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!
The Detroit Red Wings won’t have much time to dwell upon their disappointing 5-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday, because the now 8-7-and-2 Red Wings face the Dallas Stars in Dallas on Tuesday evening (8:30 PM EST on ESPN Plus/hulu/97.1 FM).
The 5-6-and-2 Stars are coming off a 5-2 winover the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, which both snapped a 2-game losing streak and was the Stars’ first win that did not require overtime or a shootout to secure.
According to the Dallas News’s Matthew DeFranks, the Stars’ makeshift lineup, which won for the 2nd time in 8 games on Saturday, is still in flux, as illustrated by Monday’s practice:
The Stars were without Anton Khudobin on Monday morning, as Bowness said Khudobin had a non-COVID-related illness that forced the team to send him home before practice. Bowness said the Stars are hopeful that Khudobin can play Tuesday against the Red Wings.
Dallas is already without Braden Holtby, who missed Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury. Bowness said Holtby would “be out for a couple days,” and should resume skating on Wednesday or Thursday.
That left Jake Oettinger and Ben Bishop as the team’s two goalies at practice Monday. Oettinger backed Khudobin up on Saturday and has not played in an NHL game yet this season. Bishop remains on long-term injured reserve while rehabbing his knee, though he has been at nearly every practice since the start of training camp in mid-September.
Bowness said the Stars have notified Oettinger to be ready to play against Detroit, but “we’ll see what it looks like in the morning.”
Forward Tyler Seguin left practice early on Monday, and Bowness said Seguin is dealing with a lingering lower-body injury that the Stars didn’t want to aggravate in practice.
“Just a lower-body thing that we’re trying to watch a little closer,” Bowness said. “We were off yesterday, clearly, so he went out there to test it. He should be fine tomorrow night.”
Seguin has taken two maintenance days in recent weeks to deal with the injury: Nov. 3 in Calgary and Tuesday in Frisco.
So the Stars’ practice lineup looked like this, per DallasStars.com’s Mike Heika…
The Dallas Stars won for the first time in regulation this season, 5-2 against the Philadelphia Flyers at the American Airlines Center on Saturday.
Dallas (5-6-2) had won three games in overtime and one in a shootout.
“It’s one [game],” Stars forward Joe Pavelski said. “We understand we can’t get it all back in a week. We just have to keep going out there and focus on what we are doing day to day.”
“You don’t want to have 60 shots [against] every game,” Khudobin said. “It’s the bottom line. But if you are, then what else do you have to do? You have to go and stop every shot. If there’s 20 shots, great. It’s kind of your night off.”
According to Natural Stat Trick, Dallas entered the game with an average of 29 scoring chances per game and netted 31 on Saturday. The Stars typically get 10 high danger scoring chances per game and finished with 13 on Saturday.
Those are clearly bumps, but is it enough to explain the goal push? Bowness said he’s not quite sure yet.
“They were just going in,” [Stars coach Rick] Bowness said. “We’ve had those nights before where we’ve had that many shot attempts and shots at the net and quality chances. They just didn’t go in, and tonight they went in.”
Bowness believes the team has created plenty of scoring chances in the past two seasons, and just hasn’t found the poise or the creativity to score. Last season, Dallas ranked 12th in scoring chances and 18th in scoring. This year, Dallas is up about three scoring chances per game, but still ranks middle of the pack.
Dallas averaged 2.79 goals per game last season and is at 2.38 this year.
Now, all of this is a small sample size, but does it speak to the issue of how does the team score more?
Long story long, Dallas is a high-octane team that probably hasn’t scored as much as it would like, and, all things being even, they should at least possess the personnel to be an explosive-scoring team against the Wings, should Detroit’s focus wane.
Absent game previews from the Associated Press or Field Level Media, which won’t post until 4 or 5 AM, I’ll also direct you to Stars coach Rick Bouwness’s 8:48 Monday press conference, per the Stars’ website…
As well as a conversation with former Red Wing Luke Glendening;
Glendening will play his first game against his former team on Tuesday night when the Stars host the Red Wings. Glendening spent the first eight seasons of his NHL career in Detroit before signing a two-year contract in Dallas over the summer.
Save for one year of boarding school, Glendening is a Michigan lifer: born in East Grand Rapids, went to college at Michigan, played for Grand Rapids in the AHL and then Detroit in the NHL.
“I grew up a [Red Wings] fan,” Glendening said. “I got to live out my dream of playing for them for eight years. I have a ton of respect for the people in the organization. It’s a big game for this team. I don’t want to take anything away from that. We need the two points, and that’s the goal for tomorrow.”
Glendening has scored four goals this season, tied for second-most on the team behind Tyler Seguin’s five tallies. He said his relatives “were the biggest Red Wings fans when I was there, but they might be the biggest Dallas Stars fans in Michigan now.”
And there is one more topic that we need to touch upon before all is said and done: this will be the first meeting between these teams since Jamie Benn ended Dylan Larkin’s season and complicated his summer with a nasty cross-check to the back of Larkin’s neck…
So it will be “interesting” to see how the teams respond.
The Detroit Red Wings lost a 5-3 decision to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday, and they head to Dallas to battle the Stars on Tuesday night (8:30 PM EST on ESPN+/hulu/97.1 FM), and here’s hoping that the Red Wings take out their frustrations on Dallas, because damn, was Monday’s loss frustrating.
Detroit blew 2-0 and 3-2 leads over the course of this game, and between a bad 2nd period and struggles to hang on in the 3rd, the Wings were growling after Monday’s result…as were the fans.
