Three takeaways from Red and White Scrimmage

The result, of course, is not what matters on a day like Sunday.
The Detroit Red Wings' annual Red and White scrimmage ended in a penalty shootout, the White team taking it after Lucas Raymond and Vladislav Namestnikov converted, but the moments worth remembering came in snapshots like Moritz Seider quarterbacking a power play, or Raymond laying off a pass in the slot for a Robby Fabbri chance.
These little things - if things go right, they'll add up.
It's impossible to know whether they will on September 26, but for a young team like the Red Wings, that's where the value - and the excitement - comes in a scrimmage.
Here are three takeaways from Sunday's scrimmage.

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Penalty kill dominates

All week, one of the running subplots of Red Wings training camp has been the new-look power play under assistant coach Alex Tanguay.
On Sunday, the power play still looked like a work in progress. The penalty kill, though, was prolific.
In the first run of special teams play, the penalty kill units limited the power play to just a few shots, none of them particularly threatening. The power play units looked a little more dynamic with Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond involved, respectively, but still struggled to get shots off and keep the offensive zone.
"I take a lot of pride in that responsibility," Sam Gagner said of the penalty kill on Saturday. "I think it's something that I want to continue to grow into. It's gonna be important for us to have a really strong penalty kill like we did last year to win some games. If we can do that and get the power play going, it's gonna help our group."
The power play units had a bit more extended zone time and chances during the second run of special teams play - the best coming on a Tyler Bertuzzi one-timer from the right circle - but the penalty kill was still ultimately successful each time.
Red Wings coach Blashill said not to draw much from the special teams portion of the scrimmage, as Detroit hasn't yet spent a lot of time practicing that phase of the game and the line combinations weren't representative.
"I wouldn't even venture to say where the special teams are at," Blashill said. "We've had a day probably, one practice for a lot of guys, they had one practice and then today. Because if you're on power play, penalty kill, we practiced it two days in a row, (but) a lot of guys were on both. I think it's just a work in progress."

Stephens picks up two goals

It didn't take Mitchell Stephens long to make an impact on the scrimmage.
He opened the scoring by creating a breakaway off a loose puck. That gave him a free look at Alex Nedeljkovic's goal, of which he took advantage by going to the lower left corner.
Stephens is in the midst of a fight for a spot on the fourth line, and showing some goal-scoring prowess would of course help. In 45 career NHL games with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Stephens has seven points total.
"I think the skating can lead to momentum and that's important," Blashill said. "And I think momentum matters. And so I think from the skating aspect, he's definitely been involved and brought energy. Ultimately if he's in the spot on a fourth line role doesn't mean you can't add offense."

He added a second goal later off a cross-ice feed from Taro Hirose. That gave him an open net to shoot into, and Stephens took advantage, putting the Red team up, 2-1.
In Sunday's scrimmage, Stephens was also on multiple penalty kill units and played well, as the Red Wings' penalty kill units were generally on the front foot, doing a nice job of shot prevention.
When he spoke to reporters afterward, a major theme was his time with the Lightning, in which he was part of the last two Stanley Cup-winning teams. In Detroit, Stephens will get a chance to impart some of the winning culture of which he's been a part.
"There were obviously a lot of superstars but there were guys that are playing those top minutes, but also did the grittier things in terms of trying to win a Stanley Cup," Stephens said. "To have everyone up and down the lineup pulling for each other, doing grittier little things to win, whether it's blocking shots, playing tight, hard structured systems, it takes everyone on the team being a part of that and going through that. You learn those things."

Greiss impressive in net

For all the hype around the newly acquired Alex Nedeljkovic in goal for the Red Wings, it may be easy to forget that Thomas Greiss will still very much be a factor. On Sunday, he made everyone watching remember.
In a scrimmage where offensive chances were hard to come by, Greiss made the most of his opportunities. Early on, after Jordan Oesterle turned it over in his own zone, Greiss erased the mistake with a tough save on Riley Barber. Later, he used his pad to keep out a penalty shot by Filip Hronek.
Greiss and Nedeljkovic each only played the first period of the scrimmage, making way for Calvin Pickard and Victor Brattstrom, respectively. But Greiss doesn't seem to have lost a step from the end of last season, when he had a .945 save percentage over the final 12 games.