Red Wings-Panthers Tweetcap: Detroit’s ‘ratted out’ as Florida pushes past Detroit late, sweeps home-and-home series

The Detroit Red Wings haven’t established a solid record against the Florida Panthers of late. But the NHL standings remain incredibly tight, so Detroit headed into a set of Sunshine State games (Detroit plays in Tampa Bay on Thursday) with a must-win battle against the Panthers on Tuesday evening.

At Amerant Bank Arena, the Red Wings held a 3-2 lead going into the final couple of minutes of the 3rd period, but a pair of Carter Verhaeghe goals at 18:30 and 19:45 afforded Florida a tie and then a 4-3 victory over the Red Wings, who got some bad bounces, lost Andrew Copp’s services in the 2nd period, and will be incredibly PISSED OFF about a terrible, terrible collapse.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Danil Tarasov led their respective teams out onto the ice…

Continue reading Red Wings-Panthers Tweetcap: Detroit’s ‘ratted out’ as Florida pushes past Detroit late, sweeps home-and-home series

Red Wings-Devils Tweetcap: Detroit loses Gibson but Shine bright in New Jersey

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a 1-1-and-1 streak against a back-to-back-game-playing New Jersey Devils team on Sunday night in Newark, New Jersey.

At the Prudential Center, the Red Wings slowly but surely woke up in the 1st period, scored a rare even-strength goal off a “Larry Murphy” snap shot from Moritz Seider (1G, 2A), John Gibson stopped 21 shots, and all was well with the Wings (JvR scored a PPG at 6:37 of the 2nd) as the 2nd period wore down…

But Timo Meier shoveled Lucas Raymond into John Gibson at 19:55 of the 2nd, and Gibson tried to shake off the cobwebs, but didn’t return for the 3rd…

Thankfully, Dominik Shine scored his first NHL goal 10:24 in the 3rd, and Cam Talbot stepped up in stopping 9 shots to give the Wings a 3-0 win, crucial for Detroit’s Eastern Conference standings situation as the 4-game road trip begins.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Jacob Markstrom led their respective teams out onto the ice…

Continue reading Red Wings-Devils Tweetcap: Detroit loses Gibson but Shine bright in New Jersey

Red Wings-Panthers Tweetcap: Tkachuk scores ‘rat trick’ as Florida takes Detroit

The Detroit Red Wings needed to rebound from Wednesday night’s loss to the Vegas Golden Knights as Detroit began an extended home-and-then-a-game-between-and-home series with the Florida Panthers on Friday night.

The Panthers lost to Columbus on Thursday evening, so the Wings hoped to pounce upon Florida in a back-to-back situation.

On Friday at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings slipped up in terms of their attention to detail, and surrendered a 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers. John Gibson was a stalwart in stopping 20 of 22 shots against (Tkachuk’s hatty was an empty-netter), but the Panthers out-worked, out-ground and out-hustled Detroit…

And if Dylan Larkin is injured from his trip/spear/fall that happened halfway through the 3rd period, the Wings are in a world of hurt.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Sergei Bobrovsky led their respective teams out onto the ice at the Pizzarena…

Continue reading Red Wings-Panthers Tweetcap: Tkachuk scores ‘rat trick’ as Florida takes Detroit

Red Wings-Hurricanes Tweetcap: Detroit loses 5-2 to Carolina, drops 6th straight in Raleigh

With the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference standings clustered tightly, the Red Wings headed into Carolina against a streaking Hurricanes team, needing to earn points by any means necessary.

Despite having won a solid victory over Ottawa on Thursday, the Wings play on an every-other-day basis until March 16th, so the stretch drive grind is really here.

On Saturday night in Raleigh, the Red Wings’ mistake-prone hockey afforded the Hurricanes their 6th straight win against Detroit at the Lenovo Center, with the sloppy Wings losing by a 5-3 tally.

The nearby-in-the-standings Sabres, Senators, Canadiens and Islanders all won, too, diminishing Detroit’s margin for error as the Wings head into Nashville for a 2 PM EDT start on Monday.

PREGAME: Cam Talbot and Fredrik Andersen led their respective teams out onto the ice at the Lenovo Center:

Continue reading Red Wings-Hurricanes Tweetcap: Detroit loses 5-2 to Carolina, drops 6th straight in Raleigh

Red Wings-Senators Tweetcap: Detroit rebounds from slow start to capture some OT magic in Ottawa

The Detroit Red Wings began their stretch run drive with a three-game road trip, starting with Thursday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators.

At the Canadian Tire Centre, the Red Wings were out-shot, out-hit, out-blocked and dominated in the faceoff circle, winning only 39% of the draws…..

But John Gibson stopped 26 of 27 shots, Detroit rallied from Brady Tkachuk’s late-1st-period goal, and captain Dylan Larkin scored a 2nd period PPG and he followed that up with an overtime winner to deliver a hard-fought, gritty, grind-y 2-1 overtime victory over the Senators. Detroit’s now 3-and-0 against Ottawa this season:

PREGAME: John Gibson and Linus Ullmark led their respective teams out onto the ice…

Continue reading Red Wings-Senators Tweetcap: Detroit rebounds from slow start to capture some OT magic in Ottawa

Been sick

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to man the blog on a day-to-day basis, so here’s my health update as of February 26th:

I’ve been battling consistent and debilitating fatigue for the last four months. I am able to get online during Red Wings games and write “Tweecaps,” which are better than nothing at all…

But “off-days” require full days’ worth of rest and recovery, mostly in bed, to recuperate from the energy expended during games (and the daily grind of caregiving for Aunt Annie, from which I receive no recovery time).

