Month: October 2021

97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield penned a column discussing the atmosphere at Little Caesars Arena during last night’s 3-2 OT loss to the Florida Panthers, which was downright Joe Louis Arena-like in it noise level:

In the inaugural season of Little Caesars Arena, the data said the Red Wings played in front of capacity crowds every night. It said they finished fourth in the NHL in total attendance. But your eyes knew better. So did your ears. If the Wings were selling tickets, they weren’t filling seats. And so the atmosphere was rather dull, more pizza parlor than hockey rink.

Are things beginning to change? LCA was rocking on opening night this year when the Wings went blow for blow with the Lightning in a 7-6 OT loss. And it was rowdy again two nights later when Detroit beat Vancouver for its first win of the season. With fans back in the building for the first time since the pandemic to watch a rising young team, maybe this is the year LCA finds it voice.

“The building just seems really loud,” Jeff Blashill said Tuesday morning before the Wings would host Columbus. “When we first came into this building, we didn’t have enough people in the seats. There were lots of people here, but they were either in the club level eating or checking out how beautiful the arena is. Now everybody’s in the seats and it just seems really, really loud. So it’s a great, great building with a great atmosphere.”

Continued

Pius Suter’s had a slow start with the Detroit Red Wings this season, but he made his presence emphatically known last night, as noted in this clip from NHL.com:

Sportsnet’s Luke Fox reports that Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe illustrated a particular clip to his Maple Leafs charges this morning:

Sheldon Keefe showed this to the Maple Leafs this morning. https://t.co/8NU8zWgtxJ— luke fox (@lukefoxjukebox) October 30, 2021

Video per AWood40:

Also:

Keefe on what he wants to see from the D tonight: “Just try to keep the play in front of them. That’s a big piece for me is that we just had far too many guys getting behind us. This team (Detroit) is going to challenge us in that area.”— David Alter (@dalter) October 30, 2021

A little surprising given that Grand Rapids plays today and tomorrow:

UPDATE: The Detroit #RedWings today recalled center Joe Veleno from the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

Details: https://t.co/T1VW7x4V7H pic.twitter.com/o4ifi0j3Lp— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 30, 2021

Update: There’s no morning skate today, so we’re left to speculate as to how Veleno fits in:

Joe Veleno has been recalled by Red Wings for tonight’s game at Toronto. Tyler Bertuzzi not available because he cannot travel to Canada because he’s unvaccinated. Adam Erne was in pain last night after blocking shot.— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) October 30, 2021

None of Adam Erne, Mitchell Stephens or Carter Rowney saw another shift after that epic block party we saw last night, but Erne took the worst of those shots. Wondering if that’s why Veleno is up rather than just going with Smith— Winging It In Motown (@wingingitmotown) October 30, 2021

Everybody else is Tweeting it, so I might as well:

Yep, Veleno is up while Bertuzzi is suspended, but one of Erne/Fabbri/etc. might have gotten hurt as well last night.

No morning skate = we won’t know until warm-ups.— George Malik (@georgemalik) October 30, 2021

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff notes the following this morning:

It was on October 29, 1947, in a game at Chicago Stadium when Gordie Howe first skated out on the ice for an NHL game wearing the No. 9 he’d make legendary on the back of his Red Wings jersey. The Red Wings won 5-2, although Howe was held off the scoresheet.

For the first four games of the 1947-48 campaign, sophomore Howe wore the No. 17 he’d donned during his NHL rookie season. The No. 9 was made available when it became apparent that contract holdout Roy Conacher, who’d worn No. 9, wouldn’t be back with the the team. Eventually, Conacher was dealt to the Blackhawks.

Offered No. 9, Howe originally resisted. He was finally convinced to make the switch after learning the players with single-digit uniform numbers were assigned the larger lower berths on the train during road trips.

For those keeping score at home, Mr. Hockey scored 779 of his club-record 786 goals as a Red Wing while wearing No. 9.

There are some rivalries that are best summarized with the city name. For me, on this Michigan vs. Michigan State Game Day, my focus is up Highway 401, toward the first sports rivalry I really embraced: Detroit vs. Toronto.

