The Detroit Red Wings dug themselves a hole, tried to climb out of it, but came up short in a 4-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the NHL preseason finale for both clubs on Saturday at Little Caesars Arena.
The Red Wings fell behind 3-0 in the first period, then scored twice in the third period.
In the first period, Charlie Coyle got inside position on rookie defenseman Anton Johansson to redirect a Kiril Marchenko cross-ice pass in for the game’s first goal. Later in the frame, Coyle pounced on a Moritz Seider turnover to feed Valeri Nichushkin. His one-timer beat Detroit goalie John Gibson high on the glove side to make it 2-0.
Jack Williams put a snap shot past Gibson to make it 3-0 early in the second period.
Following a scoreless second frame, Ben Chiarot finally got Detroit on the board at 6:39 of the third period. His wrist shot from the point off a faceoff win by Marco Kasper found its way through traffic and past Columbus goalie Jet Greaves`
Michael Rasmussen’s shot leaked through Greaves to narrow the Columbus lead to 3-2 with 5:41 left in regulation time.
Cole Sillinger ended Detroit’s comeback hopes with an empty-net goal.
Takeaways
Detroit RFA defenseman Simon Edvinsson is still unsigned. The Red Wings experimented with Albert Johansson playing Edvinsson’s spot in the top D pairing with Moritz Seider. Anton Johanson and Justin Faulk were the second pairing, while Ben Chiarot and Axel Sandin-Pellikka formed the third defensive tandem. Sandin-Pellikka saw some duty on the Detroit penalty kill.
In the second period, Red Wings coach Todd McLellan flipped the centers in his bottom-six forwards. Marco Kasper dropped down to the fourth line between Keegan Kolesar. JT Compher was bumped up between Viktor Arvidsson and Emmitt Finnie.
Key Moment
It only took 14 seconds for the Columbus power play to open the scoring after Detroit defenseman Faulk was called for delay of game when he shot the puck over the glass 5:34 left in the first period.
Key Stat
Through the first two periods, defenseman Seider had six shots for the Red Wings. The entire contingent of 12 Detroit forwards had combined for 12 shots.
Up Next
The Red Wings open up the NHL regular season at Little Caesars Arena on Friday against the New York Rangers. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
Bob Duff has worked in the sports media industry since 1984 and covered the Red Wings since 1988. As … More about Bob Duff