The Red Wings are staring at an early-season chance to stop the bleeding.
Detroit hosts the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena, and the matchup comes with a clean, obvious backdrop: the Red Wings are 0-2, while Ottawa arrives at 2-0 after a 4-1 win over the Boston Bruins on Monday night. Tim Stutzle did the damage for the Senators, scoring twice and adding an assist.
On paper, Ottawa has the momentum. But the schedule may be tilting things back toward Detroit.
The Senators are on the second night of a back-to-back and playing their third game in four days, while the Red Wings were off Monday after a 3-2 loss to Winnipeg. That extra day of rest matters, especially this early.
Ottawa also has a notable absence on defense. Jake Sanderson will miss Tuesday’s game after getting hurt in the Senators’ season-opening win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The injury was serious enough that he returned to Ottawa instead of traveling with the team to Boston.
Detroit, meanwhile, could get some help back up front. Dylan Larkin has missed the first two games with an upper-body injury suffered off the ice, and head coach Todd McLellan said earlier that Larkin could return in Game 3.
His status should be sorted out after Tuesday’s morning skate. So should Marco Kasper’s.
Kasper sat out Sunday’s game against Winnipeg after an upper-body injury forced him out, and his absence alongside Larkin left Detroit thin at center. Emmitt Finnie had to move to the middle against the Jets. If both players are cleared, the lineup changes quickly and noticeably.
That would be welcome for a team that has struggled to generate offense without its captain. Larkin scored 34 goals and finished with 67 points last season, and the Red Wings have managed only two goals in the first two games without him.
They had just 22 shots against New York, then bumped that total to 35 against Winnipeg. Viktor Arvidsson scored his first goal with Detroit, and Finnie added another.
Detroit will need more of that push to turn the early signs into an actual result. The offense has to carry the night.
None of that makes Ottawa an easy out. The Senators won 44 games last season and finished with 99 points, and they’ve started this year with back-to-back Atlantic Division wins. Even with the heavy legs from the schedule and Sanderson out, they still bring plenty to the table.
There’s also uncertainty in goal. Linus Ullmark stopped all 10 shots he faced Monday against Boston before leaving in the third period after a collision. Samuel Ersson finished the game for Ottawa.
Detroit has handled Ottawa well before, winning three of four meetings last season. But that history doesn’t change the current reality. The Red Wings’ 0-2 start is not a crisis, though an 0-3 start would make things a lot more uncomfortable.
And Detroit already has enough noise around it: a 10-year playoff drought, drama involving Dylan Larkin, no general manager, and Simon Edvinsson’s status now in question.
Tuesday gives the Red Wings a chance to quiet some of that. They need to take it.
In Other News...
Senators Suddenly Have A Goalie Problem Fans Feared
Linus Ullmarks status has turned a routine stretch of the schedule into an early test for Ottawas depth in net. The Senators starter exited a recent game and is now day-to-day, leaving the crease to Samuel Ersson, who had already been pressed into action in the win over Boston before getting the next assignment against Detroit.
Erssons work has only sharpened the concern around how long Ottawa can lean on its backups if Ullmark needs more time. Even in a losing effort against the Red Wings, the bigger issue for the Senators is less about one off night than the possibility of having to navigate an extended run without their No. 1 goalie, making his return a key piece of the picture. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Just Sent An Early Message About This Teams New Edge
The Senators showed a different kind of edge Friday night in Detroit, where a routine-looking matchup at Little Caesars Arena quickly turned into a test of backbone. What started with Dylan Larkin going after Ridly Greig set off a chain reaction, and Ottawa did not back away from the moment, even as the game veered far from the usual early-season pace.
Thomas Chabot stepped in for Greig, and the response from both benches kept the tension high as other players joined the fray, including Ben Chiarot and Greig in a separate exchange. By the time the dust settled, the message from Ottawa was hard to miss: this is a team willing to stand up for one another, and opponents are going to notice if they try to push them around. [Read more 🡒]
Sarah Nurse And Emerance Maschmeyer Make A Notable Camp Decision
Sarah Nurse and Emerance Maschmeyer have made a notable choice as Hockey Canada opens its world championship training camp in Quebec City, declining their invitations and shifting their focus toward the Vancouver Goldeneyes. For Ottawa fans following the new landscape around the leagues player pool, the decision stands out because both players remain central names in womens hockey and are tied to a franchise building toward its first season, which begins Dec. 5.
Nurse had initially been included on the Hockey Canada camp list before Alexia Aubin took her place, while several other Goldeneyes players are still set to be part of the national team gathering. The bigger picture, though, is timing: this looks less like a detour than a deliberate move to be available when Vancouvers camp opens Nov. 18, leaving the national team picture and the Goldeneyes early roster plans running on parallel tracks. [Read more 🡒]