Red Wings-Penguins rematch, morning skate Tweets: It’s a Bally Sports Detroit game; Pens hit the ice first

Updated 2x at 11:22 AM: The Detroit Red Wings will attempt to battle back from an 0-1-and-1 performance last night as they face a stacked Pittsburgh Penguins lineup tonight in Pittsburgh (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit).

This is indeed Bally Sports Detroit’s first of three preseason telecasts…

And…

The Penguins hit the ice first in Cranberry, PA:

As Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen notes, the Pens are worried about one Alex Nedeljkovic’s status…

Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic was injured playing against his former Detroit Red Wings team Monday night.

Nedeljovic played for Detroit in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He was supposed to play the entire game. But he left the game at 13:04 of the first period.  Replays showed him holding his midsection after making a couple of saves.  Joel Blomqvist replaced him.

After the game, Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said Nedeljkovic suffered a lower body injury. More information would be available today after he is evaluated. Nedeljkovic was an important figure in Pittsburgh late-season surge that fell just short of earning the Penguins a playoff spot.

Anyway, the Pens’ morning skate continued…

And Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s Dan Kingerski posted a brief recap of yesterday night’s Penguins win:

The Penguins were solid Monday against an NHL-regular Detroit lineup at Little Caesars Arena, winning 5-1. Noel Acciari had two goals, Drew O’Connor scored a power-play goal, Lars Eller scored a shorthanded goal, and Vasily Ponomarev scored an empty netter.

The Penguins started slow but rallied to control the game. However, starting goalie Alex Nedeljkovic was injured in the first period and Joel Blomqvist played about 47 minutes in relief, stopping 20 of 21 shots.

The Penguins’ power play was a cool one-for-three but generated pressure, while the Penguins’ penalty killing limited Detroit to just one-for-six.

Update: The Red Wings’ morning skate was sparsely-attended today:

Update #2:

Published by

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, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!