Red Wings Drop Hall of Fame Game to Maple Leafs

Cam Talbot had a decent night in net after getting called upon for the surprise start, but the Red Wings ultimately fell to the Maple Leafs 3-1 in the Hockey Hall of Fame Game. The Red Wings have been unable to beat the Maple Leafs of late, and that proved true again tonight.

Former franchise star Pavel Datsyuk did the ceremonial puck drop. Earlier in the evening, he received his ring at the Presentation Ceremony as he was inducted intko the 2024 Hall of Fame class.

Make Or Break PP

Mitch Marner started the scoring on the first power play of the night in the first period. Michael Rasmussen got tagged with an interference penalty, and it took less than a minute for the Leafs to score after that. Dylan Larkin tied it up 1-1 late in the second period after Toronto got called for hooking. However, a too many men on the ice penalty gave the Maple Leafs another power play goal. John Tavares had two goals tonight that effectively shut down the Red Wings.

It’s a continual trend for the Red Wings, with their penalty kill ranking near the very bottom of the league.

Sloppy Play

The Maple Leafs played a relatively sharp, clean game and that proved too much for the Red Wings. A goalie interference call on Marco Kasper was missed just moments before one on Toronto negated a goal. Late in the game Tavares got his second goal after what appeared to be a miscommunication as Talbot was pulled off ice. The Red Wings weren’t outshot tonight, breaking the 9 game streak. However, they were outscored on the almost the same amount of shots.

Credit is due to Anthony Stolarz, who had a stellar performance in net for the Maple Leafs. At one point the Toronto goalie had to use his bare hand to keep the puck out of his net. The fact of the matter is the Maple Leafs pushed Detroit around. Toronto had half again as many hits as Detroit and a third more takeaways. The Red Wings are outmuscled and outshot night after night and changing the lines around hasn’t seemed to produce the desired results.

Offense Still Off

Jonatan Berggren (one point 13 games), Lucas Raymond (one goal on the season), and Patrick Kane (two goals, 13 games) were all kept off the scoresheet again tonight. Raymond and Berggren have been struggling to find the net this season, despite solid underlying numbers. With the Wings spending as much time in their own zone as they currently are, it’s hard to imagine them getting their feet under them anytime soon. The shuffling around of the blue lines certainly hasn’t helped, but proven scorers like Kane and Raymond need to get on pace. The Red Wings need to improve on being aggressive and staying in the opposing teams’ zone.