Red Wings-Blues set-up: getting to know you…all over again

The Detroit Red Wings play the St. Louis Blues tomorrow night at Little Caesars Arena (7:30 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit Plus/Bally Sports Midwest/97.1 FM).

The Wings play St. Louis again in the Gateway City on December 9th, so a pair of teams that haven’t played each other since October of 2019 will become familiar with each other again over the course of the next three weeks.

St. Louis sits at 10-6-and-2 going into their 19th game, and they’ve won 2 of their past 3 games, including a 5-2 decision over the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday.

The 8-9-and-3 Red Wings are looking to head into the American Thanksgiving break at .500, and the Wings will play in their 21st game looking to snap an 0-3-and-1 road losing streak as they settle in for a 2-game home stand.

The Blues held an optional practice on Tuesday, per In the Slot’s Lou Korac…

And during the evening, Blues coach Craig Berube spoke with 101 ESPN in St. Louis, revealing that Schenn will probably return vs. the Wings, as The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford noted:

Continue reading Red Wings-Blues set-up: getting to know you…all over again

Toledo Walleye’s Matt Berry named ECHL player of the week

Via the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe comes good news regarding the Wings’ ECHL affiliate:

Toledo Walleye forward Matt Berry, who produced six points in two games last weekend, was named the ECHL player of the week Tuesday.

Berry tallied six points with three goals and three assists in Toledo’s two wins at the Huntington Center on Friday and Saturday. It is the second time in his career that Berry has received the weekly honor.

The Canton, Mich. native had a goal and an assist in Friday’s 5-1 win over the Iowa Heartlanders. On Saturday, he followed that up with two goals and two assists in a 6-1 victory against the Heartlanders.

Berry also had a plus-minus rating of plus-5 for the week of Nov. 15 to 21.

“It was a good weekend and hopefully we can keep it rolling,” Berry said after Sunday’s win. “Everyone in the room is feeling good when everyone is contributing. It’s good vibes on the bench.”

The 29-year-old is leading the ECHL in assists with 13 and in points with 21 through Toledo’s first 12 games.

Prospect Round-up Europe: Soderblom 2G, Edvinsson 2A as Frolunda (and Rogle) advance in Champions Hockey League play

Of Red Wings prospect-related note from Europe today:

In the Champions Hockey League, both Frolunda HC and Rogle BK advanced to the “round of 16” by winning their first and second games vs. their opponents in best-of-three “round of 32” playoff rounds.

Rogle BK won 3-1 over the ZSC Lions, and William Wallinder had 3 shots in 12:48 played on Rogle’s blueline;

Frolunda HC also advanced by winning 4-1 over Adler Mannheim. Elmer Soderblom scored 2 goals, finishing at +3 with 5 shots in 13:28 played;

Simon Edvinsson had 2 assists, finishing at +1 in 16:03 played;

And Theodor Niederbach finished even with 2 shots in 11:49 played.

Per IceHockeyGifs on Twitter:

A quick note about both Marc Staal and the Wings’ sked ahead from Duff

Of Red Wings-related note from Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff this evening:

Defenseman Marc Staal didn’t practice on Tuesday as the Red Wings returned to the ice following a couple of days away from the rink.

“He’s still ill, non-COVID,” Blashill said of Staal. 

Staal has missed Detroit’s last two games due to his illness. There is not word yet as to whether he might be available for Wednesday’s game at Little Caesars Arena against the St. Louis Blues.

Returning from an 0-3-1 road trip, the Red Wings are opening a two-game homestand on Wednesday. They are playing five of their next six games at LCA. The Red Wings are 5-2-2 at home so far this season.

Notes on Zadina and goaltending from Garuder

The Free Press’s Dana Garuder substituted for the Free Press’s Helene St. James today, and in addition to discussing today’s theme regarding the second line’s need to find more prolific form, he noted the following regarding Filip Zadina….

Zadina has two points this month after a two-point outing at Toronto on Oct. 30. Coach Jeff Blashill says Zadina doesn’t necessarily have to score to be effective but it’s tough getting that message across to the young Czech, who turns 22 on Saturday.

“He measures himself as a goal scorer,” Blashill said. “That’s when the frustration sets in.”

Zadina has 18 goals in 106 career games and the franchise remains hopeful he’ll become a prolific threat.

“It’s tough on a young guy like that, to go through that,” Fabbri said. “The biggest thing with him is just stay confident and keep playing the way he’s playing.”

