Ahead of today’s game between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs (2 PM EDT start on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit/Prime Sports Canada/97.1 FM), there will be no morning skate, so we’ll allow DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills set the scene from the Wings’ side:
Puck drop is now set for 2 p.m., with broadcast coverage on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit). For the Red Wings (1-1-0; 2 points) Monday’s matinee will serve as a great early-season opportunity to build on the confidence gained and positives from Saturday’s 6-3 win over the Maple Leafs (1-1-0; 2 points).
“From Game 1 to Game 2, I thought we managed the game a lot better,” Mason Appleton said. “We made a lot better puck decisions, better reads defensively, limited their speed and time with the puck. We just got to replicate that and have the same type of game plan because when we turned that switch in the second [period], it definitely worked.”
Detroit trailed 2-0 after the first period against Toronto, but scored three unanswered goals in the second period then pulled away in the back half of the third for its first win of the season. As far as offensive standouts go, Patrick Kane (one goal, two assists), Alex DeBrincat (three assists) and Lucas Raymond (two goals) led the way.
“Throughout every game, there’s kind of a theme,” Appleton said. “You either hurt or help yourself, and I think in Game 1 we gave up way too much and we knew that. A lot of it was self inflicted and a lot of that was corrected [on Saturday]. It’s learning for everyone, but you can’t shoot yourself in the foot five, six times in a game. You can only give up a few odd-man rushes, if that, and then from there you give yourself the best chance to win. [On Saturday], I thought we did a really good job of managing the game, controlling it and being predictable with risk-free hockey. We just got to do that again.”
As Detroit’s returning and new players get more familiar with each other early in the season, they’re also getting used to the systems and structure together. That naturally takes time and ultimately, is a learning process that doesn’t stop.
“Just when you feel comfortable, there’s something that comes up,” McLellan said. “When you’re playing well, you get to advance your game and take it a step further. When it’s not going well, you’re in repair mode and you never get to get ahead. For us to have success, we got to be able to advance a little bit. But right now, we’re keeping pretty simple.”
Continued; Cam Talbot will start in goal for Detroit, and James van Riemsdyk will likely step into the lineup via a spot on the Rasmsusen-Appleton line…
And you may take this note from Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen as you wish to:
While two games are not close to being a proper sample size, it’s at least encouraging that the Red Wings have only given up one power play goal in five chances going into today’s game against Toronto.
Detroit was 2-for-2 on the kill Saturday in its 6-3 win against the Maple Leafs.
The Red Wings’ 80% penalty killing efficiency (19th in the NHL) shows improvement over last season when they struggled for much of the season to push it to 70%. There were weeks when they were on a pace to have one of worst percentages in league. They finished last in penalty killing in the NHL last season.
“One, we haven’t had to use it a lot,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “That’s a good starter. I think of two penalties that we took in the first two games that we could eliminate that we’d have to even use it. Last one’s the roughing penalty in front and then obviously the holding penalty below the goal line last night with five minutes left. If we could eliminate that. We put zero stress on the goaltenders or the penalty kill. But we’re rolling our penalty killers out at a different rate this year. We’ve adjusted some of our mentality, our attack points.”
Update: Here are today’s game notes:
