The Free Press’s Helene St. James reports that the Red Wings spent a little more time in the prairie province of Manitoba than they’d hoped to after Saturday night’s 4-2 win over the Jets:
It happened to the Detroit Red Wings over the weekend, as a mechanical issue with their airplane prevented their scheduled Saturday night departure from Winnipeg, Manitoba, where they had just downed the Jets, 4-2. Instead of getting home around 1 a.m. Sunday morning, the Wings landed, per coach Todd McLellan, around 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
“Things like that happen,” McLellan said Monday. “You control the things you can control and react to the other. The group was good. It was a bit of a test today because they spent their scheduled day off in Winnipeg; it wasn’t ideal, so how are they going to react in practice? They reacted well.”
The only players not at practice were defensemen Jeff Petry, who is being evaluated for an undisclosed injury suffered Jan. 2 in the game at the Columbus Blue Jackets, and Justin Holl, who was excused for personal reasons. McLellan said Petry will miss Tuesday’s game against the Ottawa Senators at Little Caesars Arena, but expects Holl to be available.
The rest of the players went through a nearly hour-long practice that culminated with a spirited four-team shootout contest.
“They came and worked hard,” McLellan said. “We tried to work on a few concepts and they put them into play, gave us their time, gave us their best. Hopefully that translates into the game tomorrow. Because we had to stay in Winnipeg a few extra hours long doesn’t affect anything we did today or tomorrow or moving forward.”
