Author: George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!

Red Wings-Blues Tweetcap: Detroit fine-tunes a 5-2 win in St. Louis

The Red Wings hit the 10-game mark in St. Louis on Tuesday night, hoping to improve upon their 6-and-3 record by sweeping their home-and-home series against a St. Louis Blues team which would play without the services of injured forwards Robert Thomas and Jake Neighbours.

As the Wings embark upon a rough road trip which consists of 5 games to be played over the course of 8 nights, sometimes you’ve got to kick an opponent while they’re down, and that was the goal for the Wings in St. Louis.

On Tuesday night, the game started on a very sour note, as Brayden Schenn opened the scoring only 47 seconds into the 1st period, against the Larkin line, no less, but a fight by Travis Hamonic at 7:35 seemed to turn the momentum in Detroit’s way, and the Wings would score four consecutive goals–Ben Chiarot at 12:01 of the 1st, Alex DeBrincat at 19:24 on the power play, Larkin at 11:14 of the 2nd and Elmer Soderblom only 1:42 later in the 2nd–and while Jordan Kyrou’s 3rd period marker with only 4:24 left was a worrisome situation, Detroit killed a long 6-on-5 against, with Larkin scoring goal #8 (his 3rd point of the night) at 18:53 of the 3rd.

John Gibson stopped 20 of 22 shots for Detroit, and Lucas Raymond (2 assists) and Alex DeBrincat (1G, 1A) also had multi-point games…

But perhaps the biggest development of the game was the establishment of a big, steady fourth line in Elmer Soderblom, Michael Rasmussen and James van Riemsdyk, who played heavy, literally and figuratively.

4 more games in 4 more cities over the course of the next 7 nights won’t be easy, but Detroit’s road trip started off on the “right note” in St. Louis.

PREGAME: Jordan Binnington and John Gibson lead their respective teams out onto the ice at the Enterprise Center…

Continue reading Red Wings-Blues Tweetcap: Detroit fine-tunes a 5-2 win in St. Louis

Red Wings-Blues Tweetcap: Detroit rallies from a 4-0 deficit to win 6-4 over St. Louis

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a two-game losing streak as they opened a home-and-home series with the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.

Heading into their 9th game of the regular season, the Red Wings could “stick the landing” by improving their 5-3-and-0 record, or they could wander back toward becoming a .500 team.

On Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings somehow prevailed in a wild and woolly 6-4 victory over the Blues, snapping that 2-game losing streak.

St. Louis took a 4-0 lead on goals by Kyrou, Neighbours (2) and Buchnevich, but after the 2nd Neighbours goal at 3:12 of the 2nd period, coach McLellan called a timeout, and chewed out his team…

And the Red Wings slowly but surely climbed back, via a power play goal by Jonatan Berggren at 7:52, a pair of late-period goals by Finnie at 18:34 and Compher at 19:01 of the 2nd…

And in the 3rd period, Alex DeBrincat scored his first goal of the game on a glorious shot, and Simon Edvinsson would salt the game away with both a game-winner 47 seconds after DeBrincat’s game-tying marker…And Edvinsson would score the empty-netter after some fine John Gibson saves (and a couple of goalposts).

Six straight goals and a hell of an effort over the final period-and-a-half of the game = Detroit received a result that was equal to its work ethic after coach McLellan straightened them out.

Detroit now gets two days off before rematching with the Blues as the teams battle in St. Louis, kicking off a 5-game road trip.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Jordan Binnington led their respective teams out onto the ice at LCA:

Continue reading Red Wings-Blues Tweetcap: Detroit rallies from a 4-0 deficit to win 6-4 over St. Louis

Red Wings-Islanders Tweetcap: Detroit drops a 7-2 decision on Long Island

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to rebound from Wednesday’s difficult loss to the Buffalo Sabres by taking their frustrations out on Patrick Roy’s New York Islanders on Thursday night.

Back-to-back games are never easy, but the Wings needed to earn at least a couple of points out of their two-game set to keep up with their rapidly-rising foes in the NHL standings.

Thursday night on Long Island, the Detroit Red Wings got embarrassed, losing 7-1 to the Islanders. Emil Heineman had 2 goals, Anders Lee had 3 assists, the Islanders finished at a massive +30, and Patrick Roy’s team smoked Detroit. Dylan Larkin (6) did score to extend his point streak, assisted by Emmitt Finnie (4) and Alex DeBrincat (7)…And Jonatan Berggren did score a pretty goal from J.T. Compher and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, giving the Norwegian his first NHL point…

But those were the only highlights. The Wings lost their challenge of an Islanders goal, the Isles’ fans got free chili for scoring 6 on the Wings, and Detroit has now lost 2 straight games in 2 evenings, dropping to 5-and-3 over the course of their first 8 games.

