Of belated Red Wings-related note:
- The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed an afternoon notebook article which discusses the Wings’ increasing comfort level with playing in one-goal games…
10 of their last 13 games have been decided by a single goal. And even in those three other games, the Wings scored a late empty-net goal in two of the games for victories, while Philadelphia did likewise in the other. They are 3-4-3 in those one-goal decisions, earning nine of a possible 20 points.
The Wings have won 2 of their past 3 games, however, as coach Derek Lalonde emphasized:
“Again, I may sound like a broken record, but what is a little bit frustrating in our big picture is that five-game stretch, and our process and underlying numbers, they are easy to pick apart when you’re winning and not as easy pick apart when you’re losing, but whatever the reality is, the bottom line is finding ways to win games,” Lalonde said. “We need to slip some of those tight games, and we’ve done that in two of our last three to get some traction here.”
Playing in these games where a single mistake can decide an outcome one way or another, has become natural lately for the Red Wings. And in the Toronto win, there was a definite sense the Wings were confident and at ease.
“It helps to be comfortable in those situations, and find ways to win,” Lalonde said. “Hang in there with your game and make that play, and be comfortable in those situations, which I thought for the most part against Toronto, we were comfortable in that game. That game felt comfortable throughout, despite the fact you could tell their elite, high-end guys were on top of their game.”
2. Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted an article discussing the state of the Wings’ goaltending, as evidenced by Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon’s respective save percentages…
Cam Talbot’s .916 save percentage ranks fifth among goalies with at least 15 starts. Alex Lyon‘s .911 is also impressive at a time when some are wondering whether the league average save percentage may fall below .900. Detroit’s .906 team save percentage ranks ninth in the NHL. It’s significantly better than the league’s current average of .900.
That’s why the health of Detroit goalies has been the team’s most important issue of late, especially given the anemic nature of the team’s offense.
“I think Alex may be available for Wednesday,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde told the media. “…Alex pushed it hard. With our goalies we’ve been very cautious. Those lower-body things seem to hang around, but he’s gone through four or five really hard work days, so we’re hoping to have him available for Wednesday and we’ll make a goalie decision from there.”
Officially, Lyon and Talbot are both day-to-day. Lyon hasn’t played since Nov. 25, and Talbot has practiced only briefly for the past two days. Media attending today’s practice reported Talbot left 15 minutes into it.
“Part of the process, that was the timed planning with him on practice,” Lalonde said. “I do not see him available for Wednesday. We hope he’ll be available for Friday. That’s trending pretty well.”
3. The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton provided a set of injury updates…
The first update concerned captain Dylan Larkin, who did not participate in the afternoon’s practice. Fortunately for Detroit, it does not sound as though he is at any risk of missing Wednesday’s game. As Lalonde told reporters, “Dylan’s in a ‘day-to-day,’ needed a maintenance day. He’ll be available for Wednesday.”
Next up in the line of the injured (or in this case, the infirm) is Marco Kasper, who missed Saturday’s game against the Maple Leafs with an illness. Per Lalonde, “Marco still battling that illness. We hope to have him for practice tomorrow.” As with Larkin, it does not sound as though there is any serious risk of Kasper missing Wednesday night’s game.
Perhaps the biggest area of injury concern is in goal, where at least for the moment first and second choice options Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon are unavailable. Talbot began the practice with his teammates but left early. Lalonde explained that the departure was “part of the process,” before adding, “that was planned timing with him on practice today. I do not see him available for Wednesday, but we hope he’ll be available for Friday. I think that’s trending pretty well.”
Meanwhile, Lyon—who was a full participant in practice—is trending toward being available Wednesday. Per Lalonde, “I think Alex might be available for Wednesday, so I’ll get a read post-practice today. Alex had pushed it hard. With our goalies, we’ve been very cautious, because…lower body things seem to hang around, so we’ve been very cautious, but he’s got through 4–5 really hard work days, so we’re hoping to have him available for Wednesday. We’ll make a goalie decision from there.”
Update: Here’s a bit more from DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills:
Following a well-earned day off on Sunday, the Detroit Red Wings reassembled for practice at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center on Monday morning.
Set to practice again on Tuesday morning before returning to game action against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night, the Red Wings enter this week with confidence as they look to build off Saturday’s 4-2 victory over the rival Toronto Maple Leafs.
“It would almost be nice if you’re going back at it the next day or today,” Patrick Kane said. “Obviously, we have a couple practices here to build on some things and keep the momentum we had going from the other night, but that’s important because Toronto is a good team.
“We’re playing them on Saturday night, a lot of Toronto fans in the building and a lot of energy. It felt like a playoff game, so it’s easy to get up for those. We got to be ready for the next one.”
