In their last warmup, and their toughest challenge, of the exhibition season, the Detroit Red Wings had a rough go of it.
Hewing pretty close to the lineup expected to take the ice in the regular-season opener in six days, the Wings lacked a consistent hard effort against a Columbus Blue Jackets
lineup that likewise was loaded up on NHL regulars in an exhibition outing on Saturday, Sept. 26, at Little Caesars Arena.A late push wasn't enough to overcome earlier mistakes, leaving the Wings on the short end of a 4-2 final.
The Wings didn't pick up a goal until the third period – Ben Chiarot scored from long range midway through and Michael Rasmussen from short range with 5:41 to play when he when he won a puck battle near Columbus' net. Marco Kasper
set up both goals. John Gibson was pulled with two minutes to play for the extra attacker. There was 10.8 seconds left when Cole Sillinger scored into an empty net.
Who played
With Dylan Larkin (upper body) still unavailable, the top line again had Andrew Copp between Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond. Marco Kasper was with Emmitt Finnie and Viktor Arvidsson, Nate Danielson with Carter Mazur and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, and J.T. Compher with Rasmussen and Keegan Kolesar. Besides Larkin, Mason Appleton was the only other regular not in the lineup.
On the back end, Simon Edvinsson remained unavailable pending a new contract, but while it's too bad the restricted free agent didn't get into a single preseason game, it did mean more opportunity for young defensemen. Anton Johansson and Axel Sandin-Pellikka both appeared in their fourth game, while the rest of the defense on Saturday featured Moritz Seider, Chiarot, Justin Faulk and Albert Johansson.
Costly turnover
The Blue Jackets moved ahead, 1-0, during a power play when Kirill Marchenko made a perfect pass, sliding the puck to Charlie Coyle's stick for a tip-in at 14:40. There wasn't much goalie John Gibson could have done. There wasn't much time for him to react on the second score, either, as Seider committed an a turnover deep in his own zone. Coyle picked off Seider's error, and sent the puck to Valeri Nichushkin, whose slap shot found the back of Detroit's net with 1:16 to play in the first period.
Damage grows
The Wings fell further behind early in the second period when Ryan Lomberg threaded a pass to Jack Williams, who took advantage of Sandin-Pellikka's missed coverage to make it 3-0 at 3:55.
While the Wings looked sloppy in their own end, they did manage to create scoring opportunities, including up close, in the offensive zone, but were stymied on all 23 shots through two periods by Jet Greaves.
Chippy game
There were multiple scrums, including one early in the third period that yielded the Wings their fourth power play of the game. Carson Soucy's blatant cross-check from behind on DeBrincat sparked a pileup behind Columbus' net, and ended with Soucy and Lucas Raymond both called for roughing and Soucy for cross-checking.
The Wings finally dented Greaves shortly after that power play was over, with Kasper winning a draw and the puck going to Chiarot, whose shot from the blue line sliced through traffic and into the net at 6:39 of the third period.
Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings hardly look ready in preseason loss to Jackets
