Author: George Malik

The Detroit Red Wings return home for a set of games against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, and the Los Angels Kings on Monday, all at Little Caesars Arena.

That’s a bit of a gauntlet as the Wings try to earn some points in the Eastern Conference’s Wild Card race, and the Associated Press posted an early game preview of the Wings-Habs affair:

BOTTOM LINE: The Detroit Red Wings head into a matchup with the Montreal Canadiens after losing three in a row.

Detroit is 5-8-1 against the Atlantic Division and 21-21-5 overall. The Red Wings are 3-6-3 in games they serve more penalty minutes than their opponents.

Montreal is 24-19-4 overall with a 9-4-0 record against the Atlantic Division. The Canadiens have committed 201 total penalties (4.3 per game) to rank third in league play.

The teams meet Thursday for the third time this season. The Canadiens won the last matchup 5-1.

TOP PERFORMERS: Lucas Raymond has 19 goals and 32 assists for the Red Wings. Dylan Larkin has seven goals and seven assists over the past 10 games.

Cole Caufield has 24 goals and 20 assists for the Canadiens. Patrik Laine has four goals and three assists over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Red Wings: 6-3-1, averaging 3.4 goals, 6.2 assists, two penalties and four penalty minutes while giving up 3.1 goals per game.

Canadiens: 7-2-1, averaging 3.1 goals, 5.1 assists, 4.6 penalties and 10.6 penalty minutes while giving up 2.8 goals per game.

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted her customary 6 AM recap of the Red Wings’ 2-1 OT loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night:

“We limited them to two goals, one in overtime,” Lucas Raymond said. “Our defensive structure was really good most of the time, especially desperation around the net. But, it’s not a successful trip in our point of view. We have a couple of these games that we want to get back and it’s about learning from it.”

The Wings (21-21-5) are 8-4-1 since Todd McLellan was named coach Dec. 26. This was their first extended trip, and began on a high note with a 5-2 victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, a terrific response after a 6-3 loss at home to the struggling San Jose Sharks.

“To start in Florida and play against that team and weather their storm, that was a really good win,” McLellan said. “Tampa, a little bit disappointing because I think we got tricked with the volume of shots but not the intensity around the net. Dallas, after falling behind 3-0 we settled in. But I think the game really does change for both teams at that point. And then we finished strong and hard.

“You never head out for 50-50, you always want more, and we came up a little short. An average trip for our group but I think we are making strides in certain areas. We’re a little better in our zone, we’re breaking the puck out a little better than we have in the past. We checked through the neutral zone better. Those are all good things. But we have to find a way to score more than one a night five-on-five if we’re to have success.”

Continued (paywall);

2. The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton also posted his day-after-the-game notebook…

The Athletic’s Sean McIndoe discusses “every goalie goal ever scored” in exacting detail this morning, and he gives Chris Osgood’s goal a mediocre grade…Not knowing that the last game PASS didn’t air was the Wings-Whalers game where Osgood scored, yielding clips with either the Hartford Whalers’ call or the Wings’ radio call:

12. Chris Osgood, March 6, 1996

Situation: This one comes with 10 seconds left in a game between a record-breaking Red Wings juggernaut and a Whalers team that was, uh, not that. But it’s also the first goalie goal in almost seven years, and the first that wasn’t scored by Ron Hextall, so there’s a neat “Oh right, that’s a thing you’re allowed to do” factor. 7/10.

Style: Nothing too fancy, but the way Osgood manages to knock down and control the puck with his extended stick is pretty impressive. After that, it’s just about the shot, and he pretty much drills it. 7/10.

Pavel Datsyuk always said that he wanted to work with kids in hockey when his playing career ended.

Datsyuk reiterated that point when he came over to the U.S. to take part in the Red Wings’ Summer Development Camp last July, and again when he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame this past November.

As such, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff reports that Datsyuk, who works for in player development for his hometown organization, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg, has signed an extension with his team:

Earlier this week, Datsyuk was truly putting an end to any hope he might be changing his mind. He was confirming that he’s extending his relationship as a development and skills coach with KHL club Avtomobilist in his Russian hometown of Yekaterinburg. After leaving the Red Wings, he would finish his playing career with this club from 2019-21.

“I work for the Avtomobilist club, for which I am very grateful,” Datsyuk told Russian news agency Tass. “They trusted me and allowed me to do what I love, I like it. It’s not that easy, obviously I’m still learning.

“I like being in the arena with the guys, being part of the club and helping it. I will continue to do this with pleasure.”

Continued; no surprise here. Datsyuk

The Detroit Red Wings head home with 3 out of a possible 8 points on their 4-game road trip after losing 2-1 in overtime to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.

