Month: January 2025

Of Red Wings prospect-related note:

At the World Junior Championship in Ottawa, the final games of “round robin” play took place, and here’s what happened:

Jesse Kiiskinen scored a goal on 4 shots, finishing at +1 in 14:16 played as Finland defeated Latvia 4-0, setting up a playoff quarterfinal match-up with Slovakia at 5 PM EST on Thursday:

Elsewhere in Ottawa, Axel Sandin Pellikka had an assist, finishing at +1 with 3 shots in 22:32 played as Sweden won 4-2 over Czechia, setting up a playoff quarterfinal match-up with Latvia at 12 PM EST on Thursday.

Captain Pellikka had this to say to IIHF.com’s Lukas Aykroyd, about a game in which Swedish forward Herman Traff scored 2 birthday goals:

“We played like we want to play,” said Sandin Pellikka. “We held our structure, played quick from the back end, and got some shots on net. It was a good second period.”

Finally, the Americans were out-gunned but not out-manned as goaltender Trey Augustine stopped 38 of 39 shots, and Max Plante finished even with 1 shot in 8:39 played, as Team USA beat the host Canadians by a 4-1 score. The Americans will play Switzerland in Thursday’s playoff quarterfinal at 2:30 PM EST.

Augustine spoke with NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale after earning player-of-the-game honors:

Continue reading Prospect round-up: Kiiskinen 1G, Sandin Pellikka 1A, Augustine 38 saves at World Junior Championship

The Grand Rapids Griffins scored 5 consecutive goals en route to a 5-1 victory over the Cleveland Monsters on Tuesday night. Here’s the Grand Rapids Griffins’ recap:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — In their 27th Annual New Year’s Eve Celebration on Tuesday, the Grand Rapids Griffins used a four-goal first period to defeat the Cleveland Monsters 5-1 at Van Andel Arena. The four goals in the first frame by Grand Rapids tied a period-high this season.  

Four Griffins tallied two-point games, including Alex Doucet (1-1—2), Tim Gettinger (0-2—2), Antti Tuomisto (1-1—2) and Austin Watson (0-2—2). Eemil Viro collected his first goal of the year and secured the Griffins’ third power-play goal in the last two outings. Dominik Shine increased his point streak to four (3-1—4) and Elmer Soderblom earned a three-game point streak with an assist (1-2—3). Goaltender Jack Campbell manned the crease for Grand Rapids and saved 20 shots in his second win of the year (2-2-0), while sporting a .924 save percentage and a 2.02 goals-against average. 

The Griffins took an early lead when William Lagesson found paydirt with a shot atop the left circle just 3:41 into the first period. Grand Rapids quickly followed with its second goal of the frame at 5:51. A pass off the boards from Soderblom found Shine and he sniped it home with a turnaround shot. Viro tacked on to the lead, scoring on a power play with 11:52 left in the period. The Griffins capped off their four-goal frame when Tuomisto found the back of the net at 15:30. Ondrej Becher skated behind the net and dished the puck to Tuomisto on top of the right circle before he cashed in. Going back to their 5-1 win at Cleveland on Saturday, the Griffins outscored the Monsters 7-0 over the last two periods. 

The Monsters attempted to shorten the lead 10:51 into the second, but Campbell turned away the breakaway chance to keep Cleveland scoreless. With 5:03 remaining in the frame, Doucet increased the Griffins’ lead to five when his shot sailed into the net over the glove of Zach Sawchenko. 

Grand Rapids’ defense held strong in the final period, but the Monsters broke up the shutout with 1:36 remaining when Luca Del Bel Belluz scored a power-play goal. However, the Griffins still skated away with a 5-1 win. 

The Griffins also posted a photo gallery, a highlight clip and a post-game interview clip:

The Detroit Red Wings ground out a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night, wrapping up 2024 with a two-game winning streak.

Now they head to Columbus on Thursday and face the mighty Winnipeg Jets on Saturday to open the New Year.

The Red Wings were able to celebrate earning coach Todd McLellan his 600th NHL coaching win, they surrendered 1-0 (Jonatan Berggren) and 2-1 (Patrick Kane) leads before J.T. Compher’s power-play marker at 14:26 of the 3rd helped the Red Wings avoid overtime, and Dylan Larkin’s first-in-16-games empty-netter sealed the win for both McLellan and Alex Lyon, who made 23 saves on the night.

On the Penguins’ side of the ice, the resurgent Pens were a bit pissed off about not taking advantage of the Wings, but coach Mike Sullivan told Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s Dan Kingerski that he was satisfied with the team’s overall game:

Continue reading Red Wings-Penguins wrap-up: Fast-starting Wings earn McLellan’s 600th win, but coach defers credit