Yes, this Tweet is worth its own post, because it spells out the stark differences between the Lightning and Red Wings over the course of Tampa Bay’s 17-0-and-1 record over the Red Wings of late:
A look at how we stack up tonight! ? #DETvsTBL pic.twitter.com/rg3U0B3n4W
— Tampa Bay Lightning (@TBLightning) February 5, 2021
Ugly, ugly numbers.
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill spoke with the Detroit media for approximately 11 minutes after today’s morning skate in Tampa Bay, ahead of tonight’s game against the Lightning (7:00 PM EST on FSD/FS Sun/97.1 FM):
Update: If you wish to watch Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper or forward Blake Coleman, here are their Zoom calls from the Bolts’ website:
Continue reading Post-morning skate Zoom calls: Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill, Lightning coach Jon CooperRed Wings prospect Theodor Niederbach is currently on loan to MODO Hockey of the Swedish Allsvenskan from the SHL’s Frolunda Indians, and the promising (if undersized) center spoke with Hockeysverige.se’s Leo Buttafoco Ohlsson regarding his lessons learned at the World Junior Championship, as well as his temporary homecoming to Ornskoldsvik.
What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:
Continue reading Roughly Translated: Theodor Niederbach speaks with Hockeysverige.seReturned to O-vik after World Junior Championship: “Hopefully [they’re] happy to see me again.”
He has been drafted by the Swedish team the Detroit Red Wings, scored his first NHL goal, played at the WJC and been loaned to Modo. Theodor Niederbach has had an eventful year when Hockeysverige.se talks about the Swedish prospect who has now temporarily returned home to Ornskoldsvik.
“Hopefully they were happy to see me when I got home,” says Theodor Niederbach, jokingly.
The Detroit Red Wings wrap up a two-game series against the unbeaten Tampa Bay Lightning this evening (7:00 PM EST on FSD/FS Sun/97.1 FM), with the Red Wings both attempting to rebound from a 5-1 loss on Wednesday while facing a team that possesses a 17-0-and-1 record against the Wings of late.
They’ve surely got a win in them for my 43rd birthday, right? Maybe? Okay, maybe not, but it would be damn good to see the team show up and show more competitive play, especially with Filip Zadina likely to return to the lineup this evening.
Our friends from Tampa Bay took to the ice first at Amalie Arena, just before 10:30 AM, for their morning skate:
If you had Gourde or Sergachev as the first players on the ice for #MorningSkate today, you WIN!!! #GoBolts #LGRW #DETvsTBL @953WDAE @BecklesRecher pic.twitter.com/IXFXDSLbu9— Jay Recher (@jayRecher) February 5, 2021
It looks like the Bolts “took an optional” morning skate, so we’re going to lean on TampaBayLightning.com’s Bryan Burns’ game preview for a estimated Lightning lineup:
Lines from Wednesday’s game (subject to change)
Forwards
Ondrej Palat – Brayden Point – Steven Stamkos
Alex Killorn – Anthony Cirelli – Tyler Johnson
Blake Coleman – Yanni Gourde – Barclay Goodrow
Pat Maroon – Mathieu JosephDefensemen
Victor Hedman – Jan Rutta
Ryan McDonagh – Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev – Luke Schenn
Cal FooteGoaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
You would figure that both the Lightning and Panthers wouldn’t be playing on a Superbowl Sunday on which the game’s taking place in Florida, but the Red Wings play the Panthers in a Sunday matinee (3 PM EST start). The Lightning are off on Sunday, and Blake Coleman told Recher that they’ll find a way to watch the game:
Continue reading Red Wings-Lightning Game 2 morning skate Tweets: Bolts ‘hold an optional,’ go with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen; Wings, uh, skate…The Athletic’s Max Bultman posted an excellent article this morning, discussing Michael Rasmussen and Dennis Cholowski’s respectively lengthy paths toward gainful NHL employment via a longer developmental curve with the Grand Rapids Griffins (who open their regular season tonight vs. the Chicago Wolves at 8 PM EST):
On Oct. 4, 2018, Dennis Cholowski and Michael Rasmussen made their NHL debuts together in a Red Wings overtime loss to Columbus. It was opening night, and Detroit’s 2016 and 2017 first-round picks had made their way into the lineup. Cholowski even scored Detroit’s first goal, the start of a torrid month to begin his pro career.
At the time, it looked like it could be the start of Detroit’s next generation. All this rebuilding? Simple enough.
As it turned out, not so much. Two seasons later, both Rasmussen and Cholowski will be in the opening-night lineup together again, this time for AHL Grand Rapids, which begins play Friday against the Chicago Wolves.
It’s certainly a striking difference from that NHL opener in 2018, albeit not an inexplicable one. Rasmussen, Detroit coach Jeff Blashill freely admits, would have been better served in the AHL that year, had it been allowed by the NHL-CHL agreement. Accordingly, Rasmussen went on to spend his entire 2019-20 season in Grand Rapids. For Cholowski, meanwhile, his eye-catching start in 2018 cooled off after that first month, and the team’s discomfort with his defensive game eventually landed him in Grand Rapids, too. Then it happened again in 2019-20, despite breaking camp with the Red Wings again.
And now, both former first-rounders are facing the same question as the Griffins’ season gets set to begin: What will it take to make it back?
