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

DETROIT — A home opener is not supposed to end with boos. But that’s what happened as the buzzer sounded Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena, following the Red Wings’ 6-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins — a defeat that enflamed many of the concerns fans and observers had about Detroit coming into the season.

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

Three takeaways from the game:

Goaltending is still a question

Husso, who was perhaps the biggest mystery entering Red Wings training camp because of his injury-plagued 2023-24 season, earned the first start on the strength of his preseason, highlighted by a 43-save showing against the Penguins in Pittsburgh.

But after a fine enough first period, his outing came undone quickly in the second period Thursday, when Pittsburgh tagged him for three goals in the first six minutes. They weren’t all Husso’s fault, per se, but none of the three looked good for him.

There was a juicy rebound he kicked out front, which Anthony Beauvillier put home with ease. There was a gorgeous play by Evgeni Malkin to beat Erik Gustafsson, but Husso didn’t help himself by over-committing and leaving Drew O’Connor with a wide-open net. And the final goal was the most egregious: a soft floater from Marcus Pettersson at the point.

There were clear defensive issues on the Beauvillier and O’Connor goals — Detroit failing to clear the net on Beauvillier’s and Gustafsson getting burned on O’Connor’s — and that’s a problem in its own right.

But Husso giving up four goals on 14 shots (the Penguins’ first goal was Beauvillier from below the goal line, banked in off Ben Chiarot’s leg) did nothing to quell the general uncertainty around the Red Wings’ crease.

Talbot relieved Husso after the second-period flurry and stopped 12 of the 14 shots he faced, but also saw another goal called back due to a hand pass.

So what happens from here, in a three-headed goalie situation that has always been fluid? Don’t expect Husso to lose his spot in whatever the rotation ends up being just yet, but head coach Derek Lalonde did confirm there will be a different starter Saturday.

While Husso’s preseason might have temporarily helped to reduce anxiety about his readiness for a meaningful workload, the lack of sharpness Thursday has those questions right back in the spotlight.

Defense not sharp to start

The emphasis for the Red Wings since day one of camp has been on tightening their defense, and for good reason. Detroit gave up way too much easy offense last season, and after losing a significant chunk of scoring from their 2023-24 roster, keeping pucks out of their own net was the most obvious remedy.

But while the goaltending did them few favors — particularly with rebounds — the Red Wings defense did little to meet that defensive challenge for far too much of the game Thursday.

Their lone free-agent acquisition on defense, Gustafsson, finished with a 22.3 percent on-ice expected goals share, 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 an upper-body injury to Jeff Petry forced the Red Wings to play with five defensemen for much of the night, that injury happened deep enough into the game that it can explain only so much.

Clearing the net, in particular, stood out as an area of concern with multiple Grade-A looks right around the crease.

“Probably a little bit on the arrivals, a little bit on the box-outs,” Lalonde said. “Probably a little bit on rebound control, too. Obviously it puts it tough on our guys when they pop out like that. But … definitely a work in progress with some of those areas: box-outs, gaps, some D-zone coverage. It’s a little frustrating because there were some signs of it looking really good tonight, and how you want it to look to be successful in this league. But we couldn’t sustain it.”

Detroit certainly is not the only team to give up a big number early in the season, as scores have been high for most of the week around the league. But considering the emphasis on that side of the game through camp — and the necessity of it being a strength for this group to succeed — it was not an inspiring showing.

Seider, DeBrincat bright spots

The game was not without positives for the Red Wings, who actually came out quite sharp. They dominated the early run of play, scored the game’s first goal just 3:46 in and had a ton of pressure on an early power play that could have put them in the driver’s seat.

Obviously, the turn the game took in the second period will render most of that easily forgotten, but there were a couple of key performances worth noting even in the loss.

First: Moritz Seider, who despite the tough defensive game for Detroit on the whole graded out with strong underlying numbers. He was on the ice for only one of Detroit’s goals against, and it was the Pettersson floater that had no business going past Husso. His five-on-five on-ice expected goals share, according to Natural Stat Trick, was a very strong 62.88 percent. He was a wrecking ball, racking up six credited hits and setting a physical tone. And he had an assist on a Vladimir Tarasenko goal in the second period, just as a power play had expired.

It might ring hollow in a loss, but considering Seider’s importance to the Red Wings as the centerpiece of the blue line, his performance was worth noting.

Meanwhile up front, Alex DeBrincat’s underlying numbers weren’t nearly as sterling at a five-on-five on-ice xGF% of 26, but he nonetheless finished with a pair of goals (and 3 points) and was consistently noticeable, with the puck and when trying to get it back.

For all the emphasis on defense to make up for the lost offense, DeBrincat is uniquely suited to help Detroit replace some scoring. And he did it in multiple ways Thursday, scoring on the rush off a great feed from Raymond early and adding one on the power play late on a rebound. Getting him going could pay dividends in a tough early schedule, during which the Red Wings are going to need some goals.

But still: The Red Wings need their top line of DeBrincat, Raymond and Dylan Larkin to win its matchups — on the scoreboard and by the quality of chances. They did neither Thursday.

(Top photo: Mike Mulholland / Getty Images)