Red Wings’ Michigan natives combine for season-opening victory over Toronto

Photo by Jen Hefner/MiHockey
Photo by Jen Hefner/MiHockey

 

By @StefanKubus –

DETROIT – “Five guys and a coach.”

It’s not the latest burger joint, but it works for Justin Abdelkader and the Michigan natives on the Detroit Red Wings.

Led by Abdelkader’s (Muskegon) hat trick and Dylan Larkin’s (Waterford) first NHL goal, head coach Jeff Blashill (Sault Ste. Marie) and the Red Wings took the victory in their season opener over the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0.

“I thought we played really good, I thought the energy was great, I thought the execution, the attention to detail was really good,” Blashill said. “I thought it was a good step for our hockey team.”

MORE: Dylan Larkin: “I couldn’t have it any better” | Justin Abdelkader “off on the right foot” in Red Wings season-opening victory

For Blashill, it was his first NHL victory behind the bench of the team he grew up rooting on.

“It’s a pretty neat thing to have the opportunity to be the coach of an NHL team that you grew up cheering for, so I took a moment to certainly enjoy that, but other than that, it’s been preparation as usual, and we’re glad we got two points,” Blashill said.

Jimmy Howard also looked sharp, stopping 22 shots for the shutout.

“I thought Jimmy was good, and I thought, sometimes the game ends up 4-0 and it feels like it was one-sided, and it wasn’t,” Blashill said. “I thought we played well at times, but when your goalie does what he does and not give them any sniff of offense… he was stopping what he was supposed to stop, making the big saves at big moments. It keeps the game at bay for them and allows us to continue to build a lead, which we were able to do in the second.”

Toronto’s Joffrey Lupul took a hooking penalty just 1:04 into the contest, setting up the Red Wings’ first powerplay of the season. And just 11 seconds into that man-advantage, Abdelkader poked home a rebound off a Johan Franzen shot in the high slot to give Detroit an early 1-0 lead, just 1:15 into the game.

With 11:40 to play in the opening frame, Larkin made his presence felt, setting up Abdelkader in the high slot with a gorgeous spin-around feed to give the Red Wings a 2-0 lead. That marked Larkin’s first NHL point.

Just 20 seconds into the middle frame, with both teams playing 4-on-4, Larkin took a pass from Zetterberg, flew down the left side and sniped his first NHL goal short size over Bernier. That chased Bernier from the Leafs’ goal in favor of James Reimer.

And at the 3:54 mark of the second stanza, Abdelkader completed the hat trick to make it 4-0 with Kyle Quincey and Zetterberg drawing assists.

“Obviously, love playing with Z, we have great chemistry out there and Larks brings an element of speed, energy, hard on pucks, can really shoot, can skate, I think he showcased his skill set tonight,” Abdelkader said.