My first hockey game as a Red Wings fan took place 30 years ago vs. Toronto at Joe Louis Arena, and

The Red Wings open a 4-game road trip in Hogtown vs. the Maple Leafs tonight (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/CBC/97.1 FM), and an old friend will be in the nets for the Maple Leafs:

Petr Mrázek will make his blue pads debut tonight. pic.twitter.com/sdWTaDSxro— David Alter (@dalter) October 30, 2021

Petr Mrazek getting set for his Maple Leafs home debut … returns from groin injury tonight

4-2-1 in his career against the Red Wings pic.twitter.com/1eZCfkDODH— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 30, 2021

The Leafs “Took an Optional,” as Mike Babcock was wont to do before big games, per the Toronto Sun’s Terry Kohsan…

#Leafs optional this morning. Muzzin, Holl among those taking it.— Terry Koshan (@koshtorontosun) October 30, 2021

And TSN’s Mark Masters:

Jake Muzzin among those taking part in the Leafs optional skate this morning

Others on the ice this AM: Spezza, Sandin, Kerfoot, Bunting, Kampf, Holl, Campbell, Hutchinson pic.twitter.com/KisY2qSniZ— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 30, 2021

There are already Red Wings-Maple Leafs game previews up this morning, and an article in which Sportsnet’s Justin Bourne questions whether the Maple Leafs are “playing slow hockey.” NHL.com’s Dave McCarthy also penned an article which is a kind-of-sort-of game preview from the Maple Leafs’ perspective, with none other than Maple Leafs GM Kyle Dubas demanding more from his team…

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs morning skate Tweets and articles: Leafs ‘hold an optional,’ start Mrazek vs. Detroit

The Free Press’s Helene St. James and MLive’s Ansar Khan posted morning columns chronicling aspects of the Red Wings’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers last night.

St. James notes that the Red Wings are displaying level of resolve that the team hasn’t possessed in some time…

The Detroit Red Wings head off on a four-game road trip with a determination they haven’t had in several seasons.

They ride a three-game point streak into Saturday’s game in Toronto, buoyed by another example that sticking to their plan pays off. They had to settle for one point in Friday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers at Little Caesars Arena, but considering the Wings trailed by a pair of goals after two periods, seeing Pius Suter tie the game with less than three minutes to go was a shot of confidence.

“We stuck with it, kept finding a way,” said goalie Alex Nedeljkovic after making 29 saves. “Suits got a great trip. It sucks like hell to lose like that. You give up a breakaway goal, it’s tough to swallow. But guys played awesome.”

The Wings rallied from a two-goal deficit to win in overtime Wednesday at Washington.

“We’ve got a great group of guys,” Nedeljkovic said. “We’re playing some great hockey. We have a good group in there and we believe in ourselves. We’re not just going to roll over.”

And MLive’s Ansar Khan focuses on the big shift by Adam Erne, Robby Fabbri and Danny DeKeyser, who blocked a fusillade of shots aimed at Nedeljkovic in the 3rd period:

Continue reading HSJ, Khan in the morning: Wings’ resolve is evident

The Red Wings dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to the Florida Panthers on Friday, but the above-posted video from AWood40 on YouTube certainly illustrates a level of resilience in the Red Wings that we haven’t seen in years previous.

As The Athletic’s Max Bultman suggests, the road gets tougher for the Red Wings from here on out, with a back-to-back game vs. Toronto in Leaf Land kicking off a 4-games-in-8-nights road trip–and a November schedule in which the Red Wings play 11 times (in 8 different cities!) in 19 days–but, for one night, at least, the hockey team from Detroit looks like a team that’s willing to do the dirty, sometimes painful work necessary to compete:

[The shift] did not, in the end, lead to a win. It likely won’t bring any solace as the Red Wings fly to Toronto overnight, for another game Saturday. But that sequence of swallowed pucks and frantic battling was the latest, best indication of the identity the Red Wings seem to be developing early in the 2021-22 season.

“I think it’s a little bit telling of our team, the amount of sacrifice that you saw on that shift,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “Certainly that’s not the exact way we want to play D-zone, but when you have a big block and the guy’s down, all of the sudden you get a little frantic. And then another guy’s down, you get a little more frantic. So it was chaotic, but I also think, as you could tell from the crowd’s response, that was pretty awesome what those guys did.

“The way they laid it on the line — Erne was hurt on the first block, and he stayed in there and blocked another one. I think it’s a good example of what our team’s been about: We want to sacrifice more than other teams to win hockey games, and that’s what we’re going to have to do in order to be successful.”

