Month: October 2021

The Detroit Red Wings were delivered a gut punch and a half by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night, ultimately dropping a 7-6 OT decision to the Bolts on a night where Tyler Bertuzzi scored 4 goals, Dylan larkin was kicked out of the game for accosting Mathieu Joseph, who cross-checked Larkin into the boards from behind, and Detroit blew three 3-goal leads.

It was a wild, woolly, and raucous affair, and a game where the Red Wings were unable to win the special teams battle, the battle for faceoffs, or, ultimately, defend well enough against one of the NHL’s most explosive teams.

There were positives for the Red Wings to take out of the game, to be sure–scoring seven goals in a game is not something that last year’s Red Wings could do, the Wings did generate scoring from 11 different skaters, and while Alex Nedeljkovic gave up 7 goals on 48 shots, there’s no doubt that the Wings would not have earned a point without their newly-minted goaltender.

It just stunk that Detroit was unable to hold the lead on such an exciting night for Larkin and his compatriots, and it stunk that the Wings found themselves on the losing end of yet another loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in front of their first sellout crowd in ages.

As you might imagine, the Lightning were borderline satisfied with their collective and individual games, as they told the Tampa Bay Times’ Eduardo A. Encina:

Continue reading Red Wings-Lightning wrap-up: a ‘learning experience’ loss against the defending champs

I hate to agree with the devil’s advocate here, but Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff is probably right in his assessment of what will happen to Dylan Larkin after this play:

Quoting Duff:

Certainly, Larkin and the Red Wings will be seeking to defend his actions by pointing out what he went through last season. Cross-checked in the neck by Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn in an April game, Larkin missed the remainder of the season and spent much of his sumer rehabbing a serious neck injury.

Still, the league frowns on frontier justice. Larkin can expect a suspension will be coming his way. However, the mitigating circumstances and his clean sheet in terms of previous disciplinary incidents should conspire in keeping his punishment to a light sentence.

A one-game suspension seems about right.

If there is one suspension, there should be two in my opinion, but Larkin is likely to get tagged here.

Of video-related note from the Detroit Red Wings’ 7-6 OT loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning:

Highlights: Sportsnet posted an 8:20 highlight clip:

Post-game: Mickey Redmond weighed in on the Dylan Larkin-Mathieu Joseph fracas:

Continue reading Red Wings-Lightning post-game videos

The Detroit Red Wings opened their 2021-2022 season against the powerhouse Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, and…

The Red Wings surrendered 7 goals to the defending champions, despite earning 2 3-goal leads, and despite Tyler Bertuzzi’s 4-goal performance…

Detroit would ultimately lose 7-6 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime, learning the hard way that the lessons of last season, especially on special teams, faceoffs, giveaways, and communication, were not going to go away easily.

Continue reading Red Wings-Lightning quick take: Gut punch

Initial shot, second shot, and booster:

Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin was targeted by a vicious cross-check by Tampa Bay Lightning forward Mathieu Joseph, but Larkin was the one given a match penalty for what ensued here, per Sportsnet:

Per DetroitRedWings.com’s Josh Berenter:

In honor of Larkin’s No. 71, the Captain Jersey Auction lasts for 71 hours, with proceeds benefiting the Detroit Red Wings Foundation, which is committed to providing funds and resources to worthy causes that contribute to the growth of the sport of hockey.

“The Detroit Red Wings have a tremendous history of captains who serve as leaders on and off the ice – including our newest captain, Dylan Larkin,” Red Wings and Tigers director of community impact Kevin Brown said. “The Detroit Red Wings Foundation is proud to join the celebration of Dylan Larkin being named Red Wings captain in front of a packed house at Little Caesars Arena through an exciting 71-hour auction in his honor.

“With every bid, fans are helping the Detroit Red Wings Foundation continue to expand the legacy of Hockeytown for future generations of children in our community.”

This special auction ends on Sunday, Oct. 17 at 6:30 p.m., so be sure to bid now and bid often on these authentic jerseys signed and worn by the Red Wings leaders who have helped make Hockeytown what is it today.

For more information or to bid on your very own captain-signed jersey, visit DetroitRedWings.com/Auction.

Per Bally Sports Detroit and NHL.com:

The Red Wings Tweeted out a video of the on-ice introductions as well:

Your 2021-22 Detroit Red Wings. ? #LGRW pic.twitter.com/KftFC9hvp8— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 15, 2021

Update: The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a story about the event:

Former Detroit Red Wings captains Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg were on the ice Thursday for a delayed celebration honoring Dylan Larkin becoming the 37th captain in franchise history.

Yzerman bestowed the “C” on Larkin before the start of the 2021 season, but the pandemic made it impossible to have much of a ceremony. Yzerman and Larkin met in Yzerman’s office, and shook hands. 

Thursday was more fitting for such an honor. Before a lively crowd at Little Caesars Arena, a red carpet was rolled out to welcome a who’s who of former Wings captains: Red Berenson, Nick Libbett, Paul Woods, Dennis Hextall and Mickey Redmond joined Yzerman, Lidstrom and Zetterberg.

97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield filed an article discussing Dylan Larkin’s need for a bounce-back season this year:

You can view last year for Larkin any way you like. The simplest assessment is the truth: it wasn’t good enough. Larkin crashed offensively and created more questions than he answered in Detroit’s search for a No. 1 center. The search was all but over when last season began. It resumes in earnest Thursday night.

“Certainly for Dylan, there’s lots on his shoulders as a young captain of a team that’s going through a rebuild,” Jeff Blashill said Thursday morning. “We’ve faced a number of hard times and that’s not easy. But he’s an extraordinary young person — or really at this point, an extraordinary guy who’s been in the league now for seven years.”

Seven years — it’s hard to fathom. Larkin just turned 25. Then you remember the faces who were here when his was fresh — Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen, for two — and seven years feels right. Back then, Larkin was the whirling winger under the wing of a franchise great. He scored goals, Henrik Zetterberg took care of the rest. Now the rest belongs to Larkin. He’s the shepherd for Raymond, the center who counters the opposition’s best, the player who leads his team onto the ice.

“He has to go out and win a ton of puck battles, he has to be dynamic with his skating and he has to be responsible defensively,” said Blashill.

Continued

From my friend Courtney Fathers:

@georgemalik @JDReed18 @WingedWheelPod for anyone looking for the cash-to-credit machine at LCA, i found one across from portal 57/58. i’ll share when i find the other one. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/XC9Q1z33Jq— courtney fathers (@corkboards) October 14, 2021