Month: September 2023

Red Wings-Capitals preseason quick take: It’s a winning Tweetcap!

The Detroit Red Wings won a 5-2 preseason decision over the Washington Capitals on Saturday night, pushing their preseason record to 2-and-1.

The Red Wings will host the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday evening (7 PM, NBC Sports Chicago only), kicking off a slate of 5 preseason games played over the course of 7 crazy nights (Tuesday @ Chicago, Wednesday @ Pittsburgh and Thursday @ Toronto) punctuated by the preseason finale against Toronto next Saturday night (7 PM on Bally Sports Detroit).

Austin Czarnik opened the scoring 7:19 into the 1st, from Cross Hanas:

Moritz Seider slithered a point shot through traffic to make it 2-0 at 13:12 of the 1st, on the power play, from Lucas Raymond and Robby Fabbri, who would leave the game in the 2nd period with an upper-body injury:

Continue reading Red Wings-Capitals preseason quick take: It’s a winning Tweetcap!

Taking a ‘sick day’

Hey everybody,

I crashed yesterday evening, and both Aunt Annie and I have the “Traverse City flu”–in other words, exhaustion after a long trip and travel–so I’m going to take a “sick day.”

I know that this is not ideal as things move fast during the preseason, but I’m a French fried potato in terms of burn-out today.

I’ll try my best to get my butt back to work later today, but if I can’t, I’ll do my best to get back sometime tomorrow.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for reading.

Kulfan on an uncomfortable Kasper

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed an afternoon notebook which discusses Marco Kasper’s return to health and status as playing tonight in the exhibition game vs. Washington, via coach Derek Lalonde’s assessment of Kasper’s potential:

Coach Derek Lalonde is pleased how the Wings’ organization has identified young players like Kasper and Nate Danielson, the Wings’ first-round pick in June, who are projecting to be fine two-way centers.

“I love what we’re doing and trying to do,” Lalonde said. “(When) you miss out on those top two picks year after year, those generational-type players, where we’re slotted in the lottery, we’ve got an identity of when we get there, we’ll be really hard to play against. Those are the type of players we keep trying to add on, which is exciting for a coach.”

Lalonde likes what he has seen out of Kasper in the rookie’s first NHL training camp.

“He’s played a little bit to his identity, which I like, a 200-foot (of ice) guy, good in every situation, every area,” Lalonde said. “It’s just experience. (He was) a little slow at getting over top in the Red/White game and got caught in a bad situation. Trying to do a little bit too much with the puck at times.

“But it’s part of his development. I’ll have a better feel in a game situation.”

Playing against a good Washington preseason roster will be a good test for young players like Kasper.

“It’s putting our young guys in some uncomfortable situations, which typically happens in the preseason when you get a very good (opposing) lineup,” Lalonde said.

Continued

Stockton on the Wings’ preseason lineup tonight

Among the Hockey News’s Sam Stockton’s game-day notes ahead of tonight’s preseason match–up with Washington (7 PM EDT on DetroitRedWings.com/Monumental Sports Network):

The game group for this evening’s trip to D.C. will feature a roughly 50/50 split between established NHLers and youngsters. After the group’s skate, Lalonde noted that the roster Detroit will bring to Washington is deeper than standard first preseason away game fare, but that the Red Wings plan to mix and match a bit with line combinations throughout the evening.

“That first [preseason] game usually ends up being at home, you play your veteran-type players,” Lalonde explained, when asked about who Marco Kasper might play beside this evening.  “Obviously we had a strong line-up compared to Pittsburgh the other night, so we’re probably two lines deep NHLers and prospects [again tonight], so we’ll work them in and out with some different centers, sometimes some shifts that take place after special teams.  So short answer, you’ll be seeing a lot of different guys on the wing tonight.”

In net, Lalonde announced that the plan will be for Alex Lyon to start and Sebastian Cossa to come on for the back half of the game.  

Lalonde noted that he’s seen strides from Cossa since a disappointing performance at the Prospects Tournament, saying: “I thought he had a good camp.  Obviously, things didn’t go his way in the rookie tournament, but at the same time, part of growth is handling all those experiences.  We were here a year ago talking about how well he played in the rookie tournament.  So I think part of that growth is him handling different adversities, and that was one.”

