Red Wings defense, goaltending falters in season-opening loss: 3 takeaways

DETROIT – The home opener isn’t supposed to end in boos. But that’s what happened when the buzzer sounded Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena, following the Red Wings’ 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins — a defeat that raised many concerns from fans and observers about Detroit entering this season.

It’s early, of course. But for a team that entered the season with expectations of taking another step toward (or the) playoffs, Thursday’s loss brought some lingering questions back to the forefront.

Three points of the game:

The goal is still a question

Hoso, perhaps the biggest mystery entering Red Wings training camp due to an injury-plagued 2023-24 season, got off to a solid start in the preseason, highlighted by his 43-save showing against the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

But after a good enough first period, his outing was quickly undone in the second period on Thursday, when Pittsburgh scored three goals in the first six minutes. Not all of them were Hosso’s faults, per se, but none of the three looked good for him.

There was a powerful rebound he fired forward, which Anthony Beauvillier easily brought home. There was some great play from Evgeni Malkin to beat Erik Gustafsson, but Hosso didn’t help himself by over-committing and leaving Drew O’Connor with a wide open net. The last goal was the most egregious: a soft shot from Marcus Pettersson at the point.

There were obvious defensive issues with Beauvillier and O’Connor’s goals — Detroit failed to clear the back of the net on Beauvillier’s goal and Gustafsson got burned on O’Connor — and that’s a problem in itself.

But Hosso giving up four goals on 14 shots (the Penguins’ first goal was Beauvillier from below the goal line, shooting off the leg of Ben Chiaro) did nothing to quell the general uncertainty around the Red Wings’ crease.

Talbot rested Hossow after the second period flurry and stopped 12 of the 14 shots he faced, but also saw another goal called for a handball.

So what happens from here, in what has always been a fluid three-headed goalie situation? Don’t expect Huso to lose his place in any tournament that ends just yet, but head coach Derek Lalonde has confirmed there will be a different start on Saturday.

While Hosso’s preseason may have temporarily helped reduce concerns about his readiness to take on a meaningful workload, Thursday’s lack of intensity brought those questions back into the spotlight.

Simon Edvinsson, like most Detroit defensemen, struggled analytically against the Penguins. (Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)

The defense isn’t sharp to begin with

The Red Wings’ focus since the first day of camp has been on shoring up their defense, and for good reason. Detroit gave up a lot of easy offense last season, and after losing a significant portion of the scoring from the 2023-24 roster, keeping pucks away from their nets was the most obvious remedy.

But while their goaltending did them little favors — especially on rebounds — the Red Wings’ defense did little to meet that defensive challenge for most of the game Thursday.

Their lone free agent acquisition, defenseman Gustafsson, finished with 22.3 percent of expected goals on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick. Simon Edvinsson, Detroit’s top prospect who opened the season in the top four, wasn’t much higher. And while Jeff Petry’s upper-body injury forced the Red Wings to play with five defensemen for most of the night, this injury occurred too deep in the game to explain much.

The sweep of the net, in particular, has emerged as an area of ​​concern as there are several first-class looks right around the crease.

“Maybe a little bit about comings, a little bit about hitting,” Lalonde said. “Maybe a little bit in terms of rebound control as well. Obviously that makes it difficult for our guys when they come out like that. But… there’s definitely a work being done in some of those areas: the outside boxes, the gaps, some of the D-zone coverage. It’s frustrating.” “A little bit because there were some signs that he looked really good tonight, and how you want him to look successful in this league but we couldn’t sustain it.”

Detroit certainly isn’t the only team to give up a ton early in the season, as scores have been up most of the week in the league. But given the emphasis on that aspect of the game during camp — and the need for it to be an asset for this group to succeed — the display was uninspiring.

Sider, DeBrincat Bright Spots

The game was not without positives for the Red Wings, who actually put in a strong performance. They dominated the early period of play, scoring the first goal of the game at just 3:46, and had plenty of pressure on the early power play that could have put them in the driver’s seat.

The turn the game took in the second half will obviously make most of that easily forgotten, but there were some key performances worth noting even in the loss.

First up: Moritz Seider, who despite Detroit’s tough defensive game, came out with solid underlying numbers. He was on the ice for just one of Detroit’s goals against, and it was Peterson’s floater that shouldn’t have gotten past Hoso. His expected goals share on ice five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick, was a very solid 62.88 percent. He was a wrecking ball, racking up six hits and setting a physical tone. He provided an assist on Vladimir Tarasenko’s goal in the second period, just as the power play ended.

It may seem hollow in a loss, but given Seider’s importance to the Red Wings as the centerpiece of the blue line, his performance was noteworthy.

Meanwhile, on offense, Alex DeBrincat’s underlying numbers weren’t nearly as good with a five-on-five xGF% on-ice percentage of 26, but he still finished the game with a pair of goals (and 3 points) and was consistently noticeable, both with the puck and when trying to retrieve it.

For all the emphasis on defense to make up for the missing offense, DeBrincat is uniquely suited to help Detroit replace some scoring. He did that in a variety of ways Thursday, scoring a quick goal off a great pass from Raymond early and adding a goal on the power play late on a rebound. Motivating him could lead to good results in a tough early schedule, during which the Red Wings will need some scoring.

But still: The Red Wings need their top line of DeBrincat, Raymond and Dylan Larkin to win their matchups — on the scoreboard and with quality of opportunity. They did not do any on Thursday.

(Top Image: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)