Detroit Red Wings: 3 Stars and 3 Goats From Chicago Game

The Detroit Red Wings played their fifth preseason game on Wednesday night against the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Red Wings appeared to have the game where they wanted it after Fabian Brunnstrom scored his second goal of the game, but a three-goal comeback by Chicago gave them the lead and they held on for a 4-3 win.

This game was marked with great performances by Red Wings players fighting for playing time, but it was also marred by a couple of terrible outings by a couple of notable individuals.

Here are the three stars and the three goats for Detroit.

1st Star: Fabian Brunnstrom

Brunnstrom scored two goals tonight, both within five feet of the goal and continued his quest for a spot on the Detroit Red Wings roster.

On a professional tryout contract, Brunnstrom must be one of the final 23 players on the roster or else he will be released.

Brunnstrom now has three goals in the last two games, scoring the lone goal in the Red Wings loss against the Philadelphia Flyers last Friday night.

Brunnstrom is making a strong case for a spot for the Wings roster, and he has played better than most of the Red Wings players that are still fighting for a spot.

2nd Star: Cory Emmerton

Emmerton is also fighting for a roster spot.

If he does not make the Red Wings NHL roster, he must be placed on waivers before he can go back to the AHL.

He took a first-period penalty that allowed Chicago to score a power-play goal, but he picked up two key assists on three of the Red Wings' goals.

He also played sound defensively, finishing the majority of his checks, shielding players away from the puck and going +2 overall.

3rd Star: Brendan Smith (Before His Hit on Ben Smith)

Brendan Smith played a good first two periods tonight.

Until five minutes into the third period, Smith looked to have himself penciled in to one of the three star spots for the game.

He picked up two assists, both on goals by Brunnstrom, but he would not finish the game, and not make the three star list.

If you watched the game, you will know why; if not, I'll show you why later in this slideshow.

1st Goat: Brendan Smith (Hit on Ben Smith)

Sorry for the quality of the video, but you get the picture.

Brendan Smith's season with Detroit will likely be done at least for now. He tried to finish a check on Ben Smith, but instead of taking the body, he took the head.

Ben Smith lay on the ice for a minute or so before requiring assistance to make it to the dressing room.

Brendan Smith had a good first two periods, but this mistake (rookie or not) will cost him at least the last few games of the preseason and probably four or five regular-season games.

Add that suspension to the fact that Smith was not a lock to make the Wings NHL roster to start training camp, and you can see why he will not be joining Detroit for at least the foreseeable future.

2nd Goat: Jonathan Ericsson

See what Ericsson is doing in this picture?

He's looking at the play happen.

Well, tonight Ericsson may have been +1, but he was on the ice for a couple of Chicago's power-play goals, and overall he just did not look comfortable or adept tonight.

Ericsson's play in the corners wasn't very good either; he'd slam players against the boards, but only after they had already made the play to an open man who would then get a quality scoring chance.

His play this preseason will not put him in danger of starting for Detroit, but he lacked grace and he did not look good in his own zone tonight.

3rd Goat: Mike Commodore

Commodore was a non-factor for the most part in this game.

The big man had no points and was even in the plus/minus department, but he took a costly holding penalty in the second period that allowed Chicago to claw back to be within one goal after Brunnstrom scored to make it 3-1 Detroit.

His inability to keep up with forwards cutting around him on the rush seems to be one of the weaker points in his game.

His poor play tonight has given Jakub Kindl a leg up on him when it comes to rounding out the top six defensemen on the roster.

Training Camp Rundown So Far

The big story in this game had to be the Brendan Smith hit on Ben Smith.

Brendan Smith will likely not play with Detroit for at least the first 20 games of the season and possibly even longer.

He had been projected to contest for a roster spot this season, but unless we see an injury epidemic like that of 2010 (knock on wood) I don't think we will be seeing Mr. Smith any time soon.

Smith will be a great defenseman, but it will be at least the 2012-13 season before he starts with the Winged Wheel.

On the positive side, Fabian Brunnstrom and Cory Emmerton look closer than ever to nailing down their roster spots with the Red Wings.

This roster-spot race becomes even more wide open because young forward Jan Mursak broke his ankle and could miss three months of playing time.

Look for this roster-spot "race" to have Brunnstrom and Emmerton as front runners, for now.

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