In all, Detroit blocked 23 shots Friday. That’s not a solely positive stat, as it does also speak to the amount of shots the first-place Panthers were able to take to begin with. But there’s no question it illustrates a willingness to sacrifice on the Red Wings part, and Erne and Fabbri left no doubt on that shift that they’d keep doing so to win.

Continued (paywall); this year’s Wings team may not make the playoffs, but 8 games in, they’re in the games they’re playing, and that’s exciting.

In the ECHL, Kaden Fulcher stopped 26 of 27 shots in the Toledo Walleye’s 10-1 win over the Iowa Heartlanders;

In the QMJHL, Oscar Plandowski finished even with 2 shots in the Charlottetown Islanders’ 4-3 win over Saint John;

Jan Bednar was in the back-up in the Acadie-Bathurst Titan’s 6-4 loss to Baie-Comeau;

In the WHL, Sebastian Cossa stopped 26 of 27 shots, earning second star honors as the Edmonton Oil Kings won 3-1 over the as-until-tonight unbeaten Winnipeg Ice;

Alex Cotton finished at +1 with 2 shots in the Lethbridge Hurricanes’ 4-3 win over Saskatoon;

Cross Hanas scored a goal and the game’s only shootout goal, finishing at +1 with 5 shots in the Portland Winterhawks’ 4-3 shootout win over Everett;

In the BCHL, Kienan Draper finished even with 2 penalties taken in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 5-2 loss to Langley;

In NCAA Hockey, Kyle Aucoin finished even in the Harvard Crimson’s 9-3 win over Dartmouth;

Robert Mastrosimone finished even with 4 shots, and Ethan Phillips finished even in the Boston University Terriers’ 3-0 loss to UMass-Lowell;

Sam Stange had 2 assists, finishing at +2 with a 2-for-4 faceoff record as the University of Wisconsin Badgers won 4-2 over Michigan;

?️: This kid's got speed! Brown slips it past Portillo for a 1-0 lead!

?: Stange pic.twitter.com/rIKwkieDwz

— Wisconsin Hockey (@BadgerMHockey) October 29, 2021

Jack Adams finished even with 2 shots in the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish’s 4-1 loss to Minnesota;

Carter Gylander stopped 41 of 47 shots as the Colgate Raiders lost 6-5 to Western Michigan;

And Ryan O’Reilly finished even with 3 shots in the University of Arizona Sun Devils’ 5-2 win over St. Thomas.

The 4-2-and-2 Detroit Red Wings will play a classic Hockey Night in Canada match-up against the 3-4-and-1 Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night (7 PM EDT start on Bally Sports Detroit/CBC/97.1 FM).

The Red Wings are coming into Toronto having flown overnight into Lester B. Pearson Airport, having dropped a 3-2 OT loss to the Florida Panthers on Friday night;

Our friends from Toronto have been sitting and stewing in the sports talk radio vibes since their 4-3 OT win over the Chicago Blackhawks this past Wednesday–a win that snapped a 4-game losing streak–and the Leafs kick off a 5-game home stand after having made news on Friday for extending defenseman Morgan Rielly via an 8-year, $60 million contract extension.

None other than Leafs GM Kyle Dubas called upon his team to snap out of a cold start on Friday, as the Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan noted:

“I don’t think anybody wants to hear any words about what the (antidote) is or what we’re going to be doing,” Dubas said on Friday. “It’s all in our actions and how we play — our focus, our work ethic, our attention to detail.”

The Leafs won their most recent outing, 3-2 in overtime in Chicago against the Blackhawks on Wednesday. But Dubas rightfully lumped that in with the three previous games. Each was a loss, and none featured much inspiring play by the Leafs. Having to come back to beat a winless Chicago team after falling behind 2-0 didn’t exactly have the Leafs yelling with pride from the rooftops.

“Everyone saw (the past four games), there’s no reason to run from it or hide from it,” Dubas said. “I think everyone’s tired of hearing from us about what we’re going to do.

“It’s about going out (Saturday) night and all through this home stand and getting back to work. The team has shown what they’re capable of going back to last season, the regular season, the beginning of this year.

“My hope is that we’re able to use this to go through and endure some difficulty and some question marks and some criticism and learn how to deal with that well and help propel us forward.”

The GM frames tonight’s game as follows:

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs set-up: pressure’s on Toronto to deliver (as per usual)