Red Wings Preseason: Game 1 vs. Pittsburgh Postgame Report

The Detroit Red Wings kicked off their preseason Wednesday night, taking on a young bunch of Pittsburgh Penguins, who had just come off a 3-2 loss in Buffalo.

The Red Wings did not start Filip Zadina and Thomas Vanek due to minor injuries, but both are expected to be back soon. Zadina could return as soon as Thursday.

Things didn’t look great early for the Wings, who also had a rather young lineup, generating only one shot through the first 8:17 of the game, and getting outshot 7-1. Larkin took an early high-sticking penalty and the Penguins PP went to work, which was luckily shut down by Jimmy Howard and the young Wings’ PK.

Detroit started to pick it up later in the first, and had a handful of opportunities, all of which were being tossed aside by Tristan Jarry.

The first 20 minutes were nothing short of streaky, but the teams turned out dead even in shots at 12 apiece, and matched zeros on the scoreboard.

The Pens got on the board early in the 2nd period, with Derek Grant scoring only 18 seconds in.

Though suffering a disheartening goal against, the Wings really started buzzing, but Jarry had other ideas.

Detroit continued to show a lot of fight and work hard, but the results just weren’t coming – that is, until Trevor Hamilton buried a shot from the blue line.

Replays made it appear that this one could have been tipped by Luke Witkowski, but the unofficial scoring actively shows Hamilton as the goal scorer from Cholowski and Ford. Good to see Hamilton producing on his PTO.

Harri Sateri relieved Jimmy Howard at 9:24 of the 2nd period.

Overall, the Red Wings dominated the 2nd period of play, outshooting the Pens 19-6, though only burying one puck.

Through the 3rd period of play, both teams strived to match each other defensively and it looked much like the 1st – evenly matched.

A slashing penalty from Lafferty put the Red Wings back to the powerplay, which was unsuccessful yet again.

Sateri looked very poised in net. He wasn’t beaten until Ryan Haggerty unleashed an absolute laser-beam of a shot to beat him over his shoulder.

The quiet Little Caesars Arena would get back on its feet shortly after, as Jussi Jokinen buried a juicy rebound, courtesy of Nick Jensen. Another PTO player scoring, the game was even yet again.

The Penguins would go to the powerplay with 5:10 remaining following a Luke Witkowski penalty, and despite some frightening opportunities, Sateri and the Wings stood their ground and killed the penalty.

At 19:30, Justin Schultz would dump the puck over the glass, sending the Wings to a late powerplay which would carry into overtime.

Dan Bylsma constructed a beautiful PP lineup in OT, consisting of Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Michael Rasmussen and Dennis Cholowski. Taking no time to generate chances, the Wings cycled the puck very well, and that great puck work would lead to the game-winning-goal. Cholowski rang a puck off the post, which Larkin picked up and made no mistake sending to it Rasmussen, who was readied in the crease and tapped it home.

Time expired on the PP before the puck went in, putting the Wings 0/3 for powerplays, but keep in mind, this was only a matter of a second.

The Wings outshot the Pens 44-30. The young guys did a spectacular job generating offense, which is a great sign.

Jarry went 41/44, a stellar performance. Howard & Sateri were both 14/15. Though facing a weaker lineup than we’d see in the regular season, Wings fans should certainly be proud of the performance from Sateri.

Detroit’s next preseason matchup will be against Chicago at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday at 6:30.