The Detroit Red Wings wanted Keegan Kolesar to bring some muscle and a harder edge to the lineup. On Thursday night, that edge cut both ways.
The 6-foot-3, 218-pound forward got tangled up with Jets rookie defenseman Tyrel Bauer and wound up taking the worst of it, absorbing a few punches in a scrap with the younger, lighter Winnipeg player. Kolesar, who is 29 and has more than 400 NHL games on his resume, has built a reputation on physical play - more than 200 hits a year for the last five seasons - but this time the fight sent him to the locker room to meet with the concussion specialist.
It also handed Winnipeg its first power play of the night, with Kolesar getting five minutes for fighting and a two-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Less than five minutes later, the Red Wings were already down 2-0 in the first period.
That early hole proved costly. Detroit did fight back with goals late in the second and third periods, but the damage had already been done. The Red Wings fell 3-2 in regulation and dropped to 0-2 on the season and 0-2 at home.
Todd McLellan didn’t mince words afterward.
“Well, the penalty kill failed us.” Head coach Todd McLellan said postgame, “And the penalty.
You know, unsportsmanlike conduct right after we get scored on; Bang, they’re up two nothing. We can’t have that.
Pretty simple.”
The numbers told the same story. Winnipeg scored all three of its goals on the power play, cashing in on three of four chances.
Detroit went one-for-four with the man advantage. There were also a couple of moments when the most dangerous player on the ice during the Red Wings’ power play was wearing a Jets sweater, as Kyle Connor came close to adding two shorthanded goals to his power-play production.
It’s hard to win when you keep sending your own players to the bench. So far this season, the Red Wings have not given up an even-strength goal. They have, though, surrendered four on the power play, plus one empty-netter in the home opener.
Alex Debrincat pointed to the same issue.
“Special teams is a big part of the game. You know, they won that battle today.”
Alex Debrincat said, “Power play’s gotta be better. We obviously got one [goal], but one’s not enough in a game like that.”
McLellan said the team’s energy has been a positive through the first two games, even if it has occasionally boiled over in the wrong direction. He said the players are frustrated when things go sideways, but not checked out.
“You know, they’re pissed when we’re down and they’re not happy.” Said McLellan, “But no one’s digging graves. They’re trying to dig themselves out, and I don’t think the effort or anything sagged.”
The challenge, of course, is avoiding the hole before they start trying to climb out.
“I think we saw some of the fruits of our labor show up in here. But we still got to find a way to get more than two a night.” McLellan said.
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