Trending: Detroit's prospects take the ice in WJ Summer Showcase

PLYMOUTH, MI. - In the end the final scores didn't matter.
It wasn't about winning as much as it was about checking out your team's prospects and looking at potential future draft picks.

Team USA White defeated Team Finland 4-2 in the first game of the World Junior Summer Showcase (WJSS) at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth and in the nightcap, the Americans failed to make it a clean sweep as Team Sweden took down Team USA Blue 4-3, scoring the game-winning goal at 19:50 of the third period against Wings prospect Keith Petruzzelli.
In the two games played Saturday, the Red Wings had three prospects participate: defenseman Kasper Kotkansalo for Finland, defenseman Gustav Lindstrom for Sweden and goaltender Petruzzelli for Team USA Blue.
None of the three looked out of place on the ice in the WJSS, which features the top junior players for the USA, Canada, Finland and Sweden.
1. Kotskansalo looking to get inside opposition's head:Kasper Kotkansalo,Detroit's third-round draft pick in this year's draft, 71st overall, may have scored Finland's first goal, on a blistering shot that caught the top right corner of the Team USA net, but he wasn't too thrilled about scoring.
He was happy that he scored, but scoring wasn't his main goal. What he wanted to concentrate on was what the Red Wings told him at development camp, "start playing harder, make yourself harder to play against."
Kotkansalo took those words to heart as he played an abrasive game against the Americans.
"That is one thing I've noticed now (since development camp) from my game, it's starting to get more hard and I'm becoming much tougher to play against," Kotkansalo said. "I'm trying to get into their best players' heads, that's the kind of player I am."
Like Detroit's other prospects from development camp, Kotkansalo says it was the off-ice things that stand out more than the on-ice drills and scrimmage.
"What we learned in development camp was how to make you better as an individual. I've already started eating better because I didn't eat perfect," Kotkansalo said. "I still don't eat perfect, but they told us how to make food and what options that I have and then I talked to my own personal chef, my mom, about it and I started eating like I should."
If he feels any extra pressure because the WJSS is in Michigan and he's a Wings prospect, Kotkansalo relishes the opportunity to play in front of a mostly Red Wings-friendly crowd.
"We were actually talking about the pressure and stuff on Team Finland," Kotkansalo said. "Whether it's that kind of pressure (playing in front of Detroit fans) or anything, it's a privilege to play and I hope someday to play for the Red Wings and even get more pressure."
2. Lindstrom not looking too far ahead:At this point last year, Gustav Lindstrom was not thinking about the NHL Draft or the WJSS. But after a slow start to his season, Detroit's second-round pick, 38th overall, picked his game up at Christmastime and has not looked back.
After Team Sweden rallied to defeat the Americans on Saturday, Lindstrom admitted playing a in highly competitive environment was a challenge.
"It was fun, it was the first game of the season, but it was a little bit uncomfortable in some situations, but it was fun to play and compete out there," Lindstrom said. "This was my first game on the small rink.
"You have to be fast, you have to have heads-up play, you have to see behind you. When you go down and take the puck, you must know what's behind you -- that's the big difference (from a larger ice surface)."
Another difference playing on a smaller ice surface is the players are communicating more on the ice. Skaters are talking to skaters and the goalie is always barking out directions.
Lindstrom believes that Detroit's development camp helped prepare him for the smaller ice surface and he also enjoyed meeting players from North America who became his friends.
But he is realistic and realizes it will be a few years before he becomes a Red Wing.
"I want to work hard every day and then take it step-by-step," Lindstrom said. "I don't think so much about the future, I take it day to day. If I keep working hard, we'll see how it goes."
During development camp, Lindstrom wore number 48, but here at the WJSS, he is wearing number five, an iconic number in Detroit hockey history, a fact that Lindstrom is completely aware of.
"They (Swedish officials) just gave me that number," Lindstrom said, laughing. "Maybe it was a little bit of fun thing. He's (Nick Lidstrom) a legend.
3. Petruzzelli looks to rebound: With Team USA Blue leading 3-2 with a little over four minutes remaining in the game, Team Sweden rallied by scoring two goals with the game-winner coming at the 19:50 mark of the third period.
Detroit prospect Keith Petruzzelli, a third-round pick, 88th overall, was in net for the goals and he wasn't pleased after the game.
"It was not the way we wanted the game to end," Petruzzelli said. "It wasn't my best game, but it is important to kind of build off it. We did a lot good things out there.
"This was our first game together, we have to keep jelling and just keep going."
Though he was visibly disappointed with the outcome, Petruzzelli was happy to be back on the ice competing again. He mentioned how intense the atmosphere was between the two teams. It was a chippy contest and Team Sweden was heard singing loudly in the locker room after the game.
Petruzzelli played the second half of the game and despite not playing as well as he thought he should, Team USA coach Grant Potulny thought Petruzzelli was in a difficult spot.
"What's hard when you come in second when you're in these summer tournaments and you're going to split a game and you get the second half," said Potulny. "He's been sitting on the bench for half a game and in between periods and you're a little rusty. That's not quite as fair.
"Our goalie coach will handle it tomorrow if they flip and he gets the start. It's just one day. He's looked good in practice and today we'll just brush that off and get after it again tomorrow."
If there is one thing that Petruzzelli can count on, it is the support of the crowd. He's a Detroit draft pick, played for Muskegon in the USHL and the Massachusetts native feels a strong bond with the Wolverine state.
"It's awesome to be back in Michigan, it's awesome to be wearing the stars and stripes," Petruzzelli said. "It a huge honor to put on that jersey. I have a lot of support in Michigan; it's just great to see."