Author: George Malik

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a column regarding the Red Wings’ 3-2 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres this morning, with Khan noting coach Jeff Blashill and captain Dylan Larkin’s comments regarding the crowd at Little Caesars Arena being utilized as a motivating force:

The Red Wings don’t play in front of regular sellout crowds like they did at Joe Louis Arena during their Stanley Cup championship years, but the fans showing up at Little Caesars Arena are giving the team some “juice,” coach Jeff Blashill said.

“I think they’ve been awesome,” Blashill said. “I know the roads weren’t great today so it’s hard for everybody to get down here, but I thought the crowd was great tonight. The energy in this building has been great. I think that’s a huge reason why we’re 7-2-2. It gives so much momentum to our guys when the crowd is like that.”

The Red Wings (10-9-3) have won three in a row at home for the first time since Dec. 31, 2019 to Jan. 10, 2020. They are 7-2-2 at LCA.

“We play well here,” Larkin said. “The fans have been showing up, the atmosphere’s been great. We’re just get excited to be here. It was a long year without fans. We missed them a ton. To have them back and to play in this building, some of the loudest moments that I’ve heard here since it’s been open have happened this year. We got to keep going to make sure there’s louder moments and we’re right there in a playoff spot, where we want to be.”

Continued

Lucas Raymond has hit the big time in a different category: Now he’s giving post-game interviews to the Swedish media after his big moments:

Here’s a rough translation what Raymond had to say to Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman after his overtime goal in the Red Wings’ 3-2 victory over Buffalo on Saturday:

Of Red Wings prospect-related note from North America on Saturday night:

In the QMJHL, Jan Bednar stopped 26 of 30 shots in the Acadie-Bathurst Titan’s 4-3 loss to Quebec;

In the OHL, Pasquale Zito finished at -1 with 1 shot and a 6-for-10 faceoff record in the Windsor Spitfires’ 6-5 OT loss to Saginaw;

In the WHL, Alex Cotton finished with a goal on 4 shots, finishing even in the Vancouver Giants’ 3-1 win over Spokane;

In the BCHL, Kienan Draper finally broke out, posting 2 goals and an assist, finishing even in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 7-2 win over Coquitlam;

And in NCAA Hockey, Sam Stange finished even in the University of Wisconsin Badgers’ 3-0 loss to Clarkson;

Cooper Moore finished at +1 with 4 shots in the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks’ 3-2 win over Minnesota;

Red Savage scored a goal, finishing at +1 with 1 shot and a 7-and-5 faceoff record in the Miami of Ohio Redhawks’ 4-1 win over Long Island;

Carter Gylander stopped 8 of 9 shots in mop-up duty during the Colgate Raiders’ 6-1 loss to the UConn Huskies. Chase Bradley had an assist, finishing at +1 with 3 shots for UConn;

Robert Mastrosimone finished even with 5 shots, and Chase Bradley did not play in the Boston University Terriers’ 6-4 loss to Cornell.

The Red Wings’ 3-2 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night was exactly the kind of game that last year’s Red Wings team would have lost.

The Red Wings gave up the game’s first goal; they were able to generate a pair of goals in 1:19, but never did pull away from Buffalo, instead, surrendering the game-tying goal with only 1:37 remaining in regulation, and the Wings headed to overtime…

Where this happened:

The 2021-2022 season Red Wings stand at 10-9-and-3 going into a busy week (back-to-back games in Boston on Tuesday, at home vs. Seattle on Wednesday, and home vs. Long Island [maybe???] a week from Saturday) in no small part because they’ve won a couple of close games that almost certainly would have been disappointingly close losses a year ago.

Now there are still a lot of ways in which the Red Wings can improve–winning a game like this without needing to resort to overtime is a big way in which they could take significant steps forward–but earning a “by any means necessary” win on Saturday counts toward the Red Wings’ long-term growth as well as their short-term success.

