Notes on Cam Talbot, the Red Wings' shot blocking, Albert Johansson's debut, the importance of Detroit's ground game, and more

Detroit, MI—Long-time THN Detroit readers will be familiarity with a post-game staple of last season, the Statistical Review.  If you are anything like the THN Detroit editorial team, you grew angrily weary of the SR by season's end last year, so, we now present a revised post-game format.  So, without further ado, introducing Game Notes, which will look to offer a combination of quotations, stats, and subjective observation to summate the previous night's action.  Here's our first crack at it, reviewing the Red Wings' 3-0 win over the Predators last night at Little Caesars Arena.

The Game in One Quote:

“These guys don't have the padding that I do, and they're putting their bodies on the line.  There were some huge ones throughout the entire night, a lot on the PK, six-on-five. I mean, they were just diving in front of everything tonight. The dedication and sacrifice from the guys in front of me won the game tonight.” -Cam Talbot

There is some modesty in that assessment from Talbot, some self-effacement, as he had to be excellent to earn the win with a busy workload, but to actually secure the win, Talbot's strong form had to be combined with 31 blocked shots from the skaters in front of him.  After a meager opening night performance, it was exactly the sort of collective effort the Red Wings needed in Game Two against a formidable opponent.

Number to Know:

-Per Red Wings PR, Cam Talbot (on the strength of his 41 saves on 41 shots) became the second ever goaltender to record a shutout with seven different NHL teams, having now divided up his 32 career shutouts amongst the New York Rangers, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, Minnesota Wild, Ottawa Senators, Los Angeles Kings, and, now, the Detroit Red Wings.

Observations:

-Johansson Debuts: Albert Johansson made his NHL debut last night, his family having rushed in from Sweden to see the occasion.  It wasn't the busiest night for Johansson, who played just 11:57 (least among Detroit D), blocked a shot, put a shot on net, and threw two hits.  As Andrew Copp pointed out, it was a good kind of quiet performance.

“Made some really simple, nice plays with the puck, was good defending,” Copp said. “As a forward, when you don’t notice a D it’s probably a good thing. He was good back there, for sure.”

-Motte & Veleno Doing a Job Well: One of our most oft-repeated sporting clichés is the importance of doing your job on each play.  I suppose we have Bill Belichick to thank for this, but what is too often left out is that doing a job is one thing and doing it well is another.  It's easy to conflate a player's spot in the lineup with their effectiveness (i.e. because they play a bottom six, PK role, they must be good defensively), but in truth, finding players to do those jobs (1) well and (2) at a reasonable cost often distinguishes deep contending teams from talented imposters.

On Saturday night, Christian Fischer's injury forced Derek Lalonde and the Red Wings into some mixing and matching with respect to the forwards, but regardless of who they played with, Tyler Motte and Joe Veleno (both ostensibly fourth liners) were instrumental to the victory.  

"[Veleno and Motte] were excellent," assessed Lalonde after the game.  "[Jonatan Berggren] gave us some good minutes too.  Playing with 11 [forwards], we've got some experience with it.  I think the guys are comfortable with it...Those guys needed to be sprinkled in.  They did a good job.  I thought our forward group as a whole did a really good job...Sometimes we're a little light on the walls with the size of some of our forwards, but that's why they gotta dig in even harder.  And I think they won a few more battles tonight and got a few more pucks out.  That alleviates some zone time."

To beat the Predators, Detroit had to absorb pressure, and Veleno and Motte were vital in doing so without sinking underwater.

-Copp, Compher, Zone Time, and the Red Wings' Ground Game: Between Motte's performance, Dylan Larkin's empty-netter, and five-a-side goals from Andrew Copp and J.T. Compher, it was a big night for the Red Wings' sizable contingent of University of Michigan alumni.

With Copp and Compher in particular, the goals were a supplement to strong performances that ran much deeper.  "They were both on, committed to playing the right game," said Lalonde of the former Wolverine teammates.  "When they're playing their game, it's a lot of winning shifts...They both got us offense, but they were winning shifts with some really hard match-ups with that type of lineup.  I'm glad they both got rewarded with some offense."

A key element of that success was Copp and Compher's effectiveness in driving their lines to some sustained spells in the offensive zone on a night in which Nashville made that difficult.  Though the Preds accrued far more chances than mustered their hosts, both non-empty net Red Wing goals came from offensive zone play.  Detroit's top line threatened throughout the night off the rush but could never quite connect.  Meanwhile, from Compher down, the Red Wings did manage to relieve pressure at least on occasion via the offensive zone cycle, and it was that style of offense that produced both Detroit goals.

"Everyone's into underlying numbers now," said Lalonde of that dynamic this afternoon.  "They're pretty good for us.  We out-chanced them.  In our underlying numbers, we out Grade A'd them 2-1, but there was a ton of volume [against] on shots.  Obviously we had extended zone time, so there is that balance where you need stops, you want to lessen zone time.  It's a little bit on both ends.  It's one, on our defensive end, getting stops, but two, it's spending some more time in the offensive zone with the puck.  And we did have some possession, and it was kind of a point of emphasis.  We rushed to the slot, which is sometimes positive, but it doesn't help what we call a 'ground game,' the O zone time, so there's a balance...Last night's a perfect example.  We'll certainly take that game—the way we defended, the type of slot chances and Grade A's we gave up—but that's a hard volume game and a lot of zone time, lot of shots against."

That notion of the "ground game" is an important note, one that feels instructive as Detroit's long-term formula for success.  The sorts of near misses Alex DeBrincat, Patrick Kane, and Dylan Larkin almost connected for off the rush could easily be goals on a different night, but they also tend to be one-off opportunities that lead to more defending when they don't convert.  It's a bit like a football team that throws three quick incomplete passes and must punt.  The "ground game" Lalonde refers to is an important supplement to that sort of offense, affording game control if not necessarily explosiveness.  Of course, the optimal scenario is a balance of both, but Saturday showed the value of even a limited ground game for Detroit moving forward, with both Copp and Compher playing a major role in making that work.

Also from THN Detroit

In 3-0 Win, Red Wings' Grit Overcomes Nashville's Big Money

How Mistakes Shape the Red Wings' Player Development at the NHL Level

Red Wings-Predators Game Day Notebook & Where to Watch

How Taking DeBrincat Off The Flank Maximizes Detroit’s Power Play

In Loss to Penguins, Red Wings' Hottest Hands In Goal Go Cold

"Some Good, But a Lot of Bad" as Red Wings Drop Season Opener 6-3