Red Wings-Hurricanes quick take: Wings need more TEAM effort as Canes surprise Detroit at home

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to earn their second win of the season while battling the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday night.

The Red Wings struggled to generate a shot in a 1st period in which they were out-shot 21-6, they struggled to generate any offense in a 2nd period that they were out-shot 15-6, and scored a goal but gave up an empty-netter in a 3rd period in which they out-shot Carolina 9-3.

Long story short, Detroit was out-scored 3-1 in a hard loss to take despite the disparity in shots and attempts (69-42!). Andreas Athanasiou scored the Wings’ only goal at even strength, the Wings blew 4 power plays and Jimmy Howard was a stalwart in stopping 36 of 38 shots. The Red Wings’ players displayed good qualities at times, but the team did not coalesce, and because the team struggled to consistently force the Canes onto their heels, Carolina won fairly handily.

This little video sequence, provided by Sportsnet, may summarize the Wings’ night:

Continue reading Red Wings-Hurricanes quick take: Wings need more TEAM effort as Canes surprise Detroit at home

Recovering from anxiety attacks: feelin’ funky, slowly sorting stuff out

Different people react to anxiety attacks or depressive episodes somewhat differently, but the gist of what I’ve felt like over the past couple of days is simple: I feel like I got hit by a loaded dump truck’s worth of neurochemicals, and my body went into “Safe Mode” for the last three days.

As every Windows user knows, “Safe Mode” kind of sucks, because you can’t really do anything to be useful or of use, and having had two severe anxiety attacks over the course of a week, I was in serious-ass “Safe Mode.”

I’m starting to feel better today, if better is feeling all prickly, fuzzy-headed and slightly dazed. I really got “zapped” by a couple of wall-sized waves of chemicals over the past week, and it’s going to take some time for the effects to fade.

Regrettably, this is part of what my neurochemistry and wiring signed me up for, and as frustrating as it was to come back from physical illness, only to have my mental illnesses flare up…

Shit happens, man, and even if you’re in my situation (see: I have insurance, a therapist, psychiatrist, medication and a supportive family), the shit can still hit the fan in terms of anxiety and depression symptoms flaring up.

All I can do is dig out now, and over the next couple of days, I’ll do my best to return to getting hockey content out there. For the present moment, I’m not very useful, but I’ll try to at least catch up a bit.

I will say that the Red Wings hit on one of the major “boo boos” of the past 50 years in finally deciding to retire Red Kelly’s #4 despite the fact that he split his career and Cup wins between Detroit and Toronto. Kelly was one of the NHL’s first offensive defensemen, and it’s time to put #4 in the rafters while he’s still around…

And no, it is not surprising that the Red Wings are 0-3-and-2 to start the season, especially with an 8-2 loss to Boston highlighting the schedule of frustration.

Detroit was socked with injuries on defense and a schedule of teams that absolutely destroy the Wings on a regular basis, and the Wings have three more really hard games against really hard-to-beat teams in Montreal (in Montreal), Tampa Bay (in Tampa Bay) and Florida (anywhere) before the team finally heads home on the 22nd.

The Wings obviously need to play a lot better, but this is also what learning on a green, green blueline tends to look like, and hopefully Saturday night’s loss will serve as a wake-up call for a team that was playing just well enough to lose close games previously.

In any case, I would like to thank you for your support and your readership, and I apologize profusely for the inconsistencies of content due to health issues.

I can always look after my health better, but there are times when mental illnesses sneak up on a person, and all one can do is battle through as best as one can and recover as necessary. That’s part of battling a mental illness–you can be in a “best case situation” like mine and the shit can still hit the fan, and hit it repeatedly.

Oh fun, another anxiety attack

My apologies for the interruption in service this evening. I had another anxiety attack, a fairly severe one, and was curled up in a ball.

I’m rather aggravated with and annoyed by the fact that I’ve had two in a week–a rare feat–and I’ll get back at ‘er as soon as humanly possible.

Something tells me that I’m not going to make it to the Griffins’ home opener on Friday, either, and I’m sorry for that as well.

AHL to air Griffins’ home opener on Facebook Watch

From the AHL:

American Hockey League to show live games on Facebook Watch
Games to be shown each Friday
The American Hockey League announced today that the league will be featuring a Game of the Week on Facebook Watch during the 2018-19 regular season.
Every Friday night, live AHL action will be available for free on Facebook Watch on mobile, desktop and Facebook’s TV apps. Fans can follow the AHL Facebook Page to get games added to their Watchlists.
The AHL on Facebook Watch will begin this Friday, October 12, with a doubleheader as the Hershey Bears visit the Grand Rapids Griffins (7 p.m. ET) and the San Diego Gulls take on the Tucson Roadrunners (10 p.m. ET).
Live high-definition streaming of all AHL games is available on AHLTV via desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices as well as over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Chromecast and (coming soon) Roku. Subscription packages range from $6.99 for a single day’s worth of games to just $79.99 for the entire 2018-19 regular season; visit theahl.com/AHLTV for details.

Galli, Burtchfield discuss the black seat covers (and Wings-Leafs)

WXYZ’s Brad Galli and 97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burtchfield talked about the Red Wings-Maple Leafs game to come this evening, as well as the black seat covers adorning the lower bowl’s seats at LCA:

 

Babcock’s quip of the day

You may take this Tweet from 97.1 the Ticket’s Jeff Riger for what you will:

The coach was part of the group agreeing to sacrifice part of his future, and then he left.

Update: Now, with video…

 

 

St. James, Kronwall discuss on and off-ice adjustments

Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall spoke with the Free Press’s Helene St. James for 2-and-a-half minutes, with Kronwall discussing the adjustments made to his game and training as his age and arthritic knees catch up with him, the absence of Henrik Zetterberg; then St. James speaks with Jeff Blashill about what Kronwall can still bring to the table:

 

Wallner checks in with former Griffin Logan Pyett

The Grand Rapids Press’s Peter J. Wallner spoke with Hershey Bears defenseman and former Grand Rapids Griffins defender Logan Pyett, who’s overcome a significant medical hurdle:

Bumps, cuts and bruises are part of hockey, but what Logan Pyett experienced after a preseason game just wasn’t right.

There was an annoying lump on the inside of his left thigh and the veteran defenseman and former Detroit Red Wings prospect knew it wasn’t typical.

“At first trainers thought it might be scar tissue, whatever, but then I got this shooting pain in my leg,” Pyett said. “I played the one game and complained afterward. My leg just felt heavy, not right.”

As much as he wanted to wish it away – he had just joined Lehigh Valley and the season was about to start – Pyett informed staff, went to have it checked out and heard what he didn’t want to hear.

A tumor was discovered, and it had wrapped around an artery and caused a blot clot. He was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare type of cancer. Within a week, he began six cycles of chemotherapy, then five weeks of radiation before undergoing surgery.

That journey began in October 2015. It was a scare and a setback and, ultimately, a winnable fight for him against the rare form of the disease that accounts for less than one percent of all cancers.

Continued

Red Wings-Maple Leafs post-morning skate media availability + Leafs skate: Kronwall, Abdelkader ‘good to go’

The Red Wings held a quick morning skate ahead of tonight’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs (7:30 PM EDT on FSD/TSN4/97.1 FM), and afterward, the locker room opened up to the media:

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs post-morning skate media availability + Leafs skate: Kronwall, Abdelkader ‘good to go’