Our friends from Buffalo had been playing their 2nd game in 2 nights and their 3rd in 5 overall, so the Sabres did feel “somewhat fortunate to earn a point” (as they say), but they wanted more than one, as they told the Buffalo News’s Mike Harrington:

Nice Tweet from the NHL, via the Red Wings:

Teenagers to score an overtime goal for the @DetroitRedWings:

Lucas Raymond (Nov. 27, 2021)
Steve Yzerman (Oct. 26, 1983)#NHLStats: https://t.co/GVqKMAE7CF pic.twitter.com/tCdXbsooBU— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 28, 2021

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to build a 2-game winning streak at the expense of the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

The Wings sort of rope-a-doped their way to a 3-2 overtime victory. Detroit surrendered the first goal, a Dylan Cozens goal 5:05 into the 2nd, but the Wings exploded at the game’s halfway point, with Carter Rowney and Pius Suter scoring 2 goals in 1:14, and, after the Sabres scored the game-tying goal with only 1:37 remaining, Lucas Raymond made amends for the point stolen by Buffalo goalie Dustin Tokarski, skating into the Sabres end and scoring himself all of 26 seconds into overtime.

It wasn’t the most entertaining game, but Detroit won 3-2 because of three massive goals for, and the Wings are now off until Tuesday and Wednesday, when they head into Boston and then host Seattle, respectively.

Of prospect related note in Europe this afternoon:

In the Finnish Liiga, Otto Kivenmaki scored 2 goals on 2 shots, finishing even in 18:30 played as the Lahti Pelicans won 6-4 over SaiPa;

In the SHL, William Wallinder is injured and did not participate in Rogle BK’s 4-1 loss to Leksand;

Albert Johansson finished even with 7 shots in 17:07 played as Farjestads BK won 4-3 in a shootout over Vaxjo;

In Frolunda HC’s 4-3 overtime victory over Brynas:

Simon Edvinsson finished at -1 with 2 shots in 22:46 played;

Theodor Niederbach finished even in 12:12 played;

And Elmer Soderblom finished at -2 with 1 shot in 14:14 played;

And in the Swedish Allsvenskan, neither Gustav Berglund nor Albin Grewe played in Mora IK’s 2-1 win over Sodertalje SK.

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan discusses the Red Wings’ penalty-kill in his pre-game notebook:

A penalty-killing unit that was struggling early on, and has been a source of frustration for fans for several seasons now, sat 24th (out of 32 teams) in the NHL on Saturday morning at 78.1%.

Still not sensational, given the rank. But with the way the unit has been playing lately, with the success it has had, certainly is reason for optimism.

“It’s been huge,” goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic said. “We were going over (the St. Louis) power play (Wednesday) and thinking it’s been a while since we gave up a power play goal.  The PK has definitely stepped up the past two or three weeks. Even (Wednesday), yes, they get that one in the first period, but those were two big kills in the third there with the lead and trying to protect the lead.

“We didn’t really give them much of anything on them, and it’s definitely a testament to guys battling and laying out and sacrificing their bodies and committing to getting better on the penalty kill.”

Continued

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff provides some pre-game reading via this notebook article regarding Givani Smith’s promotion to the Red Wings’ second line of Robby Fabbri and Pius Suter:

“We’ll continue to make clear to him that we’d like to see him be a physical presence, which he has been at times last couple of games,” Blashill said of Smith. “But there’s a lot more to it with him. Him and I have talked lots about being real good in our zone, being real good with the puck moving up through the ice.

“He should be a real simple player with the puck moving up through the ice, get it out at our blue line, get it in at their blue line and play in the O-zone, because that’s where he can separate himself.

“He’s got a unique skill-set when he’s in the O-zone, so let’s get there.”

It’s that unique skill set that the Red Wings are hoping the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Smith will be utilizing. What they’re seeking from him is getting more pucks in the O-zone for Suter and Fabbri. Then upon gaining puck possession, the creatiion of havoc at the net front.

“If we did it with Smitty it would be a net presence, big-body guy, a playmaking center (Suter) with a shooter with Fabbri,” Blashill said. “That line has gotten chances but they’re a little bit, all a little slight, so you got a big body up there as well.

“I’m not sure we’re going to stay with it and certainly don’t know if we’ll stay with it within the game but it’s something we wanted to look at.”

Continued

Here’s the Red Wings “The Forecheck” ahead of tonight’s game vs. the Buffalo Sabres: