Author: George Malik

The Red Wings posted a quick recap of some of the festivities from Tuesday night’s 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets, including Lucas Raymond’s first NHL goal, Tyler Bertuzzi’s 5th goal of the season, and a nasty little hit from Moritz Seider:

What a night.#LGRW pic.twitter.com/R12wRdbx39— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 20, 2021

The Grand Rapids Griffins posted a clip of both their tribute to captain Brian Lashoff, who played in his 500th AHL game last season, as well as the on-ice ceremony in which he was given a framed piece of artwork, a Shinola watch, and an all-expenses paid trip to the Bahamas:

The Detroit Red Wings got back to work after last night’s big win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at LCA this afternoon.

The Red Wings are preparing for a nasty stretch of 3 games to be played over the course of 4 nights against struggling teams–versus Calgary (0-1-and-1) on Thursday, at Montreal (0-and-4) on Saturday night, and at Chicago (0-3-and-1) on Sunday.

MLive’s Ansar Khan was the first to weigh in with lines from Wednesday’s practice:

#RedWings lines and D pairs in practice before facing Calgary tomorrow at ⁦@LCArena_Detroit⁩
Bertuzzi-Larkin-Raymond
Fabbri-Suter-Zadina
Namestnikov-Rasmussen-Erne
Smith-Stephens-Gagner
Rowney
DeKeyser-Hronek
Leddy-Seider
Staal-Lindstrom
Oesterle-Stecher pic.twitter.com/qGoRZ1RMQl— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) October 20, 2021

The Free Press’s Helene St. James said, “Hello”…

Red Wings practice, host Calgary Thursday. Looks like lineup stays same. Wings 2-0-1. pic.twitter.com/d2PnGFC5aq— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) October 20, 2021

Lars Thorsell on Twitter brought this to my attention: Red Wings player development specialist Niklas Kronwall spoke with Rakapuckar’s Henrik Lehman this morning, addressing all things Frolunda Trio-related.

According to Lehman, Kronwall drove to Gothenburg on Wednesday to visit with Frolunda’s three Red Wings players–Simon Edvinsson, Theodor Niederbach, and Elmer Soderblom, and here’s what he had to say, roughly translated from Swedish:

Red Wings legend Nicklas Lidstrom appeared on Bally Sports Detroit’s broadcast last night…

Detroit Red Wings icon, @NicklasLidstrom joins us LIVE during the second. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/XsnJrA78w3

— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) October 20, 2021

And 97.1 the Ticket’s Will Burchfield took note of Lidstrom’s remarks:

Lidstrom had the pleasure of watching Seider frequently last year in the Swedish Hockey League. The Hall of Famer was once in the same position as the up-and-comer, a 19-year-old defenseman playing against grown men in the top league in Sweden. Except Lidstrom didn’t dominate the league like Seider did. Lidstrom wasn’t named Defenseman of the Year. And Lidstrom didn’t graduate to Detroit the following season — and notch three points in his first three NHL games.

“I don’t think I was ready to play at his level when I was 20,” Lidstrom said. “I did play in the SHL, the highest league in Sweden, but I wasn’t as good as he was then.”

So if Lidstrom won seven Norris Trophies, you can mark down Seider for eight. If Lidstrom won four Stanley Cups, you can bet Seider will win five. If Lidstrom was the greatest defenseman of his generation, you can bet Seider will be the greatest defenseman … ever. In all seriousness, Seider clearly belongs in the NHL. He doesn’t turn 21 until April and he’s already logging north of 21 minutes per night. And this isn’t the product of playing on a bad team. (In fact, the Red Wings might be good!) This is Jeff Blashill’s best blueline in seven seasons behind Detroit’s bench, and its best player might be Seider.

“He’s really poised with the puck,” said Lidstrom, maybe the most poised puck-handler of all time. “He was a junior player last year and he played against men, but he was holding his own. He actually was initiating a lot of toughness, playing hard to beat, hard in front of the net. And he would join the rush when there was an opportunity, he would be an offensive player when there was a chance to do that.”

Continued

Updated at 10:00 AM: This morning, MLive’s Ansar Khan focuses on on Lucas Raymond’s first NHL goal, scored in last night’s 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets:

“I had some really nice looks today and especially this time of the game you want to score to help the team,” Raymond said. “Of course, you want to get that first goal. It’s something real special and it’s awesome, a special night.”