The Red Wings will head home to play their 3rd game in 4 nights on Saturday, hosting the St. Louis Blues, before embarking on a 5-game road trip which starts in St. Louis next Tuesday.

PREGAME: Cam Talbot and David Rittich led their respective teams out onto the ice at UBS Arena…

Continue reading Red Wings-Islanders Tweetcap: Detroit drops a 7-2 decision on Long Island

Red Wings-Sabres Tweetcap: Tough go for Detroit in Buffalo as Sabres double up Wings, 4-2

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to extend their 5-game winning streak as they kicked off a divisional series with the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday evening.

Buffalo possessed a 2-and-4 record heading into tonight’s affair, but the Sabres always play Detroit well, and the Sabres threw a wrench into things by starting goaltender Colten Ellis instead of Alex Lyon on Wednesday night.

On Wednesday night, as the Red Wings kicked off a back-to-back set of games (Detroit will play the Islanders tomorrow), the Red Wings fell right into a “trap game” against rookie goaltender Colten Ellis and the Sabres, losing 4-2. The Wings pulled ahead with a J.T. Compher goal only 3:00 into the game, but Buffalo scored the next two goals; Emmitt Finnie would score a game-tying marker at 18:20 of the 2nd period (with Dylan Larkin’s help, adding to Larkin’s point streak)…

But Jack Quinn, who had three points on the night, would score the gamer, and Josh Doan’s insurance goal was the kind of marker that John Gibson would want back.

Gibson was actually pretty bloody good, stopping 27 of 31 shots and facing a wild 70 shot attempts from the Sabres, but he was either screened on the goals against, or he gave up a couple of 5-hole squeakers. The stats don’t reflect the fact that he kept the Wings in the game for long stretches, especially given that Buffalo was awarded 5 power plays to Detroit’s 2.

Ultimately, however, a litany of whiffs on open nets, over-complicating simple plays and plain old mistakes by the youngsters (and some veterans) cost Detroit the game, and tomorrow, they’ll have to salvage this little two-games-in-two-nights trip by beating Patrick Roy’s New York Islanders.

PREGAME: The Red Wings hit the ice at 7 PM EDT…

Continue reading Red Wings-Sabres Tweetcap: Tough go for Detroit in Buffalo as Sabres double up Wings, 4-2

Red Wings-Oilers Tweetcap: Larkin 2G + 2A, Finnie 2G + 1A in Detroit’s 5th win in a row

The 4-1-and-0 Detroit Red Wings attempted to push their winning streak to 5 games while facing a 2-2-and-1 Edmonton Oilers team which dropped a 5-2 loss to New Jersey on Saturday.

It’s not easy to sustain a winning streak in the NHL, and Edmonton is a proud team that had lost two games coming into today’s affair, so the Red Wings faced a stiff task opposite Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the rest of the talented Oilers.

The Red Wings also didn’t have the services of Patrick Kane (upper-body), and it was uncertain going into the game whether Dylan Larkin or Lucas Raymond (upper-body) might play.

On Sunday afternoon, the Red Wings DID win their 5th straight game, defeating Edmonton 4-2, empty-net goal included. John Gibson was excellent in stopping 16 of 18 shots, Emmitt Finnie scored 2 goals and had an assist, Dylan Larkin had 2 goals and an assist, Lucas Raymond battled through his injury and earned two assists…

And the Red Wings managed to shut down the mighty McDavid and Draisaitl, out-shooting Edmonton 26-18 and out-attempting them 61-35. Edmonton blocked a superb 21 shots, but Detroit hung tough and ground out 2-0 and 3-1 leads that they did not surrender.

PREGAME: The Red Wings received good news in warmups:

Continue reading Red Wings-Oilers Tweetcap: Larkin 2G + 2A, Finnie 2G + 1A in Detroit’s 5th win in a row

Red Wings-Lightning Tweetcap: Gibson, Larkin, ASP, OT, oh my!

The Detroit Red Wings hoped to add to the Tampa Bay Lightning’s misery on Friday night, with Detroit aiming to earn a fourth straight win at the expense of the mighty Bolts, who boasted a 1-2-and-1 record heading into Friday night’s game.

Despite Lucas Raymond’s absence, the Red Wings machine was firing on all cylinders as the Wings hosted the second game of a three-game home stand, with the Edmonton Oilers still set to visit on Sunday afternoon.

On Friday night, well…

This one was a wild one, and a weird one, all at the same time. Detroit out-shot Tampa Bay 12-6 in the 1st period and 10-5 in the 2nd period, with Axel Sandin Pellikka scoring his first NHL goal at 13:02 of the 1st, from Larkin and Appleton…

But Tampa Bay out-shot Detroit 20 to 6 in the 3rd period, and J.J. Moser scored at 16:17 to tie the game 1-1.

