In Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen’s second notebook of the afternoon, he points out that Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson took an ill-timed penalty and made some badly-timed reads over the course of last night’s game vs. Pittsburgh:
Simon Edvinsson, crucial to Detroit’s playoff hopes this season, didn’t play as well as did late last season when he helped the Red Wings make an unsuccessful late run for the playoffs. He took a bad penalty.
“Yeah, the penalty, but I think his whole game,” Lalonde said. “Even their second goal, he gets beat on a 50-50 off the line, gets beat on a 50-50 in front of the net. Just a little urgency you need all the time. If you’re going to stick up for a teammate, be smart about it. Grab the guy, give him the ‘Hey, I didn’t like the hit.’ Just giving the ref a freebie with the objective of calling cross-checks, it’s momentum, it’s learning, it’s game management. We got the game back with a little momentum, which was a battle for us, and (he) put them on the power play.”
If left-shot [Albert] Johansson plays [instead], he might find himself playing on the right side. Playing at home, the Red Wings can control the matchups he gets.
“We wanted to get him in sooner than later,” Lalonde said. “It’s hard. He’s never played an NHL game. He’s going to sit out for a long period of time, it’s a hard ask for him. We’re going to get him in I’d expect in the next two games, maybe (against Nashville).”
Johansson’s strengths are his defensive-mind approach and his efficiency, two qualities that the Red Wings could use.
“The way he moves the puck, good hockey sense,” Lalonde said. “He’s not the biggest D-man, so he’s got to defend through hands. I like what I saw at the end of last year and it’s pretty much translated into preseason.”