Detroit — This isn’t the regular season yet, but the Red Wings had a lineup Monday that possibly could be the one they have opening night.
If it is, there are still a few kinks to work out.
Pittsburgh, who the Wings dismantled to begin the exhibition season a week ago, came into Little Caesars Arena and came out with a 3-2 victory.
BOX SCORE: Penguins 3, Red Wings 2 (exhibition)
The Wings rallied in the third period, cutting what had been a 3-0 deficit to 3-2 when Dylan Larkin scored at 17 minutes, 20 seconds when the Wings pulled the goalie.
But the Wings couldn’t get the equalizer past Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith (36 saves).
Bryan Rust (Troy/Birmingham Brother Rice), Josh Archibald and Jason Zucker scored goals for the Penguins, with Rust and Zucker both scoring on the power play.
The Wings’ special teams weren’t effective. The Wings allowed two Pittsburgh power-play goals (on two opportunities), while not scoring on their own two attempts.
Goaltender Ville Husso made 15 saves for the Wings through two periods, before being replaced by Jussi Olkinuora.
Husso would probably like the Archibald goal back, a quick shot that appeared to surprise Husso, who may not have seen the puck until it flew by him.
Rust opened the scoring with terrific shot off the rush, giving the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 12:30 of the first period.
Archibald made it 2-0, then Zucker deflected Danton Heinen’s shot past Husso to make it 3-0 at the 18:01 mark of the second period.
Dominik Kubalik cut the lead to 3-1 with the Wings’ team-leading third goal of the preseason. Moritz Seider lifted a shot toward DeSmith off a rush. Jonatan Berggren got a piece of the puck, which slid to Kubalik all alone driving the opposite wing and tapping the puck into a wide-open net.
After talking with general manager Steve Yzerman after Saturday’s victory in Chicago, coach Derek Lalonde made the decision to put together an NHL-type of lineup to begin preparing for the Oct. 14 season opener.
“It gives us an opportunity to start repping some of our guys as a group,” Lalonde said after the morning skate. “This group will probably get Friday also (home against Toronto), but it will also give them three practice days. Some guys will be in and out of there. We’re starting to get some reps with a look of what we see as potentially guys competing for that opening night roster.”
The Penguins had, essentially, a regular-season roster Monday also, which made for good test both ways.
With a game Wednesday in Washington, followed by the two Toronto games, don’t expect the Wings to make any large-scale cuts at this point. The Wings will need a lot of bodies to fill out rosters for the three games in four nights.
“We need bodies for both games (against Toronto),” Lalonde said. “(Toronto coach) Sheldon Keefe was nice enough to text me and let me know his Saturday lineup (in Toronto) will be fully loaded. I replied back, ‘Good heads up. Ours will not be.'”
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan