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-Sabres Tweetcap: Thompson, resilient Sabres help Wings blow a 4-1 lead, lose 5-4 in OT.

The Detroit Red Wings looked to build upon Thursday’s victory against the Anaheim Ducks as they hosted the struggling Buffalo Sabres and returning captain Rasmus Dahlin on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena, kicking off a stretch of back-to-back games for Detroit (who will play in New York against the Rangers tomorrow night).

On Saturday evening, well, I don’t know what to make of this one.

10:23 in, Patrick Kane scored from Ben Chiarot, but Alex Tuch scored an unassisted marker only 29 seconds later to make it 1-1…

Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Larkin and DeBrincat (again) would score 3 goals in 4:58 to give Detroit a 4-1 lead, commanding, no less, at between 3:52 and 8:50 of the 2nd…

And as DeBrincat looked en route to a hat trick, the Wings fell apart.

Josh Doan scored 17:58 into the 2nd, Tage Thompson overpowered the Wings at 4:25 of the 3rd and deked and dangled his way into the slot to score on Gibson, Ryan McLeod stripped Moritz Seider of the puck at 9:28 of the 3rd while on the PK, and blazed in on a breakaway…

And in overtime, Thompson mauled Alex DeBrincat with a legal check, passed back to Martin Samuelsson, and he fired the OT winner home at 1:05 of OT.

Buffalo out-shot Detroit 13-8 in the 2nd and 1-0 in OT after being out-shot 20-13 over the first 40 minutes of the game, and I guess the dangerous Sabres earned their win–as Detroit earned its loss.

Now the Red Wings head to New York tomorrow to play the Rangers.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Colten Ellis led their respective teams out onto the ice at Little Caesars Arena:

Continue reading Red Wings-Sabres Tweetcap: Thompson, resilient Sabres help Wings blow a 4-1 lead, lose 5-4 in OT.

Red Wings-Ducks Tweetcap: Detroit defeats the Mucky Ducks, bit Gibson’s status is murky

The Detroit Red Wings emerged from a mini training camp (a.k.a. a 3-day break) facing the red-hot Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night, with the Red Wings hoping to snap a 3-game losing streak.

At Little Caesars Arena on Thursday night, the Red Wings didn’t win easy, but they won a 6-3 decision over the Anaheim Ducks that felt more like a 4-3 victory.

Moritz Seider would open the scoring only 5:57 in, but Cutter Gauthier would tie the game at 7:35…

Michael Rasmussen would restore the lead at 12:42, but Chris Kreider would push back at 14:54…

Thankfully, Axel Sandin Pellikka would score at 15:33 of the 2nd, and the Ducks couldn’t deal with Alex DeBrincat’s “insurance” goal at 50 seconds of the 3rd period, even though Mikael Granlund would score past Cam Talbot…

Who had relieved John Gibson in goal after Gibson was tripped by Beckett Sennecke at the end of the 2nd period.

Ultimately, Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat (empty net) would score two more goals in the 3rd period, and Talbot would stop a superb 11 shots in relief of Gibson, who stopped 15 of 17…

But Gibson’s absence is worrisome given that the Wings play back-to-backs against Buffalo at home and the Rangers on the road this weekend, because both Sebastian Cossa and Michal Postava are injured in Grand Rapids.

We’ll find out more on Friday, obviously, but things could be really sketchy here in goal.

But, for one night, the Wings broke their 3-game winless streak, and they did so while taking a measure of revenge on the tremendously talented Ducks.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Lukas Dostal led their respective teams onto the ice at LCA…

Continue reading Red Wings-Ducks Tweetcap: Detroit defeats the Mucky Ducks, bit Gibson’s status is murky

Red Wings-Blackhawks Tweetcap: Bertuzzi’d

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a 2-game losing streak as they hosted the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon. Chicago entered today’s game on a 2-game winning streak, and they boasted a 7-5-and-3 record.

At Little Caesars Arena, Detroit laid an egg on Sunday, losing 5-1 to a Chicago Blackhawks team that is, save Connor Bedard, no more talented than the Red Wings.

What was the difference? Arvid Soderblom stopped 44 of 45 shots, because he saw almost all of them;

Detroit’s power play went 0-for-4 in 10:00 of PP time;

Chicago’s power play went 3-for-3 in 1:19 of PP time;

And Wings alumnus Tyler Bertuzzi got under Detroit’s skin as the Red Wings tried to make the same plays over and over again at both even strength and with the man advantage.

