Detroit City Wire

The Detroit Red Wings secured a 3-1 preseason victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night. Head coach Todd McLellan highlighted the team’s effort and progress as they prepare for the upcoming season.

“We talked to the players before the game, and it was ‘you and us,’” McLellan said. “The ‘you’ part, they had to prepare themselves individually for the season coming up. I wasn’t too sure that everybody was at that point yet, so we challenged them there. And the ‘us’ part, we got to put that all together. I thought this was the most complete effort of the exhibition season, where we started to see the structure come and pace of play. Those are all positive signs.”

Detroit’s goaltender Cam Talbot made 18 saves out of 19 shots faced. On Toronto’s side, Anthony Stolarz stopped 39 shots.

Alex DeBrincat scored what would be the winning goal in the third period after persistent offensive pressure from Detroit. “I think we got a lot of shots to them,” DeBrincat said. “Didn’t make it too hard on [Stolarz] in the first two periods, made it a little bit harder in the third and obviously, got rewarded. Continuing on, we got to get a lot of shots but get in [opposing goaltenders’] eyes and make it real hard on [them].”

Toronto took an early lead with Auston Matthews scoring during a power play just over two minutes into the first period.

Despite being down by one goal heading into the second intermission, Detroit led significantly in shots on goal.

“They scored on their second shot on goal on a power play, and it took us a little while to re-establish our legs and our forecheck,” McLellan said. “But once that started to happen, I thought the hunt mentality was there, and it was contagious. We passed it off from one line to the next.”

Dylan Larkin tied the game for Detroit early in the third period with assists from Ben Chiarot and Emmitt Finnie. Later in the period, DeBrincat gave Detroit a 2-1 advantage following a play initiated by Michael Brandsegg-Nygård. Finnie then sealed Detroit’s win with an empty-net goal assisted by Moritz Seider.

“I think we did a good job of hounding the puck, making simple plays and kind of controlling the game for a bit there,” DeBrincat added. “Obviously, a lot of penalties in the second period, but we took that momentum and carried it into the third.”

The teams will meet again Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena for their final preseason matchup before starting regular-season play.

McLellan commented further on roster decisions as training camp nears its end: “We obviously have decisions to make, but as camp goes on you try to narrow your group down more and more, playing more common linemates and stuff like that. We’re coming up to game No. 8 now. It’s crunch time for players. It’s crunch time for staff to make decisions. There are a lot of guys who have played really well and have pushed. We’ll have a real tough task over the next 3-4 days. I’m sure a lot of teams, Toronto probably as well, will have a tough task determining who’s going to start and who isn’t.”

He also addressed Opening Night roster choices: “A good problem to have. It’s just solving it. What you do on Day 1 isn’t necessarily what will happen on Day 2. You just live day by day, and that’s how we’ll approach it.”

DeBrincat emphasized team chemistry ahead of regular season: “It’s huge. We got to feel good as a group, feel confident. Obviously, not our full lineup today but pretty close to it. I thought we played pretty well.”