Red Wings-Bruins set-up: here comes ye olde measuring stick

The Detroit Red Wings begin a stretch of 2 games to be played over the course of 2 nights tonight in Boston (7 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NESN/Sportsnet West/Sportsnet Pacific/97.1 FM). The Wings will then return home to host Seattle on Wednesday, but first things first:

The Red Wings almost never win in Beantown. Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that, since the Wings won Game 2 of the first round in 2014, the Wings possess a gaudy 1-11-2 record at TD Garden.

While the Bruins will be without Brad Marchand’s services as he’s been suspended for slew-footing, Boston stands at 11-and-7 going into this game, and have won 5 of their past 7 games.

The 10-9-and-3 Wings actually sit a point ahead of the Bruins in the Eastern Conference standings, but Detroit’s 3-7-and-1 road record is of concern.

There is some tumult in Bruins land away from Marchand’s latest suspension; Jake DeBrusk’s agent has informed the Bruins that his client wants a trade, and while Linus Ullmark is starting vs. the Red Wings, the as-yet-unsigned Tuukka Rask is beginning what seems like an inevitable comeback toward the Bruins’ crease.

The Boston Herald’s Steve Conroy noted that Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy hasn’t been completely enthused with the play of Ullmark, despite his strong performance in the Bruins’ 3-2 win over Vancouver on Sunday:

Both Ullmark and rookie Jeremy Swayman have a way to go before the coach is comfortable with his play in net, especially when it comes to the rebound control, or lack thereof, that had the B’s playing in their own zone far too much in the second period on Sunday.

Asked whether the defensemen need to work on taking care of the loose pucks, Cassidy put the onus on the goaltenders.

“Some of that is on the goaltender to freeze the puck quicker. We’re assuming that’s going to happen in a lot of those situations,” said Cassidy. “There’s a lot going on in front of the net. Defensemen are coached to box out. They’ve got to find the puck in certain instances, too, but it’s find the puck and box out. Don’t turn your back all the time. But some of those battles, you’re engaged and get twisted around. Your idea is to tie up hands to make sure they don’t get a free whack at it. The goalie’s job is to clear it or freeze. Some of that hasn’t happened as much as we’d like lately, so (goalie coach Bob Essensa) I’m sure will address that.”

The best and most complete summary of the State of the Bruins ahead of tonight’s game comes from Field Level Media’s Wings-Bruins game preview:

David Pastrnak and the Boston Bruins will look to get off to a better start than in their comeback win against Vancouver when they host the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night. Pastrnak scored with 3:24 remaining to lift the Bruins over the Canucks in a 3-2 home win on Sunday. Boston trailed 1-0 in the first and 2-1 after two periods.

The win was Boston’s fifth in seven games to steady the ship after dropping two of their prior three before Sunday.

Brad Marchand assisted on Pastrnak’s winner and netted his team-leading ninth goal to tie it earlier in the third.

“When things aren’t going your way, you need to create energy,” Marchand said. “We haven’t been able to string together too many real good 60-minute efforts, but I think that we’ve got to be happy with the way that we were resilient in the third.”

Marchand increased his point total to a team-best 24, but he also received a three-game suspension for slew footing Oliver Ekman-Larsson, leaving the Bruins without their top scorer.

And Anton Blidh scored his first of the year to open the scoring in the first period for Boston, but left Sunday’s game with an upper-body injury after taking a hit later in the game. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said Monday that Blidh will not be available against Detroit, but he did not think the injury would keep him out long-term.

On the more positive end of things, Linus Ullmark recorded 36 saves in his first start since being a late scratch with a minor injury before last Wednesday’s game at Buffalo.

Ullmark is 5-0-2 with a .940 save percentage and a 1.94 goals-against average in seven prior games versus Detroit.

The Bruins may have found another Marchand in the 34-year-old Nick Foligno, who was an agitating net-front presence in Sunday’s win over Vancouver, as BostonBruins.com’s Eric Russo noted:

Foligno’s work at the top of the crease in recent games has helped the B’s top unit find its footing after a sluggish start to the season, while impressing coach Bruce Cassidy in the process.

“Nick is a true net presence,” said Cassidy, whose club has jumped to fifth in the league with a 25.5% success rate on the power play. “He likes to live at the top of the blue paint whereas Taylor [Hall] was moving around a little more. And that’s fine, each has different attributes.

“With Nick being at the top there [Sunday] night and how we saw [Vancouver] killing, we thought it was good for him to plant himself there and we can make some plays around that. He did a real good job in there occupying space.”

Foligno, meanwhile, also appears to be finding his all-around game after missing eight games earlier this season due to an upper-body injury. The 34-year-old has picked up three assists in his last three games and developed some quick chemistry with new linemates Trent Frederic and Karson Kuhlman against the Canucks.

“I actually liked it a lot,” Foligno said of the trio. “Especially for those guys stepping back into the lineup…Freddy, coming off a head injury, sometimes you can be a little hesitant, but I thought he just dove right in. They’re fun because they’re straight-line guys, hard workers and they talk a lot, too, which is nice.

“There’s a lot of communication on the ice which I think just helps when you’re trying to figure somebody out. I think we can be a real good line for our team, especially the energy aspect. The whole night, we pretty played in their end. It was fun. It was a great start.”

