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DETROIT - The Detroit Red Wings haven't played a competitive, five-on-five hockey game in nearly 10 calendar months. It was only fitting that they'd play bonus hockey in the first Red & White scrimmage of 2021 Training Camp on Tuesday.

Team Red defeated Team White in a shootout, 6-4, after securing a 2-2 tie in regulation on the Little Caesars Arena main ice sheet. It was the first of three intra-squad scrimmages in a six-day span, which will serve as the Red Wings' only dress rehearsals ahead of the shortened 2020-21 season. Detroit will officially drop the puck on Thursday, Jan. 14 against the visiting Carolina Hurricanes.

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Team White jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to goals by Mathias Brome and Turner Elson in the first period. The second frame went scoreless before Team Red scored two goals in the final 20 minutes. Tyler Bertuzzi trimmed the deficit in half with a goal midway through the period, before Vladislav Namestnikov tallied the equalizer with less than 30 seconds remaining to the game, 2-2.
In the ensuing three-on-three overtime session, Marc Staal and Bertuzzi scored for Team Red, while Danny DeKeyser lit the lamp for Team White. Shootout goals were tallied by Brome (Team White) and Anthony Mantha and Dylan Larkin to give Team Red the come-from-behind win.
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill was pleased with what he saw in the competitive setting, and said there's nothing like replicating game action and speed.

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"If you're a goalie, just having that focus for 60 minutes is different than practice, and that's just one position," Blashill said. "If you're a defenseman, you're put in a lot of different situations. Same with the forwards. I think (scrimmages) can be useful.
"The other thing it does for our staff is it gives us a chance to know what we need to work on more. When you implement systems in practice, everything can look great and then you drop the puck and it doesn't. It's hard to have corrective actions without see those things live. We'll go back and go through the film and get a chance work on some things at practice."
Blashill was especially impressed by the 26-year-old Brome's contributions, who found the back of the net twice - once in regulation and in the shootout.
"He continues to do a good job. His impact has been pretty positive. He works really hard. He's a little quicker than I realized," Blashill said. "He's done a pretty good job so far. He seems to be smart, has been good on the penalty kill, good on the power play when he's gotten the chance and he's good five-on-five. We're hoping he's a guy who can play up our lineup and give us more depth."

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The Red Wings will be off Wednesday before resuming Training Camp on-ice workouts on Thursday. The second Red & White scrimmage will be played on Friday evening at 7 p.m. from the BELFOR Training Center, and will be streamed live on DetroitRedWings.com.