The Detroit Red Wings opened the preseason on the road against division rival, Columbus. It took the Wings a couple of minutes to find their legs and it cost them a goal just 32 seconds into the contest. However, the goal only seemed to spark the Wings as they would score the next six goals of the contest. Right winger, Kirk Maltby scored the first two Detroit goals and also assisted on another. The first star of the game, Fredrik Modin, also added two goals and an assist. Anson Carter and Martin Rucinsky also scored, while Robert Lang added three assists. Manny Legace stopped 18 of 20 shots to earn the victory.
Detroit started their second game in the same fashion as the first game by again giving up the first goal of the game. The goal would be the only puck to get past Legace. The Wings would score the final four goals of the game to earn the victory 4-1. Aleksey Morozov scored his first goal of the preseason while goals were also scored by Modin and Carter who had two including the game winner. First star honors were awarded to Manny Legace who managed to stop 27 of 28 Blackhawk shots faced.
In their third game, the Wings finally suffered a setback in their rematch against Columbus. This time the Wings scored first as Kirk Maltby scored his third of the preseason to give Detroit the early 1-0 lead. However, there wouldn't be much more celebrating after that. Columbus would scored four straight goals before Darren Mccarty netted his first of the preseason to cut the lead to 4-2 after two periods. The Blue Jackets would score again in the third and chase Legace from the nets. Roman Cechmanek entered the game and stopped all seven shots he faced. The loss dropped the Wings record to 2-1 as they will face off against Chicago tonight.
In other news, word out of the Joe is that General Manager, Caster, and Roman Cechmanek's agent have reached an agreement on a contract extension. Official terms of the deal were not released, but we have received rumors that the deal is worth around $11.5 million in salary and bonuses over the next three years and could also include a no trade clause. If this is true, then Caster has avoided Cechmanek leaving after the season because of free agency.