Tomas Tatar scored three goals for the Red Wings, leading Detroit to a 4-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in their exhibition home opener. The win came one night after Detroit fell to the Blackhawks in overtime in Chicago
Tatar opened the game’s scoring with 8:30 left in the first period, working a quick give-and-go with former Blackhawk Brad Richards before snapping a shot from the slot past Chicago goalie Corey Crawford.
With 5:31 left in the second, Andrew Shaw tied things up, snapping a shot from the left faceoff dot through a screen by Bryan Bickell on a Chicago power play and beating Detroit netminder Jared Coreau, who replaced starter Petr Mrazek midway through the game.
Just 1:36 later, Justin Abdelkader took a long feed from Niklas Kronwall to break in all alone and beat Michael Leighton for a power play goal, restoring the Detroit lead.
Tatar’s second made it 3-1 at 4:24 of the third period, as he banged home a loose puck in the crease after Richards threw it on net.
With 1:34 remaining, Tatar completed the hat trick with an empty net goal.
Each team finished the night with a power play goal. Chicago had six tries with the extra attacker while Detroit had four.
Mrazek stopped all 16 shots he faced in net for the Red Wings in 29:23 of play. Coreau made 14 stops on 15 shots over the remainder of the game. Crawford stopped seven of eight shots in 30:35 while Leighton went 14-for-16 to close things out.
The Red Wings will play their third game in as many nights tomorrow when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins.
