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Full transparency, I had to listen to this game on the radio. The business model of “exclusive” games on TNT or ESPN are something we’ll talk about another time. Tonight, though, I was glad to hear the radio. Ken Kal and Paul Wood were talking about Chicago and Calgary trying to quickly reload and become contenders again. A quote from Paul caught me off guard, “these long rebuilds are overrated (referencing Chicago and Calgary quickly becoming more competitive)”. You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to see where that mention was directed.
Chicago has brought in talent to help supplement the growth of the club, and a lot of Detroit’s attempts to do the same have felt like a swing and a miss. Copp is off to a much better start in terms of scoring, but he’s not the player teams were chasing before his surgery and after a playoff run in New York. The blue line, we’ve talked at length about those issues.
Regardless, Detroit came out and kept the shot differential fairly close (5 fewer than Chicago) and as was the hallmark of this team so many times last year they outperformed those shots. 3 pucks in with a goalie in net and an empty net tally. Mrazek and Bertuzzi made me feel old. I was at both of their first camps for Detroit. Athanasiou a healthy scratch.
Larkin has now scored his 8th of the year, 5 of those on the power play and 1 as an empty net. His 5 on 5 scoring got a boost tonight as he and Debrincat swapped roles on the first two goals. Larkin assisted Debrincat, then Debrincat assisted Larkin.
The second line is still a vexing complexity. Raymond is around a point per game but with only one goal and keeps being shuffled. It feels like a line with Raymond/Compher/Kasper (two centers on one line, I know) could do some interesting things. Compher can play 200 ft, Raymond is becoming a 200 ft player, and Kasper could be that “breakaway” player at the top of the D zone waiting for an outlet. He has speed, for sure. He and Raymond could play well off of each other on rushes (opinion).
So Detroit moves forward, but still found themselves hemmed in a bit. Foligno is a heart and soul player, no doubt. Not afraid to insert himself into any situation. Still, kudos to Detroit for the win and a big stick tap for Talbot.
Detroit heads to Toronto on Friday. This could be rough sledding. They dissected Boston yesterday and have speed and scoring. Detroit’s D is, well, half an NHL D at best. Possibly 1/3. Even with Matthews nursing some sort of injury Marner, Tavares, and Nylander can create in exceptional ways. This could be a tough test.
Let me know your thoughts as Detroit picks up a road win. What would you do with the forward lines, and will Detroit upgrade the defense (or coaching) at some point?
1st Period Detroit goals:
Debrincat jumped on a rebound from a Larkin as he skated up the middle and shot. The puck bounced to “the cat” for the tap in and he scored with 1.5 seconds left (changed to 3). 1-0 DET
At 12:27 Larkin restored the lead with Debrincat on the assist. Both with two points tonight. A Neutral zone turnover saw Debrincat collect the puck and get it to the captain who skated in the O zone on his off wing all the way to the net and snapped in the go ahead goal. 2-1 DET
Veleno got his first of the year as he tipped in a shot from Seider. Good to see the depth contribute. Rasmussen was battling behind the net, the puck ended up on Seider’s stick up at the right point. He shot and JV was right in front of the Chicago netminder and tipped it in. 3-1 DET
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