Which is a good thing. Last year, the Red Wings blowing a 2-goal lead, rallying to take a 3rd-period lead and then losing that lead was disturbingly and deflatingly routine. This season, both the players, the coaching staff and the fans feel that the kind of loss that the Red Wings experienced Monday is below expectations, if not completely unacceptable, and that’s refreshing (albeit in a weird way).
Glendening will play his first game against his former team on Tuesday night when the Stars host the Red Wings. Glendening spent the first eight seasons of his NHL career in Detroit before signing a two-year contract in Dallas over the summer.
Save for one year of boarding school, Glendening is a Michigan lifer: born in East Grand Rapids, went to college at Michigan, played for Grand Rapids in the AHL and then Detroit in the NHL.
“I grew up a [Red Wings] fan,” Glendening said. “I got to live out my dream of playing for them for eight years. I have a ton of respect for the people in the organization. It’s a big game for this team. I don’t want to take anything away from that. We need the two points, and that’s the goal for tomorrow.”
Glendening has scored four goals this season, tied for second-most on the team behind Tyler Seguin’s five tallies. He said his relatives “were the biggest Red Wings fans when I was there, but they might be the biggest Dallas Stars fans in Michigan now.”
Ken Holland receives his Honoured Member plaque from Steve Yzerman and is welcomed to the Hall#HHOF2020 | ? Dave Sandford/HHOF pic.twitter.com/t3ixtB3Tz8— Hockey Hall of Fame (@HockeyHallFame) November 16, 2021
The Detroit Red Wings attempted to begin their 4-game road trip with a victory opposite the pesky Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Detroit Red Wings lost 5-3 to the Columbus Blue Jackets, in an incredibly frustrating fashion. Detroit had a 2-0 lead, blew it, got a 3-2 lead, blew it, and Columbus scored consecutive goals at 15:42 of the 3rd (a Chinakov breakaway) and 18:41 (a Werenski floater) to un-break the tie and take a 4-3 lead that was salted away by a Texier empty-netter.
It didn’t feel fair, frankly, because Lucas Raymond scored 2 goals, Thomas Greiss was wonderful for two periods, and the Red Wings had a fabulous 1st period, a terrible 2nd period, and a good 3rd…But the Blue Jackets capitalized on their chances, and that was that.
BUMMER LOSS for a team for whom expectations have changed.
The Stars’ game Tuesday night against the Red Wings can only be watched on ESPN+ and Hulu, subscription-only streaming services. The game will not be televised on Bally Sports Southwest.
Leah Hextall will handle play-by-play duties and Kevin Weekes will serve as the analyst. John Buccigross, Ryan Callahan and John Tortorella will be in studio for intermission reports. The game will also be available in Spanish on ESPN+, with play-by-play announcer Toño Valle and analyst Ethan Benezra on the call.
…
The inclusion of ESPN+/Hulu is new this season during the first year of the television deal between ESPN and the NHL. ESPN+/Hulu will exclusively carry 75 games throughout the NHL season, and also airs every out-of-market game.
Ken Kal and Paul Woods will still call the game on 97.1 the Ticket if you want a hometown call.
Via Paul Kukla of Abel to Yzerman comes the following: The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro posted the attendance numbers for each and every one of the NHL’s 32 teams, and the Red Wings are having some concerns:
There are COVID-related concerns in these markets. The Penguins and Red Wings, for example, didn’t put in COVID-related protocols for fans when it comes to tests and vaccinations out of fear they would push away certain parts of their fan base.
Detroit also has a season-ticket holder contingency based in Canada that hasn’t been able to cross the border as easily because of the COVID-protocols. With a more relaxed border, it’ll be interesting to see how that impacts the number at the gate for Detroit moving forward.
Continued; I know that the Canadian fan issue has been a big concern because the Red Wings are offering $75 PCR COVID tests for their Canadian fans so that they can cross the border and go back home. Those tests usually cost $185-200.
Defenseman Troy Stecher (upper body) was on the ice for Monday’s morning skate, but it remains to be seen if Stecher will be able to return to the lineup. Stecher hasn’t played since Nov. 4 in Boston, and Monday’s game was to be the sixth consecutive game he’s missed.
Being able to practice was a positive step. But whether Stecher can play over the pain is the key question.
“He’s trying to work through the injury and see if he can not have to take significant time off,” Blashill said. “If he chooses either of the other routes (surgery), he’s going to have to take significant time off. The fact he’s out there is a good sign. The big step would be shooting (the puck), so we’ll see.”
Seven fan-favorite dogs return for this year’s calendar, including 2020 NHL Fan Choice Award nominee, Aspen Bertuzzi
The Detroit Red Wings and our friends at PetSmart are excited to announce that the Pucks for Paws Calendar is back! The fan-favorite wall calendar features your favorite Red Wings players with their four-legged friends.
Calendars are on sale now through January 31, 2022 for $20 apiece. This year’s calendar is available for online purchase only. In addition, a limited number of exclusive Pucks for Paws-branded collars, leashes and bandanas are available to purchase for just $3 per item. Proceeds from this year’s calendar and merchandise sale will benefit PetSmart Charities and the Detroit Red Wings Foundation.
The Detroit Red Wings Foundation, an affiliate of Ilitch Charities, is committed to providing funds and resources to worthy causes that contribute to the growth of the sport of hockey.
PetSmart Charities is the leading funder of animal welfare. Their grants and efforts connect pets with loving homes through adoption, improve access to affordable veterinary care and support families in times of crisis with access to food, wellness resources and emergency relief.
