Red Wings Notebook: Detroit’s Ghost Putting Scare Into Opposition

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere’s name is certainly a mouthful to say and a jumble to spell. Naturally, he’s been given a nickname by his teammates to allveviate the situation. That handle is Ghost.

With Halloween just around the corner, Detroit’s Ghost is continuing to put a scare into the opposition. Gostisbehere was accounting for a goal and two assists in Tuesday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena.

Ghost 💪💪💪 pic.twitter.com/EvLgDqrClC

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 25, 2023

Gostisbehere and former Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche share the NHL scoring lead among defensemen. Each is showing 3-6-9 totals on their respective ledgers.

While appreciative of the additional offense Gostisbehere is generating for his club, Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde thinks what people don’t appreciate is how effective Gostisbehere is at playing an all-around game.

“I’ve been impressed with some things, let’s say pleasantly surprised,” Lalonde said. “But again you get a feel for a player being in the league so long.

“I remember him being a star back in college. I think I’m fairly familiar with him as a player. But until you have him day in day out, you see that he gets around the ice way better than anticipated, defends better than I anticipated. He’s got a little more edge to him.

“The body of work is showing through.”

Red Wings Deserved Penalties

Detroit was assessed six penalties on Tuesday. As much as the fanbase may see it differently, Lalonde felt that every one of the infractions called was deserving of two minutes in the sin bin.

“Took six penalties tonight, they were all penalties,” Lalonde said. “We took two in the last four minutes. That didn’t give us a chance. I’m fully convinced we would have won that game without our penalties late.”

Lalonde was also quick to disagree with Red Wings fans when he noted that there shouldn’t have been a penalty call just prior to Jordan Eberle’s OT winner for Seattle. Eberle and Detroit’s Lucas Raymond came together and Raymond ended up spilling to the ice.

“A little bit of a broken play there,” Lalonde said. “No penalty by the way. I know our fans weren’t very happy. But looking at that back, there was no penalty on that overtime goal. That was just Razor and the game winner (Eberle in an) awkward collision in the corner. Their guy was able to get out of it. There was no penalty.”

One of the most blatant missed calls of all time happened tonight 😳

Jaden Schwartz threw his stick to intercept a Red Wings pass…the Kraken went the other way and scored 😬 pic.twitter.com/Xsrv1AmcSJ

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) October 25, 2023

On the other hand, there definitely should’ve been a penalty when Seattle’s Jaden Schwartz through his stick, impeding a shot by Detroit’s Olli Maatta. Lalonde credited referee Mitch Dunning for acknowledging that the officials blew it.

“I give the ref a ton of credit,” Lalonde said. “He came right to me after the period and said he wanted that one back. That’ll go a long ways for me with Mitch.

“I love refs that communicate like that. Just came over and said, ‘Hey, we missed it. Apologize.’ I appreciate that a ton. Gave me a lot of respect for Mitch (Dunning) and his crew tonight.”

Ice Chips

With a three-point night, Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin is holding a share of the NHL scoring lead with New Jersey’s Jack Hughes. Each has 14 points . . . Detroit’s Alex DeBrincat is one point behind them. He was registering his NHL-leading ninth goal in Tuesday’s game . . . Seattle has never lost in regulation to the Red Wings. The Kraken are 4-0-1 against Detroit.