Author: George Malik

The Red Wings will attempt to rebound from Friday’s 5-4 loss to New Jersey when they host the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday afternoon (12:30 PM on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/Sportsnet Pacific/Sportsnet 1/97.1 FM).

Vancouver has a 12-7-and-3 record, and they won a 4-3 OT decision over Buffalo on Friday. They’ve won 3 of 4 games on their current 5-game road trip, which concludes on Sunday, and goaltender Kevin Lankinen is 9-and-0 on the road this year.

They probably won’t have Filip Hronek in the lineup, however, as the former Wings defenseman is nursing an undisclosed injury suffered on Wednesday (per Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen).

Here’s a Red Wings-Canucks preview from the Associated Press:

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff posted a subscriber-only article about Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot hitting the 500-games-played mark on Friday vs. New Jersey:

“Just getting to know him in one year, it’s an impressive feat,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “It always is. Huge credit to him.”

All the way along, Talbot has taken a circuitous route to writing his version of a success story. His choice of college was Alabama-Huntsville, not exactly an NCAA power.

“Not the most highly-touted goalie coming out of college,” Lalonde recalled. “The way he kind of built his career and having him, the character along with the competitor and the talent, you can see why he got to this point, this milestone in his career.”

Continued (paywall)

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in North America:

In the ECHL, Jan Bednar stopped 20 of 22 shots in the Toledo Walleye’s 3-2 victory over the Kalamazoo K-Wings;

In the OHL, the game between the North Bay Battalion and Soo Greyhounds was postponed due to weather;

In the WHL, Emmitt Finnie had a goal and 2 assists, finishing at +1 with 3 shots and a 13-for-22 faceoff record in the Kamloops Blazers’ 6-0 win over Regina;

In the USHL, Austin Baker had an assist, 2 shots and finished at +1 in the Sioux Falls Stampede’s 3-2 shootout win over Sioux City;

In NCAA Hockey, Brennan Ali finished at -1 with 2 shots in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish’s 5-2 victory over the Harvard Crimson. Kyle Aucoin finished at +1 for Harvard;

Larry Keenan finished at +1 in the UMass Minutemen’s 3-1 win over Army;

John Whipple finished at +1 in the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers’ 1-1 tie with Alaska-Fairbanks;

Kienan Draper finished at -1 with a 4-for-7 faceoff record as the University of Michigan Wolverines lost 4-1 to Western Michigan;

Owen Mehlenbacher finished even with 3 shots and a faceoff win, and Jack Phelan finished at +2 with 1 shot as the University of Wisconsin Badgers won 7-1 over Alaska Anchorage;

And Trey Augustine stopped 29 shots, and Red Savage finished even with 1 shot and a 7-for-12 faceoff record as the Michigan State Spartans won 4-0 over Lindenwood.

The Grand Rapids Griffins prevailed in a 10-round shootout, winning 3-2 over the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday night. Here’s the Griffins’ recap:

GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 3 vs. Milwaukee Admirals 2 (SO)

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — In the 10th round of the shootout, Cross Hanas sealed a 3-2 victory for the Grand Rapids Griffins against the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday at Van Andel Arena in a battle between the top two teams in the Central Division. 

The Griffins claimed their second shootout win of the season, their first coming on Oct. 27 against Lehigh Valley when they prevailed 4-3. Amadeus Lombardi tallied his 13th point in the last 13 games (7-6—13) and extended his point streak to three (3-1—4). Austin Watson scored his second power-play goal of the year while Tim Gettinger skated in his first game for the Griffins this season and cashed in during the shootout. Sebastian Cossa earned his eighth win of the campaign (8-4-1-0) and turned away 25 shots alongside eight in the shootout. 

Neither team scored in the first period, however, the Admirals struck first when Jake Livingstone gave Milwaukee a 1-0 lead just 1:15 into the second frame. Sheldon Dries broke away from the Milwaukee defense with 3:49 remaining in the period but couldn’t find the back of the net. 

The Detroit Red Wings probably should have earned a point against the New Jersey Devils on Friday afternoon/evening, but Detroit dropped a 5-4 decision in Cam Talbot’s 500th game because their penalty-kill still stinks, because the Wings played a passive second period, and because they were out-shot, out-worked, and out-physical-played.

For the 10-11-and-1 Red Wings, they can still salvage a 4-for-5 record on their home stand if they defeat the difficult-to-play Vancouver Canucks on Sunday, and perhaps save coach Derek Lalonde’s job in the process, but it’s not going to be easy by any means.

In terms of “making hay while the sun shines,” December’s schedule is tough; the Wings continue to play every other night until December 9th, and Detroit also has a rough set of divisional opponents over the next two weeks in Boston, Ottawa, Buffalo and Toronto.