Continue reading Been sick

Red Wings-Mammoth Tweetcap: Utah spears the Wings

The Detroit Red Wings closed out their pre-Olympic break schedule with a match-up against the offensively potent Utah Mammoth on Wednesday evening.

With the Canadiens, Sabres and the rest of the Atlantic Division hot on their tail, Detroit would have to play a really strong game to match up with the Mammoth’s balanced attack.

On Wednesday night in Salt Lake City, the Red Wings were just a little too flat at the start, their power play was too inefficient, and they made Karl Vejmelka look too good in the Mammoth crease (while John Gibson was only OK against the speedy Mammoth).

Detroit lost 4-1 heading into the Olympic break, with Dylan Larkin scoring the team’s only goal.

If you believe Twitter, Larkin was totally at fault for everything that went wrong with the team, too, because he dared to slash back at Nick Schmaltz because Schmaltz speared Larkin in the balls off a faceoff, but I suppose that’s a matter of opinion.

Anyway, the Wings don’t go into the break with a great record of late, but they need the rest pretty badly as they’ve already played 58 games.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Karl Vejmelka led their respective teams out onto the ice at the Delta Center…

Continue reading Red Wings-Mammoth Tweetcap: Utah spears the Wings

Red Wings-Avalanche Tweetcap: Detroit wins a ‘playoff-style game’ over Colorado

The Detroit Red Wings began a 2-game road swing with a rematch against a Colorado Avalanche team which embarrassed the Red Wings 5-0 on home ice this past Saturday.

The final 2 games before the Olympic Break offered the Wings the ability to rebound from an 0-2-and-1 streak going into Monday night’s game in Denver and Wednesday night’s game against the surging Utah Mammoth.

On Monday night at Ball Arena, the Red Wings did earn a measure of revenge by defeating Colorado 2-0. Marco Kasper and Lucas Raymond (empty-net) scored for Detroit, Dylan Larkin had 2 assists, and John Gibson stopped 22 saves for the shutout.

Observe:

PREGAME: John Gibson and Mackenzie Blackwood led their respective teams out onto the ice…

Continue reading Red Wings-Avalanche Tweetcap: Detroit wins a ‘playoff-style game’ over Colorado

Red Wings-Avalanche Tweetcap: Colorado humbles Detroit at LCA

The Red Wings’ final three games before the Olympic Break kicked off with a matinee game against the struggling-of-late but still dominant-overall Colorado Avalanche.

Detroit hoped to break an 0-1-and-1 streak as they hosted Colorado in the first half of a home-and-home series; the Avs had lost 4 of their past 5 games heading into Saturday’s affair.

On Saturday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings celebrated their era of “dominance” at Joe Louis Arena, and then they got trampled on by the Colorado Avalanche, losing 5-0. Nathan MacKinnon had three points, the Avs chased John Gibson, who stopped 13 of 17, after 40 minutes, and the flu-ridden Wings played like a team that needed more Pedialyte.

There are no excuses for going 0-2-and-1 on a 3-game home stand, and this is definitely an inflection point for the team, especially going right back against the Avs in Denver on Monday, and then playing in Utah to wrap up the pre-Olympic schedule…

But the team-wide flu is an explanation as to one of the reasons why the Wings have taken a big, fat belly flop onto the ice of late.

Here’s hoping that the team rebounds at Ball Arena on Monday, because this loss was extremely embarrassing.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Mackenzie Blackwood led their respective teams out onto the ice…

Continue reading Red Wings-Avalanche Tweetcap: Colorado humbles Detroit at LCA

Red Wings-Capitals Tweetcap: Wings steal one point, Caps steal two in a 4-3 shootout loss to Washington

The Detroit Red Wings looked to rebound from an underwhelming performance against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday as Detroit hosted the high-scoring Washington Capitals at Little Caesars Arena.

With four final games left before of the Olympic break, and a “flu bug” going around the Wings’ locker room, there were legitimate concerns that Detroit would dress a patchwork lineup on Thursday evening.

Washington was wrapping up a 6-game road trip, boasting a very unpleasant 1-1-and-3 record, and on Thursday morning, they lost starting goaltender Logan Thompson to an upper-body injury, so they were no less desperate to win than Detroit.

But there are no excuses when you’re trying to remain ahead of the Sabres, Canadiens and Bruins in the Atlantic Division.

On Thursday night, history happened, of course…

And from there, the Capitals stole two points, and I am FURIOUS as to how they won the 4-3 SHOOTOUT victory.

Sure, it was great that after the Chiarot goal, with Washington up 3-1, Alex DeBrincat scored goals #29 and #30 (and a wild goal at that) at 18:20 and 19:07 of the 3rd period…

But Washington REFUSED to ENGAGE in overtime, looping BACK AND BACK AND BACK OVER AND OVER AGAIN, SIMPLY DEFERRING TO PLAY ANY OFFENSIVE HOCKEY UNTIL THEY COULD GO TO THE SHOOTOUT, where the Caps went 3-for-3 vs. Detroit’s 2-for-3–thanks to a crossbar by Dylan Larkin.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Charlie Lindgren led their respective teams out onto the ice at LCA:

Continue reading Red Wings-Capitals Tweetcap: Wings steal one point, Caps steal two in a 4-3 shootout loss to Washington