Continued

Prospect round-up: Axel Sandin Pellikka scores in Skelleftea AIK win over Albert Johansson’s Leksands IF

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

In the SHL, Theodor Niederbach finished even with a 1-and-7 faceoff record in 15:19 played as MoDo Hockey won 2-1 over Rogle BK;

And in a battle of Red Wings prospects, Skelleftea AIK won 2-1 over Leksands IF:

Axel Sandin Pellikka scored a goal on 4 shots, finishing even in 14:23 of ice time:

And Anton Johansson finished with 1 shot, 1 penalty and 10:39 played for Leksand.

Belated morning skate Tweets: Lyon and Cossa split tonight’s preseason game vs. Washington

Of Red Wings-related note from today’s morning skate ahead of tonight’s game vs. Washington (7 PM EDT on DetroitRedWings.com/Monumental Sports Network), (sorry, I’m sick today):

Khan: Kasper gearing up for Wings-Caps tilt

Red Wings forward prospect Marco Kasper will play in tonight’s exhibition game against the Washington Capitals (7 PM EDT on DetroitRedWings.com and the Monumental Sports Network), and MLive’s Ansar Khan spoke with Kasper today:

The Red Wings are dressing only a handful of players projected to be on their season-opening roster (top lines will feature Robby Fabbri-J.T. Compher-Daniel Sprong and Klim Kostin-Joe Veleno-Christian Fischer and a top defense pairing of Olli Maatta-Justin Holl).

“I especially like the fact that it’s putting our young guys in some uncomfortable situations, which typically happens in the preseason when you get a very good (opposing) lineup,” Lalonde said.

The Capitals are expected to dress many of their regulars, including Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom.

“Nicklas Backstrom was one of my favorite players growing up,” Kasper said. “I watched him a lot. It’s going to be really exciting to play against him.”

Kasper, 19, described his performance in the Prospects Tournament as tough.

“It’s hard to make that adjustment right away to the smaller ice,” he said. “I struggled a bit in the beginning. … Everything is just quicker with the smaller ice. I to adjust. I’m just trying to prove every day I’m getting better and better.”

Continued

Regner profiles Fredrik Olausson in another ‘How Swede It Is’ series entry

DetroitRedWings.com’s Art Regner profiles Fredrik Olausson, who was part of the Red Wings’ 2001-2002 Stanley Cup Championship team, as part of Regner’s “How Swede It Is” series on Wings Swedes:

When the 2002 Stanley Cup Playoffs began, Olausson was a healthy scratch. Detroit, the Presidents’ Trophy winner, hosted the Vancouver Canucks in the first round and proceeded to drop Game 1, 4-3, in overtime and followed it up with a 5-2 loss in Game 2.  

Trailing two games to none with the next two games in Vancouver, the Red Wings needed a shakeup.

“We fly overnight right after the game to Vancouver. And the next day, we had a late afternoon practice, all the coaches, all the managers, all the trainers were in this one locker room and we’re debating what are we going to do,” Dave Lewis said. “After about 45 minutes, Scotty (Bowman) went out of the room. He was sort of noncommittal anyway, listening to everybody. He comes back in about five minutes, and said, ‘Yep, I got it. I talked to Nick and Nick wants to play with Freddie Olausson so it’s all set, no worries. Uwe Krupp is out, Freddie Olausson’s in and we’ll be good to go.

“So we’re having practice and everyone’s on the ice. I go up to Nick and I said, ‘Nick, did you talk to Scotty?’ He said, ‘Oh, I haven’t talked to him today. I can’t even remember if I talked to him yesterday.’ Scotty just made that decision based on the past season’s performance with Nick and changed the chemistry.”

Inserting Olausson into the lineup and pairing him with Lidstrom worked. The tandem became a dominant pair and it paid off in a big way during the Western Conference Final.

After splitting the first two games of the series against the Colorado Avalanche in Detroit, the Red Wings and Avalanche were headed to Denver for Games 3 and 4. In Game 3, the contest was deadlocked, 1-1, after regulation.

Sometimes overtime sets the stage for the unlikeliest of heroes. For Olausson the moment came at 12:44 of OT when his slapshot beat Patrick Roy, giving Detroit a 2-1 victory and a 2-1 series lead.

Continued