Detroit – As season openers go, this was a dud.
The crowd was energized, the atmosphere was magical as the Red Wings begin their 100th season, and there was excitement about the Wings’ three rookies in the lineup.
Then, the game started Thursday and the Wings lost to Montreal, 5-1.
The boo birds grew in number after Montreal’s fifth goal and serenaded the Wings off the ice after the second period. It was even worse after the game. But, probably deserved.
“We earned the Bronx boos or whatever you want to call them, we earned those,” coach Todd McLellan said. “It’s up to us to fix it. If we just play fundamentally sound hockey, we wouldn’t be putting ourselves in that situation. Until we get that down and get back in its box if you will, we’ll have trouble winning games.”
Dylan Larkin scored 3 minutes, 50 seconds into the game, on the power play, giving the Wings a 1-0 lead. That was pretty much the highlight of the evening. There wasn’t much good after that.
Too many misplays, way too many odd-man rushes allowed, and game management issues that McLellan has wanted improved since he arrived in December.
“Fundamental hockey,” said McLellan of what hurt the Wings. “We got off to the start we wanted, but our game management, and you’re going to hear it all year from me because clearly it’s still a huge issue, we just played the game, we didn’t play to win the game.
“We just spent three weeks of training camp dealing with these situations. If it happened once or twice in a game, it’s OK. But there were six or seven outnumbered rushes after the first period from the 10 minute mark on. It’s unacceptable. We’ll have to drill it back into them.”
BOX SCORE: Canadiens 5, Red Wings 1
Zachary Bolduc, Oliver Kapanen, Mike Matheson, Alexandre Carrier and Juraj Slafkovsky (power play) scored Montreal’s goals.
“We just didn’t execute,” Larkin said. “It seemed like we didn’t do the simple things. We shot ourselves in the foot so much that we didn’t have time to get to our game and create offense. It’s pretty disappointing, the lack of execution.
“We got out there and it was chaotic. A lot of it was self-inflicted. We just really did not help ourselves.”
Goaltender John Gibson’s debut was forgettable. Gibson didn’t get much help in front of him – similar to the last preseason game – but allowed five goals on 13 shots before being replaced by Cam Talbot.
“They just out worked us and outskated us and had a lot of great opportunities around our net,” defenseman Moritz Seider said. “There was nothing Gibby could have done there to prevent goals. It’s up to us and it’s disappointing.”
A potential question mark heading into the season, the defense’s third-pair of Albert Johansson and Travis Hamonic were on the ice for three Montreal goals.
Rookies Emmitt Finnie (12 minutes 22 seconds, one shot on net), Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (five hits, minus-two rating in 14:34) and Axel Sandin-Pellikka (22:34 of ice time) didn’t get on the scoresheet and will have an ugly memory of their NHL debuts.
“I can’t recall them being involved in a lot of the crap, if you will,” McLellan said. “It’s a different game. That team had already played once. So the three of them get in and experience it and our team wasn’t good around them. But I don’t think they were involved in the major issues we had.”
The Wings continue the homestand Saturday hosting Toronto (7 p.m./FDSN/950-AM).
tkulfan@detroitnews.com
@tkulfan
Want to comment on this story? Become a subscriber today. Click here.