If you’re interested in the Bruins’ victory over Vancouver on Sunday, the Associated Press and NHL.com (with stat sheets) are available, and Sportsnet’s highlight clip is viewable here:

The Bruins dressed the following lineup on Sunday…

And both Nick Foligno and coach Bruce Cassidy spoke with the media on Monday:

The Red Wings are very wary of the Bruins and are aware of the fact that they actually stand a point ahead of Boston in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference standings, as they told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:

“We put a lot of emphasis on every game,” defenseman Jordan Oesterle said. “We didn’t have the outing that we wanted last time we were in Boston (a 5-1 loss). They’re a playoff-style team and a team we want to beat to stay with, or in front, of the standings. It’s a divisional game, so these are two very big points. We’re definitely looking ahead to, not a must win, but we want to go in there and have a good start and try to come out with a victory.”

There’s always that cliche, maybe more so in football, about being a litmus test and seeing how a team compares to a contender.

That fits here, with the younger Red Wings and older, playoff-tested Bruins. Coach Jeff Blashill said the NHL provides a good indicator for what kind of team you are every game.

“Every night in this league is a litmus test in where you stand,” Blashill said. “We’re going to a play a real good team in their building and we want to find a way to win. If we do find a way to win, it says you beat a good team on the road. But we’ll have another game the next night and we’ll have to find a way to do that.”

Oesterle likes where the Wings are positioned at this point of the schedule.

“We started very strong and were producing a lot of goals and offense,” Oesterle said “As bad as it was to see a little bit of hiccups in our defensive zone, we’ve matured and kind of were able to get through that little patch and rebounded with some good games.”

The Wings are also aware of the fact that the Bruins’ power play was absolutely lethal in their previous meeting, as the Free Press’s Dana Garauder noted…

The Red Wings are one point ahead of the Boston Bruins, their opponent on Tuesday. They visited Boston earlier in the season and gave up three power play goals to Patrice Bergeron in a 5-1 loss. The Bruins rank fifth in the league in power play percentage.

“Overall, I think the PK’s (penalty kill) been pretty solid lately,” Blashill said. “It doesn’t mean you’re not going to get scored on sometimes on the PK but I think it’s been structurally solid, so we’ve just got to make sure we do a good job of it.”

And both Oesterle and Blashill spoke with MLive’s Ansar Khan about the Wings’ disparity between home and road performances…

“You manage the puck better [at home],” Blashill said. “You put pucks behind, you take what’s given. If there’s plays to be made, you make the play. If there’s not a play to be made you live another day. We got to defend better and not give up easy chances and we got to get the puck out of our zone. Make sure we’re not giving up easy chances. A team like Boston is going to earn enough of them. And then stay out of the box. All those things help kind of keep the game somewhat boring and you just kind of grind away.

“I think we’ve played really good at home for a number of reasons but partially because the energy with which we play with and some of that is helped by the crowd. I think the crowd has been awesome, so it’s become a real hard building to play in for opponents. We got to make sure when we go into opponents’ arenas, we don’t allow it to become a hard building to play in.”

Said Detroit defenseman Jordan Oesterle: “Everyone knows to make the playoffs you have to take care of home ice, but you need to go at least .500 on the road. We’ve really grown as a group throughout this season with the ups and downs. That’s the next step, to go in and play good on the road. Be patient and wait for our chances to score goals. If it has to be 0-0 until the third and then score in the third, so be it.”

The Bruins (11-7-0) gained plenty of momentum on the power play during a 5-1 victory against the Red Wings Nov. 4 at TD Garden. Patrice Bergeron scored four goals, three on the man-advantage.

“Two of those three (power-play goals) were probably mistakes by guys that hadn’t done it much and they missed their assignment,” Blashill said. “They’ve (penalty-killed) more now and I think they’re more prepared. It doesn’t mean that Boston doesn’t present challenges. If we give up those goals again that’s insane.

“We got to execute, No. 1. Try to stay out of the box, No. 2. I think overall the PK has been pretty solid. Doesn’t mean you’re not going to get scored on sometimes, but it’s structurally been solid.”

The Red Wings are 22 for 24 on the penalty kill since facing the Bruins.

So there is no better place to start a road turnaround than your least favorite place on the road, as Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff suggests:

The Red Wings get to next test their road worthiness on Tuesday at a place where good days for them are few and far between – Boston’s TD Garden. Since Game 2 of the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs, Detroit is 1-11-2 there, including an embarrassing 5-1 debacle on November 4.

“We’ve really grown as a group throughout this season with the ups and downs,” Jordan Oesterle said. “That’s the next step, to go in and play good on the road games.”

Doing so in Boston would be as appropriate place as any to get this part of their game started.

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted the Wings’ lines from Monday’s practice…

And you can watch Blashill and Oesterle’s media availabilities if you wish…

And the Wings are now posting a practice report as well:

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, when MLive hired me to work their SlapShots blog, and I joined Kukla's Korner in 2011 as The Malik Report. I'm starting The Malik Report as a stand-alone site, hoping that having my readers fund the website is indeed the way to go to build a better community and create better content.