The Detroit Red Wings wrapped their four game road trip with an overtime win against the Seattle Kraken. Ben Chiarot scored the overtime goal to give the Red Wings the four-to-three win. The veteran defenseman has scored four goals and added 10 assists in 50 games played for the Red Wings. Fellow defenseman Moritz Seider scored the first goal of the game, his seventh of the 2023-24 season, in what turned out to be a back-and-forth game.
The team played well in all four games but only came away with two wins on the road. This road trip was crucial for a team looking to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in seven seasons. The Red Wings have the seventeenth most difficult strength of schedule in their remaining 27 games, according to The Athletic. The Red Wings currently sit in fifth place in the Atlantic Division with 64 points.
The best game that the Red Wings played, based on the final score, was against the Calgary Flames, which Detroit won by a score of five to zero. James Reimer stopped all 38 shots that he faced in this start against the Flames. “Obviously, you train and you practice and what not to play games,” Reimer said after an off-day practice. And so (I’m) excited to get back in there and try to help the boys out, see if we can get back on the right track here.”
Reimer is the third goalie on the Red Wings’ roster. This was met with some speculation prior to the beginning of the 2023-24 Red Wings season. Red Wings’ general manager Steve Yzerman knew that injuries happen in the NHL. Husso also talked about how he was fatigued at the end of the 2022-23 season, in which he played in 56 games and had a record of 26-22-7. Reimer signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Red Wings on July first of, 2023.
While there has been much speculation about the future of many of the Flames’ players, the Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks are two of the best teams in the league during this season. The Red Wings even managed to keep superstar Connor McDavid of the Oilers off the score sheet. McDavid did have six assists in the game, though. This is no small feat, as McDavid is on pace to put up 1,000 points in his eight-year career.
During the game against the Oilers, goaltender Ville Husso seemingly reinjured whatever lower-body injury that saw him miss more than a month of the Red Wings’ season. During this time, Alex Lyon emerged as the number one goalie on the team’s roster. Head coach Derek Lalonde said that Husso will be ‘week to week’ with this latest injury. In 24 games played during the 2023-24 season, Lyon has a record of 14-8-2 with a 2.82 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
The Red Wings will need to lean on Lyon and Reimer while they wait for Husso to get back to health. A third goalie who has veteran experience is something the team has not had in some time. These goalies will be part of the plan as the team waits for Sebastian Cossa to make the Red Wings’ roster. Cossa has a record of 10-7-5 in 22 games played for the Grand Rapids Griffins during the 2023-24 AHL season with a 2.76 goals against average and a .905 save percentage. Perhaps by the time Cossa makes the Red Wings roster, they will be able to advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs instead of merely getting into the tournament.
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