The Grand Rapids Griffins posted a Tweet this morning directing fans toward their new online game program (ahead of tonight’s season-opener vs. Chicago @ 8:00 PM EST). “The Beacon” is very good stuff, offering a pair of stories profiling Kyle Criscuolo and Riley Barber:
? ? Extra, extra, read all about the 2020-21 Griffins in the debut issue of The Beacon, our new bite-sized program that’s digital, clickable and printable! #GoGRG
GET IT HERE ➡️ https://t.co/4AN0FaDj6A pic.twitter.com/MYCpHBPnYJ— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) February 5, 2021
We’ve been waiting 331 days to say this….It’s Game Day! #GoGRG
?: https://t.co/eaXIyjUSnT (FREE this weekend)
?: https://t.co/EIEzgItQDD
?: https://t.co/QIz5YsPhcf pic.twitter.com/xu7cT5H9QM— Grand Rapids Griffins (@griffinshockey) February 5, 2021
Red Wings prospect Albert Johansson was the only Red Wings prospect named to Team Sweden’s roster for the Beijer Hockey Games, the next step of the Euro Hockey Tour, but it’s good news for Johansson, who’s never played for the Swedish national team before.
On Monday, Johansson spoke with Hockeysverige.se’s Rasmus Kagstrom regarding his good news, and what follows is roughly translated from Swedish:
Continue reading Albert Johansson speaks with Hockeysverige.se’s Kagstrom regarding his selection for the Beijer Hockey Games“A shock—I did not think it was true”
When the unknown number appeared on his cell phone, Albert Johansson chose not to answer it. Then a text message from Marcus Ragnarsson appeared in his inbox—and the 19-year-old called and received the message that he had been selected for the Tre Kronor.
“I was a bit shocked and didn’t think it was true, to be honest,” Johansson says to Hockeysverige.se.
Taking part in Tre Kronor games was not something that Albert Johansson had expected this season. When assistant national team GM Marcus Ragnarsson tried to get a hold of Farjestad BK’s teenage defensemen, the 19-year-old didn’t answer when the unknown number appeared on his cell phone’s display.
It was only when he received an SMS [text message] signed by Ragnarsson that Johansson understood what it could all be about.
“No, I actually didn’t answer when he called me at first,” Johansson chuckles. “When I saw the ‘signature,’ it was obvious to call. It was a great conversation. I was a little shocked and didn’t believe it was true, to be honest.”
It took a couple of days to get this article from Kvallsposten’s Linus Vedmar, thanks to a very kind TMR reader who has a subscription to the paper, and since February 1st, a certain Moritz Seider has suffered a shoulder injury that appears to be likely to keep him out of action until the middle of the month.
That being said, the Rogle BK defenseman has had a superb season with the Southern Swedish SHL team, and Vedmar’s superb interview was worth roughly translating from Swedish. Enjoy:
Continue reading Roughly Translated: Here’s Moritz Seider’s lengthy interview with Kvallsposten’s Linus Vedmar“Going to the SHL has been the right step for me”
Moritz Seider joined Rogle in early October, and he’s become a key defender for the Scanians since then.
Already as a teenager, he left his hometown of Erfurt to invest himself wholehartedly in hockey with his favorite team, Adler Mannheim.
After the NHL draft, where he was selected by the classic Detroit Red Wings, and a short stay in Grand Rapids, Moritz Seider has become a dreaded name in Sweden.Where he chases Swedish championship gold with Rogle.
“Our goal is to win the league and we have the team necessary to make it [happen],” says the successful defenseman, who is called by some “the new Niklas Kronwall.”
The Ontario Hockey League’s website posted a profile of Max Namestnikov, the younger brother of one Red Wings forward Vladislav Namestnikov:
Touted as one of the most offensively gifted prospects to come out of the 2020 OHL Priority Selection, third overall pick Max Namestnikov can’t wait to hit the ice with the Sarnia Sting for the first time.
When he does, he’ll be sporting 81 on the back of his black and gold jersey; reminiscent of his brother, Vladislav, who donned 18 with the London Knights this time 10 years ago.
If you ask the former Detroit Honeybaked standout to describe his game, he’s unsure if he should refer to himself as a two-way forward, but he’ll tell you how much he loves playing in the defensive zone.
“I think defence comes before offence,” said the nearly 17-year-old of his style of play. “I help my D out, do all that work in the D zone, and then go score some goals.”
TampaBayLightning.com’s Bryan Burns filed a report regarding tomorrow’s rematch between the Red Wings and Lightning (7:30 PM on FSD/FS Sun/97.1 FM), and Burns’ statistics regarding the Wings-Bolts match-up over the past half decade.
The statistics are scary:
Friday’s Matchup
The Lightning and the Red Wings are playing their second of eight meetings this season and complete a two-game set tonight…
Tampa Bay is on an 18 game point streak versus Detroit dating to February 3, 2016, the Bolts posting a 17-0-1 record over that stretch…Tampa Bay’s last regulation loss to the Red Wings in the regular season came Nov. 3, 2015 at Detroit in a 2-1 defeat…
The Lightning have won 15 in a row at home over the Red Wings, which is the longest home win streak against one opponent in franchise history, the second longest active home win streak against one opponent in the NHL (longest: PHI 16-game active home win streak vs. CHI) and tied for the 16th longest home win streak against one opponent in NHL history…
The Bolts’ last home loss to Detroit came Feb. 17, 2011 in a 6-2 defeat, Pavel Datsyuk scoring a pair of goals to pace the Red Wings.
Oy.