Raymond opened the scoring at 6:17 of the third period, taking a pass from Dylan Larkin and wiring a wrist shot over goaltender Joonas Korpisalo’s glove on the short side.

Shortly after that, Raymond side-stepped a check in the neutral zone and made a nice touch pass to Larkin, who set up Tyler Bertuzzi’s goal at 8:53, his fifth of the season, which proved to be the winner.

“Those are a couple of dynamic offensive plays,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “The one thing (Raymond) does pretty consistently is play a complete game. That earns trust and you get minutes. Are there parts of his game that have to get better? A hundred percent. And he knows it, especially moving his feet. He’s a real cerebral player, sometimes he can get caught just thinking his way through the game instead of thinking and moving his feet.

“Him and (fellow rookie Moritz) Seider both have a real good combination of confidence but yet real calm people and real respectful, real good inner drive. They’re not entitled people. I think (Raymond) has got a maturity beyond his years. That’s certainly going to help him as he goes through any upcoming trials and tribulations he’ll face.”

Continued; may it be the first of many goals for Raymond.

Update: There’s more from the Free Press’s Helene St. James…

The Detroit Red Wings out-shot, out-puck-possessed and out-played the Columbus Blue Jackets for the vast majority of Tuesday night’s 4-1 victory, but Joonas Korpisalo ensured that the Red Wings had to wait until the 3rd period to break through Columbus’ stalwart back-up goaltender.

Break through, the Red Wings did, and no goal was prettier than Lucas Raymond’s first NHL marker:

Raymond’s goal was the breakthrough marker some 6:17 into the 3rd; Tyler Bertuzzi’s 5th goal of the season was the actual game-winner, assisted by Larkin and Raymond, and Thomas Griess did have to make some big saves before and after Boone Jenner’s shutout-denting goal, but when the Blue Jackets pulled Korpisalo, the Wings scored a pair of empty-net markers, from Vladislav Namestnikov and Adam Erne, and that was that.

Detroit ultimately out-shot Columbus 45-23, out-attempted Columbus 63-50, and this year’s Red Wings team was willing to out-wait Columbus as well, with patience, poise and resolve, and last year’s team was absent quite a bit of those qualities, giving Red Wings fans a lot of hope–though it’s far too early to make any snap judgments about this team’s long-term potential.

If tonight’s game is any indication as to how the regular season will progress, however, it will at least be entertaining, and the Red Wings’ fan base hasn’t been entertained by its hockey team in some time now.

Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen told the Associated Press that his team couldn’t find enough energy to beat Wings…

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to defeat a team that’s had its number of late in the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night–Columbus’ record vs. Detroit was 11-3and-2 over the past 16 meetings–and Joonas Korpisalo sure as hell made the Red Wings’ life hard.

That being said, the Red Wings were patient as Korpisalo pitched a 31-save shoutout over two periods, and in the third period, Lucas Raymond scored his first goal, Tyler Bertuzzi scored his fifth, and when Boone Jenner scored a PPG marker to make it 2-1, Detroit responded with a pair of empty-net goals by Vladislav Namestnikov and Adam Erne to take a 4-1 decision.

Ultimately, Detroit out-shot Columbus 45-23, Detroit out-attempted Columbus 63-50, and Detroit did lose Raymond to a dirty check by Jack Roslovic, and we’re all waiting for an update there…

Lucas Raymond on hit: “I feel good. I hit the boards, but happy I’m OK.”— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) October 20, 2021

Raymond said it was just protocol for him to get looked at but he feels good after the hit. #LGRW @DetroitRedWings— Daniella Bruce (@daniellabruce_) October 20, 2021

But this was a complete game by the Red Wings, and Detroit’s now 2-0-and-1 heading into a stretch of playing 3 more games over the course of the next 5 days.

Enjoy:

Enjoy:

Detroit Red Wings icon, @NicklasLidstrom joins us LIVE during the second. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/XsnJrA78w3— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) October 20, 2021

Vintage Nick. @NicklasLidstrom | @DetroitRedWings pic.twitter.com/BxWNiZs9NG— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) October 20, 2021