The Detroit Red Wings face a tricky opponent tonight in the Calgary Flames (7:30 PM on Bally Sports Detroit/Sportsnet East/Sportsnet Ontario/Sportsnet West/ESPN+/97.1 FM).
The Red Wings stand at 2-0-and-1 coming into tonight’s game, and are kicking off a set of 3 games to be played over the course of only 4 nights.
Calgary is 0-1-and-1, having most recently dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to Anaheim on Monday, and while the Flames placed center Glenn Gladwin on waivers, that was a roster-clearing move (as defenseman Tyler Pitlick will rotate into the lineup).
Calgary didn’t practice on Monday, choosing to fly to Detroit during the day instead, and the Flames are looking to shake things up as they kick off a 5-game road trip. Field Level Media offered the following take on the State of the Flames heading into tonight’s game:
Calgary will be seeking its first victory. The Flames lost to Edmonton 5-2 in their opener and 3-2 in overtime to Anaheim on Monday.
The offensive output has been modest even though they’ve had a combined 89 shots on goal during regulation in those games.
“I think we can be better around the net, for sure,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter told the Calgary Herald. “Still, that emphasis has to be on around the goalie more, and the second and thirds. There are very few goals that are highlight goals, when you look at it. Most of them are a screen or a flash play or a tip or a rebound or something like that. And I think, as a group, we can be better at that.”
The Flames begin a five-game, eight-night road trip, which also includes stops in Washington, New York, New Jersey and Pittsburgh.
Sutter believes his team needs to play smarter and tougher to have a successful journey.
“You have to accentuate the positive things and clean up little areas,” Sutter said. “We have some guys that have to be better players for us. Even after the two games, just in the little details of the game, they have to be better. For the type of team we have, they have to be better players in order for us to win games.”
Absent line rushes from Wednesday, you can watch the Flames-Ducks highlights here…
NHL.com offers a recap, game summary, event summary, and rosters;
On the Red Wings’ side of the ledger, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan noted that the Wings are hoping that this year’s hot start is not an aberration:
As recently as the 2019-20 season, the Wings began 3-1-0 — only to finish with a 17-49-5 record and a woeful .275 points percentage when the pandemic ended that season. They started 4-1-0 in 2017-18 and 6-2-0 in 2016-17 — and missed the playoffs both those seasons.
Still, there’s room for optimism and hope, especially this early in the season. And in forward Tyler Bertuzzi’s estimation, there’s belief this particular time the Wings can continue the good mojo and hockey.
“We got a lot of young guys with a lot of energy, and that makes the older guys have a lot more energy, too,” said Bertuzzi, who still puts himself in the younger group, incidentally. “It’s good to see them enjoying themselves and playing good hockey and playing in the NHL. It just makes everyone want to work and play harder, and work more together.”
Coach Jeff Blashill is enjoying the positive first week but realize it’s a small, small sample size.
“Winning is way more fun than losing, that’s a fact, and we’re in that business and you feel better about yourself,” Blashill said. “But the other thing, for sure, is this is an everyday league. We’ve played three games and we’ll have a game (Thursday) against a good team (Calgary) we’ll have to find a way to win.”
Kulfan continues; the Red Wings have a rough schedule for the rest of the month; the Wings will head on the road to play in Montreal on Saturday, and Chicago on Sunday;
The team heads back home for two days off, then plays another stretch of 3 games in four nights in Washington, at home vs. Florida, and then on the road again vs. Toronto to finish the month;
Then the Wings play 11 times in 20 days to start November, so it’s going to become a grind very quickly for a Wings team that’s had enough rest to avoid the injury bug thus far.
We’ll learn more about both teams’ lines and lineups in about twelve hours, so come back for the game-day coverage.
