DETROIT - Kienan Draper had a night he’ll remember for one reason on Saturday and a night he’d probably rather forget on Sunday.
The son of Red Wings assistant GM and director of amateur scouting Kris Draper followed up the shootout winner in Detroit’s 4-3 win over Dallas with an own goal that helped hand the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 victory over the Red Wings rookies. Late in the game, a centering pass from Pittsburgh’s Jordan Charron struck Draper’s skates and deflected past Detroit goalie Michal Orsulak for the deciding goal.
Detroit got goals from Theo Rochette, Jacob Truscott and Adam Levac. Rochette scored on the opening shift of the game, giving the Red Wings an immediate jump. The Penguins answered with goals from Carter Sanderson, Brayden Edwards and Tomas Galvas.
The game also had a notable bench moment early on, with Haeden Ellis and Carter Bear sitting beside each other for Detroit. The two were on opposite sides of last spring’s Memorial Cup final, when Ellis and the Kitchener Rangers beat Bear and the Everett Silvertips.
Detroit had a few other lineup notes as well. Nate Danielson and Anton Johansson, two of the more experienced players on the roster, were healthy scratches. Myles Brosnan was the only Red Wings defenseman drafted by the club.
The biggest swing came late in the second period. With the score tied 3-3, Detroit was set to get a 5-on-3 power play for 1:46, but Jesse Kiiskinen was whistled for roughing after a post-whistle scuffle, wiping out the two-man edge.
That missed chance loomed large. The Red Wings finished 1-for-8 on the power play.
“Yeah, I mean, we didn’t do very well on them,” coach Dan Watson said. “I think our guys got tired one right after the other.
You have two units, you try to switch them up. But I think the execution just overall in our power play wasn’t very good.”
In Other News...
Red Wings Prospects Just Put Early Roster Pressure On Detroit
The annual prospect tournament gave the Red Wings a first look at a few names that could eventually squeeze into the picture in Detroit, and there was plenty to like in the showing against Dallas. Carter Bear was active throughout the game, Trey Augustine looked sharp in goal, and the young group left with a shootout win that provided an encouraging start for the organizations next wave.
Nate Danielson was back on the ice after a season-ending injury and looked comfortable skating alongside Bear, which is the sort of early chemistry the Red Wings will keep watching closely. For a club trying to sort out who might be ready sooner rather than later, performances like this do not settle anything, but they do make the roster conversation a little more interesting. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Ex-Player Watch Just Took A Tough Turn Abroad
Several former Red Wings are already finding work overseas as NHL training camps open, a reminder of how quickly the offseason can turn for players on the outside of the league. Dmytro Timashov has landed with HK Nitra in the Slovak League, while Jacob de la Rose is reportedly set to extend his stay with HC Fribourg-Gottron. Elsewhere, former Grand Rapids Griffin Radek Simek and Jakub Rychlovsky have become important pieces for Liberec in the Czech Extraliga, giving Detroit fans a few familiar names to track from afar.
The sharper concern, though, has come with Dominik Kubalik, who left a preseason game for EV Zug in the Swiss National League after a lower-body injury. For a player trying to keep momentum going abroad, any setback this early can complicate everything from rhythm to readiness, and it adds another uneasy note to a group of ex-Red Wings whose seasons are already trending in very different directions. [Read more 🡒]
Red Wings Need To See If Danielson Can Fill A Huge Void
Nate Danielsons return to game action offered the Red Wings a useful early look at a prospect they hope can eventually help solve one of their more familiar roster problems. Detroit needs more offensive production down the middle, and Danielson entered the NHL Rookie Tournament carrying the added weight of a season interrupted by a hip injury that kept him out for much of the year.
He made his first competitive appearance since last seasons injury-affected stretch and came away with an assist while getting pucks to the net throughout the weekend. For a player the organization is trying to gauge in the context of that center-ice void, the tournament was less about the box score than about whether Danielson can keep building toward the kind of role the Red Wings need him to fill. [Read more 🡒]