Everybody is of course freaking out and suggesting that the Red Wings need to blow up the team or throw it into the Detroit River, but as far as I’m concerned…

Coach McLellan was right 3 losses ago. Detroit’s soft between the ears, and a team that can play with anyone is losing because it’s losing the mental game and it’s playing lazy hockey.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Arvid Soderblom led their respective teams out onto the ice at LCA…

Continue reading Red Wings-Blackhawks Tweetcap: Bertuzzi’d

Red Wings-Rangers Tweetcap: the Quick and the dead

The 9-and-5 Detroit Red Wings hoped to rebound from Tuesday’s loss to the Vegas Golden Knights by preying upon the struggling New York Rangers, whose 6-6-and-2 record included a 3-game-win-snapping 3-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Both teams had rested for three days, so neither team had an advantage in terms of rest, recuperation, or preparation for Friday night’s game.

At Little Caesars Arena, well…

Red Wings coach Todd McLellan doesn’t believe that the first game after a West Coast swing is a trap game, but in the Red Wings’ case, it’s still a trap game. Between Jonathan Quick’s bedeviling of the Red Wings, Artemi Panarin’s 3-point night and the Red Wings’ inability or unwillingness to play hard, fast, Red Wings hockey in front of a legion of alumni…

Detroit lost a 4-1 decision that was incredibly disappointing, and dropped the Wings to 9-and-6.

Will Cuylle opened the scoring only 6:46 into the 1st on a power play marker from Zibanejad and Panarin, and while J.T. Compher would score a glorious goal at 11:06 from Appleton and Copp to tie the game…

The Rangers scored 3 consecutive goals, at 4:52 (Noah Laba) of the 2nd period, and then 7:29 (Panarin) and 8:27 (Lafreniere) of the 3rd.

Patrick Kane’s inability to beat Quick and two Rangers defensemen when Quick went out to play the puck would loom large in the loss…

And the Wings just didn’t have the gas in the tank, the work ethic or the mental fortitude with which to out-skate a Rangers team that wins on the road and cannot win at home.

The Chicago Blackhawks come to town on Sunday, and if the Red Wings want to win the Blashill Reunion Game, they’re going to have to play a hell of a lot better and a hell of a lot smarter–and they’re going to have to take their opponent much more seriously.

Having dozens of alumni in the building with their Stanley Cup rings doesn’t mean that you’re going to be able to win easy.

PREGAME: Cam Talbot and Jonathan Quick led their respective teams out onto the ice at 6:30 PM…

Continue reading Red Wings-Rangers Tweetcap: the Quick and the dead

Health update

Hi, everybody. I wanted to let you know that I’m still recovering from this flu bug, but appear to be making some progress toward a return.

The last four weeks have been both fatiguing and incredibly physically painful. The pain has been almost too much to bear at times, and that’s why I’ve been gone for so long.

It’s incredibly frustrating to miss so much time, but when you’re in extreme discomfort, sometimes all you can do is rest and recover.

I miss you all and I miss covering hockey, and I will return as soon as this stupid body cooperates with me.

Thanks for reading.

Red Wings-Golden Knights Tweetcap: Detroit’s shut out despite Gibson’s best game as a Wing (thus far)

The NHL’s schedule-makers saved the Red Wings’ biggest challenge for last in terms of difficulty of opponent for the team’s 5-game road trip.

On Tuesday night, the Red Wings headed into T-Mobile Arena to battle the powerhouse Vegas Golden Knights, with the Red Wings hoping to earn 4 of a possible 6 wins while battling Jack Eichel and Vegas’ plucky hockey team.

On Tuesday evening, Detroit would not beat the Vegas Golden Knights, but John Gibson’s 32-save performance ensured that the Wings weren’t run out of the building, either.

Vegas would take a 1-0 lead at 13:45 of the 2nd period, with Ivan Barbashev scoring a gorgeous backhand goal over Gibson’s blocker side, but in a game that was full of pulls, tugs and holds and not many power plays (Detroit had 2; Vegas had 1), the Red Wings struggled to battle the layers with which Vegas defends, Akira Schmid deserves credit for the 24-save shutout, and Detroit was just both too indecisive in the offensive zone and too turnover-prone south of the offensive blueline in order to secure a victory.

The fact that Detroit only won 32% of their 69 faceoffs didn’t help, and the Wings’ few power plays were lackadaisical and involved too much lateral passing instead of north-south, net-front hockey.

So the Red Wings head home with 3 of 5 and 6 of a possible 10 points, and Detroit will host the New York Rangers on Friday night and Chicago on Sunday.

PREGAME: Akira Schmid and John Gibson led their respective teams onto the ice at T-Mobile Arena…

Continue reading Red Wings-Golden Knights Tweetcap: Detroit’s shut out despite Gibson’s best game as a Wing (thus far)

Red Wings-Sharks Tweetcap: Detroit prevails in a shootout over the plucky Sharks

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to rebound from their Friday night loss to the Anaheim Ducks when they headed upstate to tangle with the speedy, youthful San Jose Sharks on Sunday evening.