As such, the Red Wings fell 3 points behind the Flyers in the Wild Card race, and they are 5 and 6 points behind the Montreal Canadiens and Tampa Bay Lightning–Thursday and Saturday’s opponents–respectively.

FLYERS WIN 🟠⚫️

They collect the extra point on home ice in @Energizer overtime! pic.twitter.com/tGirqMz2Op

— NHL (@NHL) January 22, 2025

The Flyers know where they are in the Eastern Conference’s jumbled playoff race, too, as Flying Fish Hockey’s Wayne Fish suggested…

The Detroit Red Wings played an important game for Wild Card positioning against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night, with the Flyers sitting two points ahead of the Red Wings, who were on a 2-game losing streak, in the Eastern Conference standings.

On Tuesday night, the Red Wings lost a game that was hard to swallow. The Philadelphia Flyers won 2-1 in overtime, despite Ben Chiarot tying the game 30 seconds into the 3rd period from Raymond, and the Red Wings holding their own in OT until the Flyers rushed up ice, Seider and Raymond both tried to poke check, and Rasmus Ristolainen poked in the rebound of an Owen Tippett shot with 26 seconds remaining in the extra session.

Long story long, Detroit lost 2-1 to Philadelphia and will fly home having earned 3 points out of 8 on their road trip.

Detroit actually out-shot Philadelphia 28-26, but the Flyers held a 5-1 shot advantage in OT, and the Flyers out-shot Detroit 15-14 over the final two periods thanks to a gritty, grinding effort that seemed to wear the Wings down.

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Per Hockeysverige.se and Hockeynews.se, Red Wings prospect Michael Brandsegg-Nygard will not be taking part in the Norwegian National Team’s February participation in the Four Nations Tournament in Oslo.

Norway GM Tobias Johansson tells TV2 that, and I quote:

“We have made the decision that Michael will stay with Skellefteå. He has been through a year that has contained a lot. Therefore, we agreed that he will remain in Sweden and train. It is both best for him and for us in the long term,” says the national team manager.

“So there is nothing dramatic about rejecting him,” adds Johansson.

Daily Faceoff’s Anthony Trudeau suggests that the Red Wings are, at best, a “long shot” to earn one of the Eastern Conference’s Wild Card spots, per an article which attempts to handicap the teams battling for said spot:

Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings wanted to play a more disciplined defensive game this season, but that resulted in a lineup full of guys who were gripping their sticks too tight and generally afraid to make plays. Before they fired Derek Lalonde, the Wings were outshot by five attempts per game and had the second-worst goal differential in the NHL. In the immortal words of John Tortorella, “safe is death,” and the Red Wings’ season was on life support before Steve Yzerman pulled the plug on Lalonde.

Under Todd McLellan, they’ve been far more proactive, outshooting the bad guys and riding a sizzling power play (41.9% since the coaching change) back to the .500 mark. Patrick Kane looks rejuvenated (6 G, 16 P in 12 GP under McLellan), Lucas Raymond is a star (50 P in 46 GP), and Marco Kasper (3 G, 5 P in last 5 GP) has been a revelation on Dylan Larkin’s left wing.

So, why are the Wings a long shot? Just look at the schedule. The Red Wings have beaten some good teams including Florida and Washington on their road back to relevance, but the hard part starts now. Detroit has the toughest remaining schedule in the NHL, and losses to Tampa Bay and Dallas by a combined score of 9-1 over the weekend served as a reminder that even with McLellan on board, this team can be prone to sloppy, turnover-prone hockey. There will be growing pains, and for a team that probably can’t survive a three or four-game skid, that’s a problem.

Continued; we all know that the Red Wings are facing the toughest remaining schedule in the league in terms of quality of competition–the Wings’ broadcasters keep telling us that–and I do not disagree that coach McLellan is engaged more in a salvage job than he is engaged in a playoff run…

But I choose to believe that the Wings can at least stay relevant over the second half of the season.

The Philadelphia Flyers’ media corps posted some game-day stories ahead of tonight’s game between the Flyers and the Detroit Red Wings (7 PM EST on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/NBCSP/Sportsnet One/97.1 FM), starting with a video preview from the Flyers’ website:

The Hockey News’s Siobhan Nolan described tonight’s rubber match thusly…

The Philadelphia Flyers, surging with momentum and confidence, are set to host the Detroit Red Wings in what promises to be another exciting matchup.

Last time these two faced off against each other, Scott Laughton enjoyed a four-goal game, and while Laughton won’t be available tonight due to a personal matter, the Flyers will be looking to continue collecting points to move themselves more comfortably into a playoff spot.

Noting that goaltender Samuel Ersson has a challenge ahead of him…