Author: George Malik

FYI:

Fun facts of the day! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/JRLctouL9J— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 15, 2021

Of Swedish Red Wings-related note today: Rakapuckar’s Henrik Lehman posted a lengthy write-up regarding Simon Edvinsson’s participation the the upcoming World Junior Championship for Sweden. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

FYI, via DetroitHockey.net‘s Clark Rasmussen on Twitter:

The Carolina Hurricanes did not have any more players test positive today… so unless something changes, it would appear Thursday’s Detroit-Carolina game is a go at this point. Unless there’s positive tests tomorrow. Then that might surely change things.— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) December 15, 2021

I know this is a hard time of year. I’m sure as heck holding on through some difficult times in terms of depression, anxiety and just feeling down because COVID-19 is ruining my family plans for the second Christmas in a row…

And I know that financial pressures are difficult upon everyone, that there’s more that I could be doing on the blog to generate more eyes on content if I didn’t feel like dreck physically and mentally…

But I’m trying to hold on and hang in there while also trying to fundraise at a really rough time of year. So I need to ask for your help to keep TMR up and running at the blog cave in South Lyon, and my phone is literally falling apart on me.

I’m hanging in and hanging on, and if that matters…Anything helps. Anything is valued greatly and appreciated greatly.

If you’re willing to lend a hand, you can use PayPal at https://paypal.me/TheMalikReport, Venmo at https://venmo.com/george-malik-2, Giftly by using my email, rtxg@yahoo.com, at https://www.giftly.com. And you can contact me via email if you want to send me a paper check.

The Associated Press posted a bullet-pointed preview of Thursday’s Red Wings-Carolina Hurricanes game in Raleigh, which may or may not happen given the Hurricanes’ players in COVID protocols:

Detroit Red Wings (14-12-3, third in the Atlantic) vs. Carolina Hurricanes (19-7-1, second in the Metropolitan)

…

BOTTOM LINE: Sebastian Aho and Carolina square off against Detroit. Aho ranks ninth in the league with 32 points, scoring 15 goals and totaling 17 assists.

The Hurricanes are 8-4-0 in conference play. Carolina averages 9.6 penalty minutes per game, the 10th-most in the league. Vincent Trocheck leads the team serving 37 total minutes.

The Red Wings are 8-6-2 in Eastern Conference play. Detroit is 17th in the Eastern Conference with 29.3 shots per game and is averaging 2.7 goals. The match-up Thursday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams.

TOP PERFORMERS: Aho has 32 total points for the Hurricanes, 15 goals and 17 assists. Nino Niederreiter has three goals and six assists over the last 10 games for Carolina.

Moritz Seider leads the Red Wings with 17 total assists and has 20 points. Robby Fabbri has five goals and one assist over the last 10 games for Detroit.

LAST 10 GAMES: Hurricanes: 5-5-0, averaging 2.8 goals, 4.5 assists, 3.8 penalties and 10.1 penalty minutes while giving up 2.2 goals per game with a .906 save percentage.

Red Wings: 6-3-1, averaging 2.6 goals, 4.6 assists, 2.8 penalties and 6.5 penalty minutes while giving up 2.9 goals per game with a .909 save percentage.

Here’s hoping…

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed his usual morning post-game story after the Red Wings won a 3-2 decision over the New York Islanders last night, and Khan focuses upon Alex Nedeljkovic’s 32-save performance:

“We came off a good heater there, winning five in a row, then not too great on the road,” Nedeljkovic said. “To come back and get this win tonight was huge, obviously.”

The game might have taken a different turn if Nedeljkovic hadn’t stopped Anthony Beauvillier during a three-on-one break in the final minute of the second period.

“I was just trying to be as patient as possible,” Nedeljkovic said. “That’s all you can really do in those situations. Especially when they had some good players on the ice, too. Just be as patient as possible and not really thinking too much about what it meant in that moment. Obviously now it was probably pretty big.”

Blashill said that would have been a tough goal to surrender under the circumstances.

“I think goalies need to stop things they’re supposed to stop and then make big saves at big moments if you want to be a great goalie and that’s what he did tonight,” Blashill said. “I thought we helped him, allowed him to play well by playing good defensively, didn’t allow the Grade A’s we’ve been giving up and then he answered the bell by stopping those shots.”

The Red Wings need to improve their team goals-against average of 3.34, which ranks 27th in the league.

Continued

ESPN’s Kristen Shilton offers a set of power rankings which examine NHL teams’ “superpowers,” and I’ll take the Red Wings’ “superpower” any day of the week:

23. Detroit Red Wings

Previous ranking: 19
Points percentage: 0.534
Upcoming schedule: @ CAR (Dec. 16), vs. NJ (Dec. 18), vs. COL (Dec. 20)

Superpower: Rising stars. It’s been a weird month for the Red Wings, with a five-game win streak stuck between sets of consecutive losses. But like a microcosm of Detroit’s season, those five games highlighted the true strength of its team: young talent. Lucas Raymond had three goals, Moritz Seider had four points and Dylan Larkin had five. The more Detroit gets from them, the merrier.

Continued; as Steve Yzerman might say, “The more the merrier, so we need more rising stars.”

The Free Press’s Helene St. James asked Red Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic and coach Jeff Blashill about the probability of the Wings playing against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday given that the Canes’ game in Minnesota was postponed due to multiple players entering COVID protocols:

The Detroit Red Wings await word on whether it’s game on with the Carolina Hurricanes next on the slate, because the Hurricanes — Nedeljkovic’s former team — had their Tuesday game postponed when four players entered COVID-19 protocol. 

“I played with them for a while, started my career there, so hopefully they’re all doing well,” Nedeljkovic said after Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders at Little Caesars Arena. “Obviously, they’re sick but they’re doing OK and they’re battling and nobody is too ill.”

The Wings likely will know before their 1 p.m. practice. They are scheduled to fly in the afternoon.

The Wings just dealt with three players going through protocol: Danny DeKeyser, Tyler Bertuzzi and Marc Staal. The Wings were in enhanced measures on their last road trip (meaning players essentially stayed in their hotel rooms) and continue to preach caution.

“We certainly have addressed that going back to when we had a few cases in a row and just making sure that our awareness is heightened and that our due diligence is heightened,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “We’re going to do the best we can. But you can do everything right and seem to still get the virus. All you can do is try to do it right to be as proactive as you can then you hope for the best and that’s what we’re doing.”

Continued

10:25. Annotated. Just a couple hours after the game ended. AWood40 is at it again, posting a massive slate of highlights from the Red Wings’ 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night:

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in North America on Tuesday night:

In the WHL, Alex Cotton had 2 assists, finishing at +2 with 5 shots in the Vancouver Giants’ 5-3 loss to Prince George;

And Cross Hanas finished at -1 with 7 shots in the Portland Winterhawks’ 4-3 overtime win over Everett.