And Garuder noted the following comment from coach Blashill regarding the team’s goaltending rotation:

Goaltenders Alex Nedeljkovic and Thomas Greiss have each started 10 games this season, mainly alternating game-by-game. A compacted schedule was part of the reason but it could change now if either gets hot.

“Now that the schedule is lightening up a little bit, if one of them separates themselves, they’ll play a little more,” Blashill said.

DRW.com practice notebook: Rest and recuperation essential

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills filed a multifaceted notebook article this afternoon, and he notes that the Red Wings’ ability to rest and recuperate after playing that nasty stretch of 11 games in 18 nights should help the team moving forward:

A three-day lull, regardless of the purpose, can be a beneficial break for the players on an NHL roster.

At the quarter-mark of the season, the Red Wings have played 20 games in 38 days, one of just three NHL teams to do so. Just last week, Detroit played four games in four different cities, a stretch that severely limited the team’s time to practice and recover.

“We’ve played a lot of games in a short period of time here,” center Robby Fabbri said. “So, these last couple of days have been good for everyone just to step away for a bit and to get the rest we needed and come back refreshed.”

Fabbri knows there is work to be done. Saturday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Arizona Coyotes extended the Red Wings’ losing streak to four games. After the team’s strong start to the 2021-22 campaign, Fabbri said having some breathing room before Wednesday will prove beneficial.

“It allows us to sharpen up what we need to sharpen up,” Fabbri said. “You know, get back to the basics and get back to the way we were playing in the first 10 games. We’re going to do that through practice, and it’s nice that we have some time here.”

Continued

Kulfan’s practice notebook: Fabbri’s reunion with Blues on tap

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a notebook article in which he discusses Robby Fabbri’s first game against his former team, the St. Louis Blues, which will take place tomorrow night:

After two full years, Robby Fabbri finally gets to play against his old team. Fabbri was traded from the St. Louis Blues to the Red Wings on Nov. 6, 2019. By this time, normally, would have faced his former squad at least a time or two.

The pandemic changed things. The first year Fabbri was with the Wings, the season was cancelled about a week before the Wings were headed to St. Louis. Last season, the Wings never played the Blues. Fabbri was quick to search out the Blues on the schedule this time around.

“Long overdue,” Fabbri said. “It’ll be the first time playing them since I was traded so it’s definitely going to be a little different.”

Fabbri was hoping to catch up with most of the former teammates who are still in St. Louis Tuesday night for dinner.

“It’ll be nice to see a bunch of them,” Fabbri said. “I’m very excited. I’ve circled this one (game) early in the year. We’ll actually have 12 or 13 of us going to dinner, so they’ve changed (the roster) quite a bit but there’s still a good group there that I was with the majority of time. It’ll be nice to see them.”

Continued

Khan’s practice notebook: Red Wings’ Fabbri-Suter-Zadina line needs to step up

MLive’s Ansar Khan has filed his practice notebook from Tuesday’s events that took place at Little Caesars Arena, and Khan notes that the Red Wings’ second line of Robby Fabbri, Pius Suter and Filip Zadina hopes to step up in a big way:

Robby Fabbri are Filip Zadina are getting pucks on net, but not many behind the goaltender. The Detroit Red Wings’ second line hasn’t produced much offense over the past several weeks despite ample opportunities.

“It starts with burying your chances,” Fabbri said. “The top line has done a great job for us, keeping us in games, winning us games. It’s up to the other 9-10 forwards that get in to help out. I put a lot of pressure on myself to be part of that secondary scoring. It hasn’t been going in right now. but the line has been confident with the chances we’ve been getting, with what we’ve been creating. We just got to stick with it and eventually it will go in.”

The Red Wings (8-9-3) look to snap a four-game skid (0-3-1) Wednesday against the St. Louis Blues at Little Caesars Arena (7:30 p.m., Bally Sports Detroit Plus).

Fabbri has just one goal and two assists in the past 12 games, but he has registered 36 shots during that time. His overall 5.8 percent shooting percentage is well below his rate from his first two seasons in Detroit (13.5 percent and 17.2 percent).

Zadina has one goal and one assist in his past 11 games, with 21 shots during that stretch. Pius Suter, the center on the line, has no points in four games after a stretch with five points (three goals, two assists) in five games.

“As a line we’re getting about 10 shots a game, you’re pretty happy with that to start,” Fabbri said. “What we’re creating from our D-zone to the offensive zone, it’s been great. Just working on getting the puck over the (goal) line and we’ll be all right.”

Continued