Detroit Red Wings' third-liners lack punch in 4-3 loss to Washington Capitals
The Detroit Red Wings got a good look at what their offense might look like if stars such as Dylan Larkin, Moritz Seider and Alex DeBrincat get injured, as a squad mostly comprised of second- and third-liners petered out in Washington in a 4-3 preseason loss to the Capitals on Thursday night.
One bright spot for the Wings was Daniel Sprong; the former Seattle Kraken forward who scored 21 goals last season had a goal and an assist for the Wings on Thursday. They also got a strong finish from veteran Robby Fabbri, who scored twice in the final five minutes of the game.
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The Wings also got a look at two goalies not likely to see a lot of time during the season, as Alex Lyon, a free-agent signee, started and played the first 40 minutes, and prospect Sebastian Cossa finished things off over the final period. The Wings are expected to go with Ville Husso as the No. 1 netminder, with veteran James Reimer signed to a one-year deal as his backup.
Lyon stopped 86.7% of the shots he faced, followed by Cossa stopping 85.7% before the Wings played most of the final four minutes with an empty net.
The Wings should get a chance to see what their A-listers do against the Caps’ reserves in their next game, as Washington visits Little Caesars Arena at 7 p.m. Saturday (Bally Sports Detroit).
Three score and 20 minutes …
Sprong got the Wings on the board first, with a helper from rookie defenseman Simon Edvinsson, with a wrister past Charlie Lindgren in net 3:35 into the second period. Edvinsson, Detroit’s first-round pick (No. 6 overall) in 2021, is fighting for a spot in the Wings’ defense corps after appearing in nine games last season. Unfortunately for his case, he was also on the ice as the Caps knotted it at 1-1 about four minutes later.
Nicklas Backstrom, who is attempting to become just the second NHL player to return from hip shaving surgery, scored first for the Caps, tipping in a shot 7:38 into the second. Alex Ovechkin, who will be hunting down Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goals record once the regular season starts, picked up an assist on the score as did Ivan Miroschnichenko.
The Caps took the lead on a Tom Wilson goal with 7:36 remaining in the second. Evgeny Kuznetzov won the faceoff against Wings 2022 first-round pick Marco Kasper, then dished quickly to Wilson, who snapped a shot past Lyon.
Net gains?
The Wings controlled the action in the first period at Capital One Arena, outshooting the Caps, 10-5. But neither team could get the puck past the other squad’s backup netminder, with Lyon opening strong for Detroit and Charlie Lindgren doing the same for Washington.
After that start, however, the Wings were outshot 24-19 over the final two periods.
Lyon finished with 13 saves on 15 shots, an .867 save percentage, over the first 40 minutes. He was replaced by Cossa, a first-round pick (No. 15 overall) by the Wings in 2021. Cossa, who struggled during the prospect tournament in Traverse City earlier this month, was tested early, facing eight shots over the first eight minutes of the third period. He stopped the first seven but faltered toward the end of a Capitals power play. After Artem Anisimov (a 13-year veteran playing on a professional tryout contract) took two minutes in the box for hooking Nic Dowd, the Wings had nearly killed off the penalty, only for defenseman Rasmus Sandin to wrist one past Cossa with 12 seconds left on the disadvantage. Wilson and Andrew Cristall each picked up an assist on the goal.
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A little over nine minutes later, defenseman John Carlson made it a three-goal lead for the Caps, wristing a shot unassisted past Cossa, who finished with 12 saves on 14 shots against, including nine saves on 10 even-strength shots.
The Wings made it a two-goal game less than a minute later as Fabbri, who missed the final month of last season with a knee injury, scored off an assist from Sprong and defenseman Olli Määttä with 3:04 remaining. With Cossa on the bench for the extra attacker, Fabbri struck again on a wrister with 1:13 left to make it 4-3.
Contact Ryan Ford at rford@freepress.com. Follow him on X (which used to be Twitter, y’know?) @theford.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Sebastian Cossa gets work in Detroit Red Wings' 4-3 loss to Capitals
