Red Wings Win Exhibition Opener

Not that many people in the Detroit area saw it, with the game not televised locally and NHL Center Ice Online not working for everyone, but the Red Wings opened their exhibition schedule with a 6-1 win over the Minnesota Wild.

Both teams iced almost-NHL-quality lineups. The Wild used five of their regular defenseman and both of their usual goalies while the Red Wings brought a lineup split beween NHLers and AHLers.

Unfortunately, not only was Center Ice Online not working but NHL.com in general is wrong. The league’s “official scoresheet” credits injured goalie Logan Koopmans not only with 24 minutes of playing time but also with a goal.

George Malik blogs that the win came dispite a stretch in the second period that saw the Wings outshot 14-1.

Jimmy Howard allowed the goal in roughly 30 minutes of play before being replaced by Chris Osgood. The Red Wings got goals from Johan Franzen, Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom, Aaron Downey, Chris Chelios and Brent Sopel.