DETROIT – Seeing their late rally in their 2026-27 preseason finale fall short, the Detroit Red Wings lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-2, at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night.
“I think it was partially good,” said Marco Kasper, who led Detroit offensively with two assists. “Some things about our game definitely have to step up. Like, I thought we played really well on our forecheck, but then we turned a lot of pucks over and couldn’t really connect passes. I think that’s got to get a lot better… Maybe try not to go lateral too much but be a little bit more direct.”
Goaltender John Gibson stopped 18 of 21 shots for the Red Wings, while netminder Jet Greaves made 31 saves for the Blue Jackets.
“We played against a real NHL team tonight,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “I didn’t mind our game. We were a little bit sloppy with the puck. Passing from A to B was sometimes A to B’s feet, or two feet in front of them. Cost us a couple goals. But other than that, I didn’t think we were under siege. I thought we had some scoring opportunities that if it ends up on our stick just a second earlier or at a different angle, then we have a chance to finish. I didn’t mind tonight’s game. Should set us up for a good week of practice, and away we go.”
Although the Red Wings held a 13-8 shot advantage after the first period, the Blue Jackets owned a 2-0 lead thanks to Charlie Coyle's tap-in goal at the doorstep on the power play at 14:40 and Valeri Nichushkin's slap-shot blast off a Detroit turnover in the defensive zone at 18:44.
The deficit grew to 3-0 just 3:55 into the second period on a one-knee slap shot from Jack Williams, who received Ryan Lomberg’s pass from along the left wall in the slot and fired it behind Gibson.
At 4:22 of the third period, Alex DeBrincat went head-first into the end boards behind Columbus's net after being cross-checked by Carson Soucy. Lucas Raymond immediately came to his defense - going after Soucy - and DeBrincat skated to the bench before returning later in the frame.
“There isn’t a player on our team that can’t respond in those situations,” McLellan said. “Rarely does anything come out of it, but at least you’re there and you’re standing your ground. We saw that the last two games, and we’re going to continue to have that. We need that. It’ll bond us. It’ll bring us together more. I think during this season, we’re going to really have to rely on each other and create a bond and a trust to get through a lot of different things.”
The Red Wings ended Greaves’ shutout bid with Ben Chiarot’s goal – the veteran defenseman got the puck following Kasper’s face-off win and sent in a wrist shot through traffic from the point to cut it to 3-1 at 6:39 of the third period.
Michael Rasmussen pulled the hosts back within one just 7:40 later, converting a wrist shot at the net front to make it 3-2. Kasper and Chiarot picked up the assists on what proved to be Detroit’s final goal of the night.
"The bounce back we had there in the third period, I think, was awesome," Axel Sandin-Pellikka said. "We had a lot of chances before. We just didn't execute. I think our third period here, we really showed what we're in for."
With 11 seconds remaining in the game, Cole Sillinger added an insurance marker for the Blue Jackets by depositing the puck into an empty Red Wings net for the 4-2 final.
Now, Detroit's management and coaching staff will work diligently to finalize the 23 players who make up the Opening-Night roster, which must be submitted by 5 p.m. ET Monday.
“We have to put the puzzle together,” McLellan said. “What I can tell you too is that on Monday, the roster will go out and you’ll see names or whatever. That could change real quick. There could be paper moves. There could be moves made for waiver reasons. There could be something in the hopper somewhere else where you have to buy time. Remember, we don’t play until Friday. So, got to submit Monday. We got to go for four days before we play, and there could be some movement and stuff in there.”
NEXT UP: Next Friday, the Red Wings will host the New York Rangers for Opening Night at Little Caesars Arena.
