Detroit Red Wings finish preseason with 4-3 win vs Toronto Maple Leafs: Game thread recap
NHL preseason: Detroit Red Wings (4-2-1) vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (4-1-2)
When: 7 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
TV: Bally Sports Detroit.
Radio: None.
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Game notes: A note to any Lions fans downtown tonight who happen to see some Maple Leafs fans wandering Woodward and its likes — buy ‘em a drink, or at least a coney, as they understand Detroit’s football pain all too well: The Leafs possess the NHL’s longest Stanley Cup drought, now at 55 or 56 seasons (depending on how you count 2004-05’s locked-out campaign.) Yes, it’s the annual reminder that Toronto last won the Cup in 1967, the league’s final season as a six-team configuration, much like the Lions last won a title back in 1957, a full decade before the start of the Super Bowl, which is nearing 60 its own dang self. It might be even more painful this season, with the Cup going last season to the Vegas Golden Knights, all of six seasons old.
Anyway, this is it — the final exhibition before the Wings open the 2023-24 season against the New Jersey Hughes Bros., er, Devils on Thursday. Expect a lineup that looks a lot like the opener’s will, thanks to the game’s location at Little Caesars Arena. That means we should get to see captain Dylan Larkin centering Alex DeBrincat on one side and … who? That’s one of the big questions for the Wings, who brought in a host of forwards in the offseason to give the second, third and fourth lines some help.
Lucas Raymond is the natural fit with “D-Boss” and DeBrincat, as he has paired with Larkin for most of his two seasons in the NHL. But Michael Rasmussen drew the assignment in practice Friday, according to the Freep’s Helene St. James, potentially giving the top line a dose of grit — Rasmussen was fifth on the roster in hits (119) last season, behind only Moritz Seider (207), Adam Erne (160), Joe Veleno (152) and Ben Chiarot (147).
As for the Original Six visitors, don’t expect a lineup anywhere near as stacked as Thursday’s (which produced a 4-3 OT win over the Wings, and some sloppy play on both sides). The Leafs resisted the urge to blow up their core after the spring’s second-round loss to Florida; Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares are all back in salary-cap-filling form. As a result, Toronto was busy bringing in a host of players on short-team deals, including Max Domi (a scorer, not a fighter like his pops, Tie), John Klingberg (no longer a Norris candidate, but still good for 30-50 points at age 31) and, of course, D-Boss’ former linemate, Tyler Bertuzzi (who picked up a goal on Thursday and is on a one-year deal with the Leafs).
After tonight’s preseason finale, the Wings get a few extra days of preparation — the NHL season officially starts Tuesday — before heading to Newark, New Jersey, for the 2023-24 opener against Jack Hughes (a team-high 43 goals last season), former Wolverine Luke Hughes (a goal and three assists in five regular- and postseason games), John Hughes (“Breakfast Club,” “Pretty In Pink”) and Howard Hughes (aviation magnate behind TWA and the Spruce Goose). OK, maybe not those last two, and not Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes, either, but still, there’s a lot of brotherly love in the Garden State. The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, will open their season Wednesday at home against Montreal, which has no Hughes brothers (as far as we know) and also no Stanley Cups in the past three decades or so.
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Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on X (which used to be Twitter, y’know?) @theford. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3: Game thread recap
