Month: January 2022

Here’s “The Forecheck” for today’s game vs. the Boston Bruins:

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted her customary morning column today, discussing the Red Wings’ hopes that a little more roster continuity will afford the team the ability to get on a roll:

The Detroit Red Wings have nearly everybody out of COVID-19 protocol; now they’re hoping their weeklong streak of negative tests affords a chance to build something.

They take on the Boston Bruins in a Sunday matinee at Little Caesars Arena, a chance to start off 2022 with a victory over a division rival. The Wings (15-14-3) dropped their New Year’s Eve game against the Washington Capitals, 3-1, shaking off rust after a two-week pandemic-induced layoff. It was a 1-1 game until three minutes left, and overall the Wings were encouraged that, with everyone but defenseman Nick Leddy out of quarantine (he won’t be available Sunday either), the lineup was close to what they had at the start of the season.

“Hopefully, knock on wood, we can keep this group together for a bit here and barring illness or injury, we can get kind of that chemistry, kind of get in a groove with this group,” coach Jeff Blashill said Saturday. “It’ll certainly be good to have Leds back as well, but you’re not going to have a full lineup all year. And obviously we’ve been missing one guy all season in (Jakub) Vrana. But it was good to get the group back together.”

…

The Wings are emerging from a turbulent stretch that saw them shut down three days before the holiday break (wit two games postponed) and then had their first two games after the break also postponed. But the layoff meant extra practice time, and while Friday’s result disappointed, the Wings showed improvement in managing the puck.

“I’ll take that game over and over and over again,” Blashill said. “We had the chances almost exactly equal. They’ve got one of the better records in the league, they’re a team that is considered to be a team that’s going to contend for the Stanley Cup. We just have to keep playing good hockey and the more you’re in those spots, the more position you’re in to win.”

Continued

Updated at 7:55 AM: The Detroit Red Wings face a game of some importance as they host the Boston Bruins on Sunday afternoon (1 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NESN/Sportsnet/97.1 FM).

Boston stands at 15-10-and-2 after having played their 27th game on Saturday–their first since the NHL’s “pause”–in the form of a 4-3 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres in a Saturday matinee in Boston.

That victory places Boston exactly 1 point behind the 15-14-and-3 Red Wings in the Atlantic Division standings, with Boston still having 5 full games in hand on Detroit (27 to 32 games played), so the Red Wings would be wise to rebound from their 3-1 loss to Washington on Friday by pushing the Bruins at least 3 points in arrears instead of allowing the Bruins to take a 1-point lead in the standings.

In other words, today’s game is a serious “Swing Game” in the standings, and as our friends from Boston are coming off a game played–and, as there will be no morning skate on Sunday, we’re not going to really know what the teams’ rosters look like until they hit the ice for the game-day warm-up around 12:30 PM EST today.

That being said, examining the Bruins’ win on Saturday will help, as provided by the Associated Press’s recap of Saturday’s game…

Continue reading Red Wings-Bruins mini preview: Wings host Bruins for a ‘swing game’ in Sunday matinee

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the WHL, Cross Hanas missed the Portland Winterhawks’ 7-6 shootout win over Everett with an injury;

Sebastian Cossa returned to the Edmonton Oil Kings’ net in Edmonton’s 4-1 win over Saskatoon, stopping 15 of 16 shots;

In the BCHL, Kienan Draper didn’t register a point in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 4-3 win over Langley;

In NCAA hockey, Jack Adams did not play in the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish’s 3-1 loss to Niagara;

Ryan O’Reilly finished at -1 with 2 shots in the Arizona State University Sun Devils’ 5-2 win over Cornell;

And in the University of Denver Pioneers’ 4-4 tie with Alaska Anchorage:

Antti Tuomisto had and assist, finishing even with 2 shots;

Shai Buium finished at +1 with 3 shots;

And Carter Mazur finished at -1 with 3 shots and a minor penalty taken.

The Grand Rapids Griffins spent New Year’s Eve on a bus, driving from Grand Rapids to Milwaukee to face the Admirals on Saturday night, and the Griffins defeated Milwaukee for the second time in two nights on Saturday, riding a 4-goal 2nd period to a 4-2 victory.

Taro Hirose had 2 goals and an assist, Riley Barber had 2 assists, Kyle Criscuolo had 2 assists and Donovan Sebrango scored his first AHL goal, with Calvin Pickard pitching a 33-save effort.

The Griffins’ website posted a recap:

GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 4 at Milwaukee Admirals 2

Jan. 1, 2022

MILWAUKEE – A four-goal second period highlighted by Donovan Sebrango’s first AHL tally and Taro Hirose’s two-goal frame helped propel the Grand Rapids Griffins past the Milwaukee Admirals 4-2 on New Year’s Day at Panther Arena.

The Griffins were undermanned for the second consecutive contest, as the team suited up with just 16 skaters due to COVID-19 protocols and injuries. Hirose led all players with a career-tying three-point (2-1—3) outing while Riley Barber (0-2—2) and Kyle Criscuolo (0-2—2) joined the forward with multiple scores. Grand Rapids now has points in the past five contests against Milwaukee (4-0-1-0).

Continue reading Recap: Griffins double up Admirals, sweep weekend home-and-home series

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a notebook article on Saturday afternoon discussing the Red Wings’ ability to at least stay in difficult-to-win games, like Friday’s narrow-margin loss to Washington:

The Red Wings were right there at the end Friday against a Stanley Cup contender, and saw the Washington Capitals make the big plays to win the game. More specifically, Alex Ovechkin with two late goals. Regardless, it was a reminder of how it’s done and how a good team closes out games.

