The Red Wings’ prospects won a 5-2 decision over the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Red Wings’ 2022 Prospect Tournament on Friday afternoon/evening. Riley Piercey, a try-out from Flint of the OHL, scored four goals; Drew Worrad had a goal and two assists; Pasquale Zito, Cross Hanas and Jeremie Biakabutuka all had 2 assists; and Sebastian Cossa (17 stops on 18 shots) and Andrew Oke (7 stops on 8 shots) split the win.
The Red Wings will try to flush this one as best they can and prepare for Saturday night’s tilt against the Dallas Stars (6 PM EDT at Centre ICE Arena, on the Red Wings’ social media channels), and I fully believe that Detroit has another gear to shift into come Saturday night.
Detroit’s effort against Columbus, while very solid in on the scoreboard, was somewhat inconsistent at times; players who had exactly one practice and no Friday morning skate under their belts looked about as familiar with each other as you might expect, and there were hiccups and a lot of over-playing the puck as a result.
I felt that, at times, the Wings got a little lucky here and there, especially when the Blue Jackets’ line of Kirill Marchenko, Kent Johnson and Mikael Pyythia all but ran ramp-shod in the Wings’ zone, but Detroit held fast and got better as the game went along…
And Riley Piercey had the game of his life, in front of a packed “owners’ box” of Wings executives and a mezzanine overflowing with scouts from 32 NHL teams and organizations across North America and Europe. He’s going to have to back it up on Saturday vs. Dallas and on Monday, when the Wings close out the tournament vs. Toronto at 11 AM.
If you missed it, the Wings have archived their live stream of the game…
Continue reading Impressions from the Red Wings’ 5-2 win vs. the Columbus Blue Jackets at the 2022 prospect tournament