Before the end of the month, the Wings will play Toronto twice, Montreal twice (back-to-back), and with 14 games over the course of 31 nights, we’ll be at the 35-game mark by the completion of the New Year’s Eve game opposite the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Wings simply need to play better, of course, in order to be anywhere near a Wild Card spot by the end of next month, but they’ve got to play a more aggressive, more efficient, less mistake-prone and more physical game–like the game the Devils played on Friday night.

New Jersey’s loss can be particularly illustrative going forward, because the Devils didn’t just beat Detroit–they also gave the Wings something of a blueprint as to how they’re going to need to play if they win with their A and B Games, and at least earn a loser point if they are to play their C Game like they did today.

Is that kind of improvement going to require coaching or player personnel changes? That’s a good question, and one that I don’t have the answer to. At this point, I’m looking at the present roster and present coaching staff, and suggesting that they can still improve enough to earn points in a game like today’s game. And I do believe that.

Anyway, that’s my take on what needs to happen next. On afternoon/evening, it was the Devils who were leaving Detroit smiling, as they told NewJerseyDevils.com’s Amanda Stein:

Per the Grand Rapids Griffins:

UPDATE ON SEBASTIAN COSSA BOBBLEHEAD GIVEAWAY

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Due to a customs delay, the first 2,500 fans in attendance for the Grand Rapids Griffins’ home game against the Cleveland Monsters this Sunday, Dec. 1 will receive a voucher for the Sebastian Cossa bobblehead giveaway rather than the actual item. The vouchers will be redeemable for the Cossa bobbleheads at a later date.

“The Sebastian Cossa bobbleheads were on track and scheduled to arrive on time, ahead of our game this Sunday,” Griffins president Tim Gortsema said. “However, the bobbleheads have been stuck in customs, and we are actively trying to find a solution to retrieve them. This unfortunate turn of events is disappointing, and we will provide an update as soon as we can.”

There is no timetable for when the bobbleheads will arrive in Grand Rapids. The team will provide more information as soon as it is available.  

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in Europe today:

In the DEL, Kevin Bicker finished at -1 with 1 shot in 16:44 played as the Frankfurt Lowen lost 7-1 to the Pinguins Bremerhaven;

In the Swedish Allsvenskan, Maximilian Kilpinen finished with 7:26 played in Ostersunds IK’s 3-0 loss to Almtuna IS;

And Liam Dower Nilsson scored a goal, finishing at +2 with 4 shots in 14:01 played as IF Bjorkloven won 7-2 over the Nybro Vikings.

The Detroit Red Wings faced a stiff test in battling the 15-8-and-2 New Jersey Devils on Friday afternoon.

The Red Wings hoped to make hay while the sun still shined upon its 4-of-5-games home stand, and the Devils and Sunday’s opponent, the 11-7-and-3 Vancouver Canucks, would provide the most difficult opponents (at least in theory).

On Friday afternoon, Cam Talbot gave up 5 goals on 31 shots against in his 500th game…

And the Red Wings learned a costly lesson, giving up 3 power play goals in 3 power plays against, scoring only 1 power play goal in 4 PP’s for, and surrendering a 2-0 lead in the 1st period, then a 3-2 lead in the 2nd period, all en route to a 5-4 loss to the Devils.

The Red Wings cannot lose the special teams battle any more–we know that–and they were far too passive in the 2nd, period, where the Wings were out-shot 17-6.

Ultimately, bad special teams play and passive play killed Detroit in this very long, winding game, and the Wings will have to salvage the home stand with a win against the difficult Canucks on Sunday.

Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot is playing in his 500th career game today, and the Red Wings are having some fun with it:

Big game for Talbs today. 👀 pic.twitter.com/duiYbtrr6S

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) November 29, 2024

Today's fits. 👌 pic.twitter.com/WtQEGzaPOZ

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) November 29, 2024

Cam Talbot will play game No. 5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ in net this afternoon. 👏#LGRW pic.twitter.com/dguKtesfoO

— FanDuel Sports Network Detroit (@FanDuelSN_DET) November 29, 2024

Of Red Wings-related note just before the 3 PM game against New Jersey:

1. The Devils posted a clip of coach Sheldon Keefe speaking with the media, as well as a “Devils Minute“;
2. Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen posted this slate of pre-game notes…

Coach Derek Lalonde’s players will have their hands full when playing the New Jersey Devils at 3 p.m. (FanDuel Sports Network). The Devils are 7-3 in their last 10 and boast a 9-4 road record. Note: Lucas Raymond has scored in each of his past four games. If he scores today, his goal streak would be the longest by a Detroit player since he had a five-game stretch in 2023-24. The 4 Nations Face-Off hopeful has also scored the winning goal in consecutive games and can become the 10th player in franchise history to do so in three straight contests. The last to achieve the feat was Johan Franzen in 2007-08.

3. DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills also posted a game preview: