Author: George Malik

The Detroit Red Wings swept Alberta via a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Saturday night, and the 4-games-in-6-nights swing gets no easier as the Red Wings head to Vancouver to play the reinforced Canucks on Sunday night (8 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/Sportsnet Pacific/TVA Sports/97.1 FM).

But the Red Wings have something to play for. They’ve won 5 straight games, they sit 1 point behind the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning, and 2 behind the Columbus Blue Jackets, who own the Eastern Conference’s first Wild Card spot.

The problem, of course, is that the Senators, Blue Jackets, Bruins, Lightning, Islanders and Canadiens all keep winning, too, so the Red Wings need to do the best they can to mine points out of this ugly 4-in-6 trip in order to return home at the Four Nations break within sight of a playoff spot.

But if the road leads uphill, you climb it, and that’s where the Red Wings are at this morning–climbing uphill.

As far as the Calgary Flames were concerned, starting the first half of their own back-to-back set of games (they play the Kraken in Seattle this evening) and debuting trade acquisitions Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost, they were, well…Entitled to a certain storyline, as they told the Calgary Sun’s Wes Gilbertson:

The Saginaw Spirit hosted their annual “Shocks and Saves” hockey game to raise funds for AED’s, as organized by one Jiri Fischer, on Saturday, and Fischer reflected upon the game with the Saginaw News’s Hugh Bernreuter:

As a retired 44-year-old NHL player, Jiri Fischer measures his life in different ways. Maybe it’s the 20 years since he died. Or maybe it’s the lives saved since he lived.

But his favorite method of measuring his post-cardiac arrest life is much closer to his heart. It is the 2 ½-year old boy named Jakub ignoring his father’s speech in favor of a balloon animal and the toddler named Dasha wearing a pink Fischer jersey.

It is his 18-year-old son Lukas, who plays for the Sarnia Sting and was a second-round pick by the St. Louis Blues in the 2024 NHL Draft.

“Lukas was born 10 months after my cardiac arrest … things were right, and stars were aligned,” Fischer said. “He is the captain of the Sarnia Sting, playing against Saginaw. And he’s here because the Red Wings saved my life. In the front row there are two more little ones. Three of my children were born after my cardiac arrest only because my life was saved by the Red Wings.”

Fischer and Dr. Peter Fattal competed in their 17th Shocks and Saves hockey game Saturday at the Dow Event Center, adding one more measurement to Fischer’s post-arrest life.

“Looking back 20 years, a lot of things have happened, and it’s humbling,” Fischer said. “I’ve been blessed. Some people survive a cardiac arrest, and it’s a year or two. I’ve had 20 so far. The Red Wings saved my life. Because of that, I have my wife (Jenni) and two children here as part of this event. Because of that, I can watch my older boys, how they’re carving their path as young men. Twenty years is a big number, a great number. I’ve been blessed.”

Continued; Fischer also spoke with the NHL Network recently:

The Detroit Red Wings faced off against the Calgary Flames on Saturday night, with the Wings hoping to extend their 4-game winning streak against a Flames team buzzing due to the additions of Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost.

On Saturday night, the Red Wings received a tremendous goaltending performance from Cam Talbot, who stopped 33 of 34 shots…

And Detroit got goals from Dylan Larkin at 8:27 of the 1st (giving Dominik Shine his first NHL point), a rifle from Simon Edvinsson at 19:14 of the 1st, and then the Wings held on for the 2nd period, surrendered a PPG to Nazem Kadri at 8:34 of the 2nd, but got a fine performance defensively from everyone en route to an empty-netter for Andrew Copp and a 3-1 win, sweeping Alberta.

A second octopus hit the ice in Calgary 🐙🐙 https://t.co/k3ucMWQnf7 pic.twitter.com/Xm8nownnBH

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 2, 2025

The Red Wings fly to Vancouver for tomorrow night’s game (8 PM EST start), and then they’ll wrap up their West Coast Swing with a game in Seattle against the Kraken on Tuesday night.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan spoke with coach Todd McLellan about the improvements in the Red Wings’ penalty-kill:

In the last five games, heading into Saturday’s in Calgary, the Wings have killed 10 of their last 11 penalties. It’s a key reason they’ve also won their last four games.

