The first set of updates from today’s Red Wings-Hurricanes game post were all related to Carolina’s takes on tonight’s game (7:00 PM on FSD/FS Carolinas/97.1 FM). The Wings news will constitute a second post so that it doesn’t get buried.
1. DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji received a Wings-Canes scouting report from coach Blashill…
The Hurricanes will be playing the second game of a back-to-back after shutting out the Montreal Canadiens, 2-0, Thursday night at PNC Arena. Blashill and the coaching staff watched that game.
“Certainly, they work,” Blashill said. “They get to the net hard in the O-zone. They get tons of pucks to the net. Their shooting statistics will speak for that. Cam Ward was very good, I thought Carey Price was very good. The work ethic and the get to the net – I thought the Staal line was excellent last night as well, and they obviously have a real good D corps. I thought Montreal had moments where they looked like they were going to get an opportunity and a stick on puck or a block by the D corps happened.”
When the Hurricanes came to Detroit on Jan. 20, they earned a 3-1 win without leading scorer Sebastian Aho, who was injured at the time.
Aho, 20, returned to action Tuesday and scored a goal against the Ottawa Senators, giving him a team-leading 17 among his 38 points.
“He was excellent last night on that line with (Teuvo) Teravainen and (Jordan) Staal,” Blashill said. “I thought he was excellent. He’s a real good player, a real good piece for their team, and I think there’s a lot of nights where he’s probably their best offensive player, so we’ll have to be aware of that and we’ll have to do a good job of making him defend.”
2. The Wings spoke about maintaining a “shooting mentality” while speaking with the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan…
Blashill liked his team getting 44 shots on net in Wednesday’s victory over San Jose, but what equally made him happy was the fact 18 of those shots came from defensemen.
Blashill feels it’s an area the Red Wings can get better at, and is a key way the team can increase its offensive output.
“A lot of it has to come from that back end,” Blashill said of the offensive attack. “Everyone collapses in the offensive zone and when you get the puck up high you have to find a way to get the puck to the net. Our D-corps did a good job of that and was active.”
Blashill has talked about the need for the defense to be increasingly active since training camp, but the message has been pushed again in recent days.
“You look at San Jose, they don’t activate their defense as much, but they shoot a ton,” Blashill said. “That’s been one of the things, as you go through the ebb and flow as you go through the year, we’re re-emphasizing.”
3. Of note from NHL.com’s Kurt Dusterberg’s game preview:
They said it
“(San Jose) was a good win, but it’s (just one) win. Tonight’s a new game. We’ve got to come out and play extremely hard from the drop of the puck. They’re going to come out and play hard like they always do. They get to the net hard in the offensive zone, they get tons of pucks to the net.” — Detroit coach Jeff Blashill
“They’ve got a lot of team speed with Anthanasiou and Larkin. They’ve got a real good checking line they put together halfway through the game against San Jose with Helm, Glendening and Nielsen. A very good team, and Mrazek is on a roll. A very capable team. We’re going to have to play well to get the win.” — Hurricanes coach Bill Peters
Update: The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted a short video of Blashill discussing tonight’s game:
