The Red Wings continue the season with a matchup against the Los Angeles Kings. The Wings jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a snap shot by Adam Erne at the 4:26 mark of the first period. However, Gabriel Vilardi tied it for the Kings just 19 seconds later as Detroit goaltender Ville Husso gave up his first goal as a Red Wing. Adrian Kempe scored later in the first to put Los Angeles up 2-1 at the first intermission.
The Wings tied it up about halfway through the second with a wrister by David Perron, then Los Angeles took the lead again at around the 16-minute mark of the second, and that’s where we remained at the second intermission.
The first half of the third period was quiet and then both teams began trading goals. The Wings tied it at the 11:14 mark of the third with a power play goal by David Perron (second of the game). Los Angeles took the lead again about two minutes later when Anze Kopitar beat Husso. Then, with less than a minute to go Oskar Sunqvist hit a wrist shot to tie the game and send us to Sudden Death. The Red Wings, having gotten one point for the regulation tie, could not pick up the second point because just 1:12 into overtime Phillip Danault pushed one past Husso for the overtime loss.
Three Stars:
1. David Perron (2 goals/1 assist)
2. Oskar Sunqvist (1 goal/1 assist)
3. Ville Husso (31/36 saves)
In their second game of the week, the Wings travel over to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks. Chicago is a team in a rebuild like the Wings, although they are a year or two behind.
Detroit jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals by Pius Sutter and Captain Dylan Larkin. Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic was very impressive early, however, he started to let some through starting in the second letting the puck cross the line on Andres Athanasiou’s shot.
In the third, it was all Chicago as they got goals from Philipp Kurashev and Connor Murphy. In the overtime period, Max Domi hit a wrister past Alex for the overtime win for Chicago.
Three Stars:
1. Dominik Kubalik (1 goal/1 assist)
2. Pius Suter (1 goal)
3. Alex Nedeljkovic (25 Saves)
The Wings (2-0-2) had a shot at four points this week and they came away with two. They are improved early in the season over last year, but we will need more games and data to see how different.
David Masters