“We’ve made drastic changes to it systemically and the guys have bought in,” said coach Todd McLellan, who along with his assistant Trent Yawney listed the penalty kill as one of the first units to improve since he took over the Wings on Dec. 26. “They’re willing to attempt to execute, there’s been clarification of what their roles are, and goaltending is always a big, important part of it.”

Goaltenders Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon have both been effective during the Wings’ 12-4-1 record under McLellan.

“You don’t have good penalty kill numbers without goalies making the saves and bailing you out when they have to,” McLellan said “Faceoffs are obviously an important role and lack of time on it certainly helps. We have been a fairly disciplined team, we haven’t been taking sloppy, unneeded penalties. The ones we do take are play savers or situational things that can happen. We’re pleased with that.”

Continued

NHL.com’s Aaron Vickers took note of some injury updates from coach Todd McLellan this afternoon:

Patrick Kane could return to the lineup when the Red Wings visit the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday. Kane, who was placed on injured reserve last week and will not play against the Calgary Flames on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, CITY, FDSNDET), has missed four games because of an upper-body injury.

“Kaner’s getting close, yes,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said Saturday. “There’s a chance he’ll be in the lineup tomorrow, but this skate’s important for his progress.”

The forward who last played in a 2-1 overtime loss at the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 21, has 30 points (11 goals, 19 assists) in 42 games this season.

“He’s obviously one of our most skilled guys, controls the play a lot, really sets up our offense and our power play,” Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat said. “When he’s in the lineup he takes some load off other guys and when he has been out other guys have stepped up. The power play is still ticking a little bit. But he’s definitely a bit piece of our team. We prefer him to be in the lineup for sure.”

Detroit will remain without forward J.T. Compher for the foreseeable future. Compher has missed two games because of an upper-body injury. He has 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) in 48 games this season.

“He’s likely a little further down the road from what I’ve been told, but I’m just worried about the guys that can play,” McLellan said. — Aaron Vickers

Continued

The Red Wings will play 2 games over the course of less than 24 hours tonight in Calgary (10 PM EST on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/CBC/Sportsnet/City/97.1 FM) and tomorrow in Vancouver, and the team then proceeds on to battle the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.

As such, DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills asked Ben Chiarot and coach Todd McLellan about the road ahead:

“It’s part of the grind of the season,” Ben Chiarot said. “I think we just embrace it, honestly, and look forward to it. It’s a good challenge for us. Get as many guys going as we can here.”

Head coach Todd McLellan said the Red Wings have plenty of off-ice resources to help them navigate this busy stretch of schedule.

“We, like 31 other teams in the League, employ real good people,” McLellan said. “They are trained to guide and direct us in managing the group as far as nutrition, rest and energy expenditure. We certainly listen to them. There are times when the coach will trump all that because something needs to get done. Likely, this won’t be the trip. It’s not easy playing three [games] in four [nights], but it’s not easy doing it out West here. The travel between games is a little bit tougher.”

In the first game of its four-game road trip, Detroit overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-2, in a shootout on Thursday. Notably, netminder Alex Lyon was strong between the pipes, making a season-high 45 saves.

“In Edmonton, we had a slow start but were able to kind of find our game as it went on,” Chiarot said. “It’s important for us to get pucks to the net early and get the other team off balance.”

McLellan said aside from goalie Cam Talbot starting in Calgary, there won’t be any changes to the Red Wings’ lineup from Thursday’s shootout win.

“He’s real steady,” McLellan said about Talbot, who has won his last three starts. “He’s there early in games when we need him, especially on the road. I think not only the saves, but his game-management skills help us out a lot. He knows when to slow it down or speed it up for us, and that’s real important.”

Continued

The Detroit Red Wings and Calgary Flames held their respective morning skates ahead of tonight’s game between the two teams (10 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/CBC/Sportsnet/City TV/97.1 FM).