Both teams headed to overtime with a point, and by the end of the 3rd period, John Gibson had stopped 27 of 28 shots against…

But in overtime, after the Bolts endlessly cycled back out to center to regroup and regroup again, Dylan Larkin took a loose puck from a Bolt, raced up the gut, and fired home the game-winner at 3:36 of overtime, finishing off a 2-point performance in fine fashion.

Detroit won 2-1 in overtime.

PREGAME: The Lightning lost the services of Nikita Kucherov just prior to the game due to an illness, and that at least could change the result…

Continue reading Red Wings-Lightning Tweetcap: Gibson, Larkin, ASP, OT, oh my!

Severe flu

The last time I remember being on the blog, I was struggling to wrap up the Red Wings’ win over the Toronto Maple Leafs’ on Monday night, and I never did quite get the recap done.

In all honesty, the last two days’ worth of time are a blur of intense pain, suffering and fatigue. I have come down with a flu bug so severe that I had to cancel a physical with my doctor’s office because I don’t have the endurance to get through a check-up–and because I don’t want to give this bug to anyone else.

Tuesday, I was just out of it, and that was a blessing compared to Wednesday, which was full of pain.

I’m creaky, cranky and disappointed to be behind the hockey news curve this morning, but I’m not going to apologize for this absence. I got really, really sick, really, really quickly, and I am just going to do my best to rest up and to recover to get back to work as soon as I possibly can.

I’m sorry for the inconvenience this has caused, but sometimes you get sick, and sometimes, you get really sick. I’m in the latter category right now, and all I can do right now is try to get better.

Red Wings-Maple Leafs Tweetcap: stolen holiday

The Detroit Red Wings headed to Toronto on Monday afternoon, hoping to sweep their home-and-home series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, whose highly-heralded rookie, Easton Cowan, was to make his NHL debut.

On Monday afternoon, the Red Wings pulled off a heist in Toronto, with Cam Talbot stopping 38 of 40 Toronto shots and Detroit earning goals from Dylan Larkin (PPG from DeBrincat and Raymond) in the 1st period, James van Riemsdyk (from Andrew Copp) in the 3rd period, and, after surrendering their 2-0 lead, Mason Appleton of all people with 15 seconds left in regulation to secure a 3-2 lead over the Maple Leafs, who out-played Detroit by a significant margin.

Sometimes a rope-a-dope, ugly win is a beautiful thing, and the only ugly thing that happened in this one was the Wings losing Lucas Raymond to an upper-body injury. Detroit prevailed through adversity and a lot of self-made mistakes to take this game and to improve their record to 2-and-1, sweeping the home and home series with Toronto.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

PREGAME: In Toronto, everything was focused on Cowan’s rookie debut on Auston Matthews’ wing, so his “rookie lap” was chronicled with significant hype:

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs Tweetcap: stolen holiday

Red Wings lose Lucas Raymond to ‘upper-body injury’ due to Chris Tanev hit

The Detroit Red Wings have lost the services of Lucas Raymond during the 2nd period of their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Raymond was hit from behind into the Maple Leafs’ boards by Chris Tanev, and he came up favoring his right arm:

I will update this post with any news regarding Raymond’s status. Ken Daniels first pointed it out on the U.S. broadcast via player-tracking software; during the 2nd intermission, Larry Murphy said that Raymond was frustrated and threw his stick when crossing his and Daniella Bruce’s paths.

UPDATE:

UPDATE #2: Coach McLellan told the media that Raymond has to be further evaluated in Detroit tomorrow to determine his status. He was healthy going into the game, but he was injured and needs to be further evaluated.

Gobble gobble

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan reports that the Red Wings were going to try to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving after today’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs:

Had the Tigers won Saturday in Seattle, [Monday] would have been the Tigers facing the Blue Jays in the first two games of that league championship series the past two evenings in Toronto, which would have been a brilliant opportunity for Detroit sports fans to make the drive east.

But back to Thanksgiving. McLellan planned on trying to find a Thanksgiving dinner in downtown Toronto, but wasn’t sure if he was goign to be successful.

“With the ballgame and everything else going on, I’m not sure how much we’ll wander around town and be able to find anything that is even remotely empty,” McLellan said.

McLellan enjoys the holiday be it in Canada, or the United States.

“Thanksgiving is much like it is here,” McLellan said. “I know my mom has a big meal made at home, and she still cooks for like we all live there, and it is just the two of them, and my Dad eats like a bird, so she’ll have a lot of food to give to the food bank for sure. But Thanksgiving in Canada means a lot, just like it does here.”