The Wings have been better in such situations this season. They’ve beaten quality teams such as the Boston Bruins, New York Islanders and Washington, making key plays late and taking a good team’s best punch. As long as the Wings continue to be in those kind of positions, coach Jeff Blashill will be satisfied.

“You’re talking about razor thin margins when you’re in these tight games, and ultimately it’s the greatest power-play scorer of all time that scores a power-play goal (Friday, to give Washington the late lead),” Blashill said. “I’ll take that game over and over again. We had the chances about exactly equal. They have one of the better records in the league and it’s a team that’s considered to be a contender for the Stanley Cup. We just have to keep playing good hockey and the more you’re in those spots, the more position you’re in to win. It’s a large part of the process but you want to be in those spots as much as possible.”

Forward Pius Suter said t took an elite shot from Ovechkin to put the Wings away.

“We’ve shown we can win those games,” Suter said. “They get a power play and it was a great shot, last second of the penalty kill, and otherwise we had a good game. It can happen the same way with us, we can score and it’s a tie game.  It’s close, small things that make a difference.”

Continued, with discussions of the importance of Sunday’s matinee vs. Boston, and Pius Suter’s surprisingly scrappy side…

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a Saturday notebook article discussing the increasingly physical presence provided by one Moritz Seider:

“He’s got a definite toughness to him, a physicality side to him would be the way I would describe it,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “If you search the Internet, you’ll see a loop of huge kind of (Niklas) Kronwall-type hits last year in the Swedish Hockey League. I think he’s got to get stronger and thicker to do that in the National Hockey League, but he’s got that edge to him for sure and he can punish people from a physical standpoint.”

Seider knows how to utilize his 6-foot-4, 207-pound frame.

“I thought he was somebody who had an edge and was physical in the American League (with the Grand Rapids Griffins in 2019-20),” Blashill said. “I watched him in the Swedish Hockey League (last season), and he had definite physicality. So that led me to believe he’d have an opportunity to do that at our level. I think it’s coming, and I also think it’s going to come even more as he continues to build that 20-year-old body into a 22-year-old body. I think he’s ultimately going to put on more mass and add power and put on more strength. As he does that it’ll be an even bigger factor.”

Seider doesn’t seek out jarring hits like Kronwall did, but he doesn’t avoid opportunities to deliver a hit.

“It’s just being at the right spot,” Seider said earlier in the week. “Sometimes if you do things well, you don’t even have to kill a guy or even make the big hit, because you can just outskate him and take the puck. I think we all agree we would always like to have the puck on our stick than chasing it. That’s just a timing thing and I’m just trying to figure that out day by day.”

Seider knew the NHL would be much more physical than the Swedish Hockey League, where he was named defenseman of the year with Rogle BK.

Continued

The Detroit Red Wings practiced at Little Caesars Arena’s Belfor Training Center on Saturday, and the one bit of news we received was that Nick Leddy will remain on unavailable due to COVID protocols when the Red Wings host the Boston Bruins on Sunday afternoon (1 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NESN/Sportsnet/97.1 FM).

Still smarting from Friday’s 3-1 loss to Washington, and while the aforementioned Bruins hosted the Buffalo Sabres in a matinee game in Boston, Pius Suter and coach Jeff Blashill spoke with the media today:

The Detroit Red Wings hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena’s Belfor Training Center 12 hours after New Year’s hit, and some 14 hours after their 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals:

First skate of 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣2️⃣‼️ pic.twitter.com/fR41feMpw6— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 1, 2022

The Wings will host the Boston Bruins tomorrow for a matinee game (1 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/NESN/Sportsnet/97.1 FM), with Boston sitting 3 points back with 6 games in hand ahead of today’s 1 PM game vs. the Sabres, at TD Garden in Boston.

To state the obvious, winning tomorrow’s game vs. the Bruins is essential for the Wings to nurse their slim lead over the Bruins in the Wild Card and Atlantic Division standings for as long as possible.

Today, the players are going to want to get out of Dodge…I mean Detroit…by mid-afternoon, as we have a winter storm coming that’s supposed to dump 4-6 inches of snow on Southeastern Michigan. Nobody wants to drive on the roads during a rain-turns-to-sleet-turns-to-snow fest.

Anyway, the Wings’ beat writers have been conspicuously silent over the course of the last couple of practices, though they’ve been around for the Zoom calls. That’s been a little strange.

Speaking of Tweets from Zoom calls, we got one! And it’s not great news:

Jeff Blashill said he does not anticipate Nick Leddy being available tomorrow. #LGRW— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) January 1, 2022

The Hockey News’s Tony Ferrari examined which World Junior Championship-participating players from the 2022 tournament in Edmonton and Red Deer can return for the 2023 tournament, in both Group A and Group B, and he notes that the Swedes’ defense has a big, Simon Edvinsson-sized question mark:

Sweden returns the fewest members of this year’s squad with just six players eligible to return. The wildcard will be defenseman Simon Edvinsson. The Red Wings prospect has been great in the SHL this year and was arguably the tournament’s best defenseman through two games at this year’s World Juniors. Could he be in Detroit next year at this time, preventing him from participating in the annual holiday U20 event? That’s certainly a possibility with the way the young Swede has tracked thus far.

Continued; Edvinsson may be in Detroit at this time next season, or he may be in Grand Rapids. In the latter case, the Wings would lend him to Team Sweden.