After the morning skates, the Flames posted their team’s tentative lineup…

Forwards

Jonathan Huberdeau – Nazem Kadri – Joel Farabee

Blake Coleman – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato

Martin Pospisil – Morgan Frost – Yegor Sharangovich

Ryan Lomberg – Clark Bishop – Adam Klapka

Defence

Joel Hanley – Rasmus Andersson

Jake Bean – MacKenzie Weegar

Tyson Barrie – Brayden Pachal

Goaltender

Dustin Wolf

And the Flames posted their morning skate availabilities on Twitter…

The Detroit Red Wings will attempt to stretch their winning streak to 5 games as they face the Calgary Flames this evening (10 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/CBC/Sportsnet/City TV/97.1 FM).

The Red Wings are coming off a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday; Calgary most recently snapped a 2-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.

Tonight’s game kicks off a stretch of back-to-back games for the Wings (they play in Vancouver on Sunday night) and 3 games to be played over the course of 4 nights (as the Wings play in Seattle on Tuesday evening).

The Flames’ press corps is really, really excited about the Flames’ recent acquisitions of Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost from the Philadelphia Flyers. Maybe a little bit too excited:

I’m intrigued to see the new-look Flames hit the ice tonight against the Red Wings.

The debuts of Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee, acquired Thursday from Philadelphia, will come 15 years to the day of the last time the club acquired two NHL forwards in the same mid-season trade.… pic.twitter.com/GApMhH1e9T

— Darren Haynes (@DarrenWHaynes) February 1, 2025

Anyway, the Flames hit the ice at the Saddledome just after 10 AM local time, and The Fan 960’s Pat Steinberg reports that the Flames’ starter will…well, start…this evening:

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen surmises that, in a couple of years, the Red Wings may have an all-Yzerman-draft-pick defensive corps. It’s a bit of a stretch, but one never knows. As part of his article, Allen speaks with Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson regarding Antti Tuomisto and William Wallinder, who could join Albert Johansson, Simon Edvinsson, Moritz Seider and Axel Sandin Pellikka on the Wings’ blueline:

Six-foot-5 Finnish defenseman Antti Tuomisto is in his second season at Grand Rapids, and pro scouts tell Detroit Hockey Now they believe he has a chance to play in the Show.

“He’s been steady for us defensively, he’s been steady for us moving pucks, and that’s one of his biggest attributes, the way he sees the ice and can distribute the pucks,” Watson said. “He makes great passes. He sees it extremely well.”

Watson said what Tuomisto is working on now on his footwork and his mobility.

“He understands that and knows that,” Watson said. “So he puts himself in position to have success defensively. Again, with the length of a stick, you know, his angling, the way he is around our net right now, he’s got that intensity that maybe that he lacked a little bit last year, that’s growing and you have to build on that. That’s just not something that happens overnight. You have to do that consistently. So through practices, through games up to this point.”

…

Another Swede,William Wallinder, is showing in Grand Rapids he’s not far away from being ready.

“(When) I think for him, again, it’s growing, the intensity and, and moving his feet,” Watson said.  “When he moves his feet, he’s an elite skater. He’s one of the best in our team, if not the best defenseman at closing gaps, using his stick. He’s right there.”

Continued; not everybody makes the NHL, but the Wings’ defensive corps has very good depth in terms of NHL-ascendant prospects.

Of “Good Reading” note this morning:

1. The Grand Rapids Griffins’ website posted its latest issue of “Griffiti,” which includes articles about top prospect Nate Danielson’s development, veteran forward Austin Watson’s scrappiness, forward Sheldon Dries’ hockey story and Griffins assistant equipment manager Kyle Hornkohl;
2. Also of Griffins-related note: 100 Degree Hockey’s Stephen Meserve posted an article about Texas Stars equipment manager Charlie Kaser, who’s the son of Grand Rapids Griffins announcer Bob Kaser;
3. The Hockey Writers’ Devin Little posted a mid-season update for 25 Red Wings prospects;
4. We head back to the Griffins for a clip chronicling the “Tip-a-Griffin” charitable event:

6. And finally, the “Frozen Fish Fiasco” is happening this weekend at Detroit’s Clark Park, and Darren McCarty appeared on Fox 2 Detroit to discuss the event.