The Pittsburgh Penguins put a sour note to the Red Wings opening night on Thursday night. Anthony Beauvillier scored two on the night, while Joel Blomqvist debuted his first NHL victory beating Detroit 6-3 at Little Caesars Arena. What looked like great coverage in the beginning disappeared by the Red Wings, who had to switch goaltenders in their loss.
The Red Wings opened their seventh season, with Larkin leading a stacked team in his fourth season with the “C”. Detroit faced Pittsburgh, who were already into the action despite their shutout loss to the Rangers on Wednesday. The Penguins wanted to avoid getting gooseegged but faced a team with many veterans in its lines. The Red Wings acquisition of Tarasenko and extensions of Raymond and Seider, left their performance to determine their place back in the postseason 82 games from now.
Detroit's first four minutes were very productive. They spent a lot of time getting shots on goal in the Penguins' zone. At 3:46, DeBrincat shot it top shelf behind Pittsburgh's goaltender. They marked their first shot on goal against the Red Wings, but great defense from Olli Maatta cut them off. They dug in to get more chances against Husso in between the pipes for Detroit, but the home team continued to dictate.
The Red Wings earned a power play from Lars Eller and attacked Blomqvist, gaining a second opportunities on the loose puck. The Penguins killed off Detroit’s power play but trailed the Red Wings on shots and scoring chances. With less than five to play in the period, Beauvillier leveled the score. Whiffing a shot near the net on a pass from Crosby, the left winger’s second attempt bounced off Ben Chiarot and across the goal line, ending their short goalless streak.
While things looked even on the scoreboard, the Red Wings' transition game continued to dominate the Penguins. Detroit earned a second man advantage with three to go, doubling their shots at the net when it came to an end. Twenty minutes was in the books between the two, and the Red Wings looked strong.
The second period went the way of the Penguins, who increased their shots at Husso in the first two minutes. Beauvillier got his second of the night after a win from the faceoff by Crosby, who shot the puck to the net where the left winger consolidated the rebound. It was 3-1 58 seconds later with Malkin breaking through the slot and the Red Wings defense. He found Drew O’Connor, who took the shot and credited his team to widen the gap. It got worse for Husso, who suffered an awful goal just flying above his glove from Marcus Pettersson making it 4-1 for Pittsburgh.
Cam Talbot came off the bench to replace him in the crease, hoping to stop the onslaught and get Detroit back in check. Their first test down a man came at 7:50 fighting the shots that Pittsburgh took. The Detroit PK did well in working with Talbot and clearing out the puck. They earned a third chance and got close, but despite not happening on the power play, Vladimir Tarasenko made it 4-2. He rifled one from the back part of the faceoff, making his presence known on the team.
It was almost 5-2 for the Penguins, but a hand pass seen by the officials negated that opportunity for them to go up three. After 40, the Penguins outshot Detroit 14-11, destined to take their lead and charge forward. A bad penalty from Detroit in the third cost them a small gap to cover and turned into a larger one. Karlsson scored his first with the team, with assists from Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin. Four minutes went by, with Detroit looking helpless and out of ideas on how to strike back three goals down. Letang, put the Red Wings on the power play until another Noel Acciari made it a 5 on 3. Detroit fought hard to make good of their push to score on the advantage, doing so on a second goal from DeBrincat. His efforts were felt through the squad, who took every opportunity to inch forward on the Penguins.
Kevin Hayes returned the Penguins to a three-goal lead, ringing the puck around in the Detroit net, with 7:39 left in regulation. Both teams had eight shots on goal in the period, but the margin was not going to change for the home team.
