It all started from basically puck drop. Toronto took an early penalty and the Red Wings power play capitalized just a minute and fifteen seconds into the game as Franzen took a shot that rang of the post and Justin Abdelkader put home the rebound for the first of the season for the Wings.
On the second goal, Dylan Larkin making his NHL debut, sent a great pass to Abdelkader who put it by Berniers' blocker for a 2-0 lead. Larkin with the assist got his first career NHL point.
At the beginning of the 2nd period, Zetterberg sent a pass to Larkin at the blue line who blows by the Leafs defender and goes top shelf to score his first career NHL goal, which chased Leaf goalie Bernier from the game.
Later in the 2nd, Larkin and Abdelkader found themselves on a 2 on 1 in which Abdelkader fired it past Reimer to get his 2nd career hat trick and put the Wings up 4-0 which would be more than enough as goalie Jimmy Howard was big when he needed to be and got a 22 save shutout.
During the first TV timeout the Red Wings had a tribute for former coach Mike Babcock which after the game said that "It was a nice thing to do. They obviously didn't need too since I don't coach there anymore.".
With the win, coach Jeff Blashill gets his first win as head coach and the Red Wings get off to a great start as they looked pretty strong. Very fast and hard on the puck. They blocked shots very well, and were seemingly always there to backup a teammate if need be. Overall about as close to a perfect performance as you could possibly have.
The next taste of Red Wings hockey comes tonight as they take on the Carolina Hurricanes at 7pm on FSD. Petr Mrazek will be getting the start.
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