Detroit City Wire

The Detroit Red Wings ended their five-game road trip with a 1-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday. Despite being shut out for the first time this season, the Red Wings collected six points from ten possible during their eight-day journey in the West.

Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin reflected on the performance, saying, “We showed we can play on the road and in this building especially. I thought that was a winnable game. We just didn’t get the offense, the bounces or the puck going into the net that we needed. Gibby played unbelievable, which is a positive sign. The PK was good again, but it’s a good learning lesson. We got to execute better and when we get our chances, we got to bury down.”

Goaltender John Gibson made 33 saves for Detroit (9-5-0), while Akira Schmid of Vegas (7-2-3) stopped all 24 shots he faced and earned his second career NHL shutout.

“I thought it was a close game,” said head coach Todd McLellan. “There were chances both ways, but the goaltenders stood in there fairly well. I thought we gave ourselves a chance to win. It would have been nice to have been a little more effective on, at least, the one full power play that we had. That may have been our opportunity, but just not enough sustained offensive time. A team like that can do that to you.”

Detroit’s best early opportunity came nearly ten minutes into the game with a power play following Zach White’s tripping penalty against Jonatan Berggren; however, a slashing call against Lucas Raymond soon after negated much of Detroit’s advantage.

The only goal came at 13:45 of the second period when Ivan Barbashev scored off Brandon Saad’s rebound as Vegas held a shot advantage through two periods.

“We understood that net play was going to be real important,” McLellan said. “You look at the one goal they got – they got in behind us. We had enough bodies around it, but we didn’t play it very well.”

In the third period, Schmid preserved Vegas’ lead with key stops against Alex DeBrincat during an early flurry and continued solid defensive support from his teammates.

Detroit went back on the power play past midway in regulation but failed to capitalize again.

“We came prepared but couldn’t really figure out our game plan,” Moritz Seider commented regarding Detroit's struggles on special teams Tuesday night. “It’s hard against a really good PK.”

Late in regulation, Detroit challenged Jeremy Lauzon’s goal for offside successfully but could not find an equalizer before time expired.

“I thought we played well,” Gibson said postgame. “You got to credit them. They make it hard to score, block a lot of shots and play well defensively. That was a hard-fought game.”

Looking ahead, Detroit will return home for four games starting Friday with an Original-Six matchup against the New York Rangers at Little Caesars Arena and several events marking Hockeytown's centennial celebration are scheduled this weekend at Motor City Casino Hotel and Fox Theatre.

Coach McLellan spoke about moving forward after this road stretch: “First, we got to get home and get some rest. That’s a big thing. We’ll do that tomorrow. We’ll practice on Thursday and get ready to play again, but there’s some things we improved on. There’s still some things that need work.”

Larkin expressed anticipation for returning home: “Very exciting. It’s always a tough challenge to come back home after a long trip out West. We’re going to have to be ready, and it’s going to be exciting. We’ve built some momentum and we have great crowds.”

Gibson noted what can be taken from their Western swing: “Build off the things we did well and learn from the things that we didn’t... Like I said, you got to give them credit."

Seider added about Tuesday's result: "We won the road trip, but I think we had a lot more on the line... Tonight was a very meaningful game and unfortunately, we just couldn’t get it done."