RECAP: Danielson makes NHL debut in Detroit’s 5-1 loss to Chicago

DETROIT – Although they outshot the Chicago Blackhawks by a 46-20 margin on Sunday afternoon, the Detroit Red Wings lost both ends of the special-teams battle and ultimately the game itself by a 5-1 score at Little Caesars Arena.

“We didn’t get in and get established on the power play,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “We had a tough time entering the zone. I think we lost eight or nine face-offs, so all of a sudden you keep starting in your zone. One of their strengths is their stand and length on the PK. Then all of a sudden, guys get frustrated and they don’t do what they need to do or what they’re supposed to do.”

Netminder John Gibson stopped 15 shots for the Red Wings (9-7-0; 18 points), who also wrapped up their Centennial FanFest Weekend on Sunday. Meanwhile, goalie Arvid Soderblom made an NHL career-high 45 saves for Blackhawks (8-5-3; 19 points).

“I thought we played a pretty good game overall,” said forward prospect Nate Danielson, who had four shots on goal and logged 15:16 of ice time in his NHL debut. “We outshot them by quite a bit but just need to capitalize on our opportunities.”

Just 59 seconds into Sunday’s Original Six matinee, Connor Bedard snapped a shot high short side on Gibson from the right face-off circle after taking a pass from Artyom Levshunov to put Chicago ahead 1-0. With the game-opening goal, Bedard extended his point streak to eight consecutive games.

The Red Wings tied the game up less than four minutes later, as captain Dylan Larkin tapped home a rebound off Lucas Raymond’s shot from the edge of the right face-off circle on a 2-on-1 rush sparked by Simon Edvinsson’s cross-ice breakout pass to make it 1-1 at 4:19 of the first period.

In 16 games to begin Detroit’s Centennial campaign, Larkin leads the team with 19 points on nine goals and 10 assists.

“Tonight, we had chances,” said Larkin, whose tally would be the only one his club got past Soderblom the rest of the afternoon. “It’s a mentality. It’s going to the net with a purpose, shooting for a purpose, grabbing the goalie’s eyes with purpose to create rebounds and second chances by making it hard on him. I don’t think we’ve been making it hard on goalies, driving to the net and creating scrums.”

Coming up big midway through the first period, Gibson kept the tie intact when he denied Oliver Moore, who was sprung into the offensive zone by Tyler Bertuzzi, twice on the same breakaway.

But Teuvo Teravainen’s power-play goal -- a one-timer from the right face-off circle -- broke the tie for Chicago and sent the visitors back in front 2-1 at 3:22 of the second period.

The Red Wings had a great opportunity to even things up after Bertuzzi drew a double-minor in the closing minutes of the second period but unfortunately couldn’t capitalize on the four-minute man advantage that also carried over into the third.

“It was big because they’d already scored on you, two of theirs, at that point,” McLellan said. “It was big. You could feel potential momentum coming. Going into the break, you’d hope that the guys were excited. They were a little bit down. We’re still working on the thing between the ears about staying up and sticking with it.”

Bertuzzi notched the Blackhawks’ third power-play strike of the night, slipping the puck in five-hole on Gibson to extend their lead to 3-1 at 5:09 of the third period.

Unable to mount a comeback in the back half of the final frame, Detroit couldn’t stop Andre Burakovsky from cashing in on an empty net, which made it 4-1 at 16:37. Then with 16 seconds remaining, Moore’s first career NHL goal sealed the 5-1 final.

“I thought [Arvid] Soderblom did a good job of batting stuff past us sometimes,” McLellan said. “We were in tight, so give the goaltender credit for that, but I still think we could be a lot harder to play against defensively but certainly offensively.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will try to snap their three-game losing streak when they host the Anaheim Ducks at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday night.

WHAT WAS SAID

McLellan on the decision to recall Danielson

“We have been struggling offensively. Nate, had he not been hurt in Training Camp, I think he would have started with our team based on where he was when he did get injured. He worked hard to stay healthy, had an upper-body injury and was able to keep his legs going. That didn’t go away, and he’s had a pretty good start in Grand Rapids. We wanted to see him now so we can make some decisions, perhaps on some other players. For him, for his first game, I thought he did some real good things on the ice.”

Larkin on Detroit’s power play struggles

“I don’t want to make too much out of it. It’s not good enough right now, but we have a good power play. We have the personnel there. We’ve showed it. Not just over a few games, but over years. We’ve showed that we can be good. We just got to figure it out.”

Larkin on Danielson’s NHL debut

“I thought he got more comfortable as the game went on. We know Danny well. He’s been in the organization for a while. Big congratulations to him and his family, and something that’s well deserved. When he came up and came into the lineup today, guys were happy for him. We know he’s got skill and can skate.”

Danielson on if he felt nervous going into Sunday's contest

“I wasn’t too nervous this morning, but definitely leading up to game time. First shift was a little bit nervous, but then settled in pretty good after that.”