chiarot blocked a shot, Utah went laterally again and Keller went for Guenther, blocked off, Kasper up for Compher rt side sticks for Kasper tipped away in the slot…

Compher cycles but Utah breaks out Guenther reverses for Sergachev for Schmaltz to Keller for Guenther for Sergachev stopped, rebound battling in the corner is Chiarot with Edvinsson, Schmaltz for Guenther CROSSBAR…

Hayton to Keller to Sergachev, to Keller off the blocker of Lyon, Sergachev to Keller, down low, 30 left PK 2:52 left 3rd, Utah killing time, Sergachev to the down low area for Keller, for Guenther, to Sergachev, lateral again, PK over with 2:21 left.

The Red Wings pulled Lyon with 2:00 remaining and Larkin firing the puck in deep, but Utah cleared easily, Raymond walked back up for Kane behind him, sent deep for Tarasenko, to Raymond lw side Kane shot gloved Vejmelka with 1:37 left 3rd.

Utah won the draw off Larkin, and Stenlund and Kerfoot cleared, DeBrincat and Larkin dumped and chased, Vejmelka to Sergachev wide of the net 1:11 left good sweep by Seider to prevent the empty net by Cooley, Kane walks deep, reverses for Raymond, Tarasenko for Kane rt side to Tarasenko down low Larkin blocked and out to center, Kane for Raymond 40 left for DeBrincat dump deep rim for Kane to Seider for DeBrincat diving block stops that, Larkin to DeBrincat to Kane down low around 18 left Raymond to Seider for Kane Kane for DeBrincat wide, 10 left Seider for Kane Kane shot blocked Vejmelka and the Wings lost their 4th straight.

Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

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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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