The speedy Sharks are the kind of team that can embarrass an opponent that looks past them, so Detroit had to be on its collective toes.

On Sunday night, the Sharks almost “San Jose’d” the Red Wings, who prevailed 3-2 in a shootout.

Lucas Raymond would open the scoring at 18:05 of the 1st, scoring from Axel Sandin Pellikka and Dylan Larkin, but only 49 seconds into the 2nd, San Jose was able to tie the game when Jeff Skinner scored;

10:16 into the 3rd, Detroit looked to pull ahead as Moritz Seider scored his first of the season from Simon Edvinsson and assist machine Alex DeBrincat (11 helpers), and between the Wings’ out-shooting the Sharks and out-everythinging them stats-wise, it appeared that the Sharks were getting worn down…

But the young, fast Sharks weren’t out of it. Will Smith took a puck off Albert Johansson, raced toward the net, put the puck off Cam Talbot’s toe, wrapped around the net and found Sam Dickinson in the slot, and Dickinson scored the game-tying goal with 3:05 remaining…

Overtime would solve nothing, and in the shootout, James van Riemsdyk was the only person who scored on Alex Nedeljkovic or Talbot, ensuring that the Wings got an extra point that nearly eluded them.

PREGAME: Alex Nedeljkovic and Cam Talbot led their respective teams onto the ice at the SAP Center:

Continue reading Red Wings-Sharks Tweetcap: Detroit prevails in a shootout over the plucky Sharks

Red Wings-Ducks Tweetcap: Anaheim tricks Detroit on Halloween

The Red Wings played in the back half of a back-to-back slate of games on Friday night, battling the Anaheim Ducks as Detroit started John Gibson in his return to Anaheim, opposite the goaltender he mentored for several years in Lukas Dostal.

With the Wings playing 3 games over the course of the last 4 nights, energy, fit and finish would be areas of focus for the team as they played the the dynamic, Joel Quenneville-coached Ducks.

On Halloween night, Detroit got tricked, not treated, and they got tricked in no small part by the referees. Troy Terry opened the scoring with a shorty at 4:53, Lucas Raymond tied it up at 8:19, and after Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish scored goals that were caused by ugly Detroit coverage halfway through the 1st and 6:35 into the 2nd, respectively…

A Moritz Seider goal which would have made it 3-2 was deemed “no goal” by the referees due to a supposed kicking motion by Seider.

While Detroit did get that 3-2 marker at 15:25 of the 2nd by Alex DeBrincat…

Anaheim got a weird goal deemed to be awarded because John Gibson pushed the net off the pegs only 55 seconds into the 3rd period, and Detroit could not convert on 3 3rd period power plays…

Eventually surrendering an empty-netter to Troy Terry at 17:28 of the 3rd.

Detroit went 1-for-7 in 11:02 of PP time, and gave up a shorthanded goal, which isn’t good enough; the Copp line was poor, the Wings gave up so many odd-man rushes off turnovers at the offensive blueline that it was silly, and…

This became a learning lesson type of game.

PREGAME: Lukas Dostal and John Gibson led their respective teams onto the ice at the Honda Center…

Continue reading Red Wings-Ducks Tweetcap: Anaheim tricks Detroit on Halloween

Red Wings-Kings Tweetcap: Devil’s night shootout delight

The Red Wings began a difficult stretch of 3 games to be played over the course of 4 nights in the state of California on Thursday evening, facing off against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com arena.

On Thursday night and Friday morning, Detroit time, the Detroit Red Wings won a WILD game in Los Angeles, rallying from a 1-0 shorthanded deficit to the Kings, who opened the scoring 12:39 into the 1st shorthanded via an Alex Lafreniere goal…

By goals from Alex DeBrincat at 13:22 (on the same power play), Marco Kasper (on the second power play), and Kasper again at 14:45 of the 3rd…

But Los Angeles rallied with two even-strength goals with Darcy Kuemper on the bench, surrendering markers to Corey Perry at 17:47 of the 3rd and Quinton Byfield with only 1:33 remaining…

And everybody thought that Kevin Fiala chipped home the game-winner late in overtime, on a Kings power play, but his goal was negated for going into Cam Talbot’s crease by himself…

And Lucas Raymond scored in the shootout, Cam Talbot made three stops in the extra-extra-time session, and Detroit emerged with a 4-3 shootout victory.

PREGAME: Darcy Kuemper and Cam Talbot led their respective teams out onto the ice at Crypto.com Arena…

Continue reading Red Wings-Kings Tweetcap: Devil’s night shootout delight

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