RECAP: Red Wings salvage point in NHL Global Series opener, drop 5-4 OT decision to Senators

STOCKHOLM -- Thursday’s 2023 NHL Global Series opener in Sweden was an emotional roller coaster for the Detroit Red Wings, who erased a four-goal deficit but saw their comeback attempt fall short in a 5-4 overtime loss to Ottawa Senators at Avicii Arena.

Goalie James Reimer made 29 saves for Detroit, which salvaged a point in the loss but moved to 8-5-3 (19 points) on the season. With the win, Ottawa improved to 7-7-0 (14 points) overall.

“It was very disappointing,” said Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin, who skated in his 600th career NHL game. “We had chances in overtime and good looks. With the penalties, we did a good job killing them but it’s hard to be in that spot. We did a good job getting a point tonight.”

The Senators jumped all over the Red Wings midway through the first period. After taking a 1-0 lead at 5:57 with a tip-in goal on the power play, Ottawa doubled it, 2-0, exactly four minutes later. Then with 6:51 remaining in the period, the Senators pushed ahead, 3-0.

“Honestly, in the first I didn’t think we played terrible,” Lucas Raymond said. “Obviously the score was 3-0, but we had some good parts and I think we brought that into the second.”

Ottawa built what looked to be a comfortable four-goal lead at 1:18, but Raymond gave Detroit a much-needed spark at 9:39 by scoring an unassisted goal on the rush to cut the deficit, 4-1.

Raymond, who is a native of Gothenburg, Sweden, became the fourth Swedish-born Red Wings player to score a goal in their native country, joining Tomas Holmstrom, Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson.

“Really special and you could feel it coming,” Larkin said of Raymond’s goal. “One that I’ll remember for a long time and I’m sure he will as well.”

David Perron brought Detroit back to within a pair just 3:41 later, redirecting Olli Maatta’s shot from the blue line over Senators goaltender Joonas Korpisalo and into the net to make it 4-2. Shayne Gostisbehere also assisted on Perron’s fourth goal of the campaign.

Alex DeBrincat, who signed a four-year contract with the Red Wings after being traded from the Senators in July, scored against his former club at 16:33 to make it 4-3. Shortly after taking J.T. Compher’s pass from the blue line, Gostisbehere set up DeBrincat with a cross-ice feed from the right face-off circle.

Gostisbehere knotted up the score, 4-4, at 17:12, with Compher and Maatta collecting the assists.

After a scoreless third period, Ottawa found the back of the net with two seconds remaining in overtime to secure its first win against Detroit this season.  

“Obviously when you’re down four goals and you get a point, we’ll take the point,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said. “It just feels like how well we were playing 5-on-5, we could have got more tonight.”

NEXT UP: Detroit will play its second and final game at the Global Series on Friday night, battling the Toronto Maple Leafs at Avicii Arena.

QUOTABLE

Larkin on if a quick turnaround is beneficial for the Red Wings

"Yeah, it is. Especially after a tough emotional game like that, you want to come back and play hard. There’s no better team to do that against than the Leafs."

Reimer on the game-winner in overtime

"Just an unlucky bounce. Just not a lot of time left, and I thought Ghost made a great play to stop that pass from going across. When it popped off his stick, I just lost sight of it. When I caught it again, really it was him going for a baseball swing. Just got lucky and unfortunately, couldn’t get over there in time."

Reimer on Detroit's resiliency

"Tonight was a really, really tough game where all the guys had to be mentally solid and really strong, and I thought we were. We just stuck to our game plan. It’s almost like it doesn’t matter what the score is. Even if you’re down 4-0, just play your game. We lived that today."