NEWARK, N.J. — The Detroit Red Wings came away from their season opener encouraged and disappointed.
They outpaced one of the elite teams in the Eastern Conference to start the game, but then did as much damage to their efforts as did the New Jersey Devils. The 4-3 loss Thursday at Prudential Center showed positives and negatives.
“it was a good hockey game,” Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. “It was an emotional game. It’s a good team over there. We had a great start. I think if we play like that consistently, we are going to be in a good spot. The biggest thing is, we didn’t capitalize on some really good chances in the first period, really all game. We scored three, but our finishing wasn’t there. I’m not worried about that. We have a lot of goal scorers in here.”
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Newcomers Alex DeBrincat and Daniel Sprong contributed goals, as did Robby Fabbri. Goalie Ville Husso should have read a shot from New Jersey’s Jack Hughes better, resulting in the Devils’ first goal; Husso finished with 23 saves. His counterpart in the New Jersey crease, Vitek Vanecek, stymied the Wings 32 times, including 14 in the first period.
“It was a great start,” Husso said. “Guys came in hard. I think we could have scored two or three goals in the first. I feel in the second period, they got momentum back, but it was still a tight game. The big thing for us is just to turn these games to a win. We are still learning, and we just have to take the positive out of it.”
The Wings next play Saturday, in their home opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning. As much as leaving New Jersey without a point rankled, the Wings picked through what they did well.
“Loved the start, even liked our third,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “Second period got away from us, some turnovers fueled them. That certainly hurt. And then penalties. We took way too many penalties, and they were slashes, hooks — penalties you can manage or control. So we will definitely have to clean that up.”
A pair of vets took two penalties apiece: Jeff Petry was whistled twice for holding, and David Perron twice for slashing. Giving highly skilled teams that much man-advantage time — the Devils had 7:29 of it — scuttled the Wings’ chances.
“They get momentum off it, and it drains your top guys,” Lalonde said. “You go on the road against anyone and take six [penalties], you have no chance, let alone against one of those in the league. Maybe we were a little hyper-excited, but stick penalties, that’s something that is tough to swallow.”
Ultimately, the result was too similar to last season, with the Wings losing a close game. They got a prime lesson in discipline, and the need to bear down on chances.
“We knew we were going to face adversity coming into this game and we did,” Larkin said. “For the most part, we responded well.”
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Contact Helene St. James athstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter@helenestjames. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon,Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings stumbles after ‘great start’ teach needed discipline
