Author: George Malik

Red Wings prospect Theodor Niederbach won’t be playing in the Four Nations Cup with the Swedish World Junior Championship team due to an unfortunate hit suffered in yesterday’s Frolunda HC-Skelleftea AIK game…

Theodor Niederbach left today’s game early and did not return after these hard-to-watch scenes. pic.twitter.com/bOMbqyJ7ao

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) November 6, 2021

And Niederbach spoke with Hockeysverige.se’s Leo Buttafuoco Ohlsson regarding the incident. What follows is roughly translated from Swedish:

Niederbach on the hit: “I remember everything”

Theodor Niederbach suffered a hit in the game against Skelleftea AIK yesterday, and he had to be carried from the ice while bleeding. This morning, the Junior Crowns announced that the 19-year-old will miss the last preparatory tournament before the World Junior Championship. Now he tells Hockeysverige.se about the hit, the injury and the offer.

“It is of course very boring and I had looked forward to taking a turn and playing with the national team,” he says.

During this season, Theodor Niederbach has broken into the SHL, and come to play in all of Frolunda’s games. Yesterday, he had an accident where he was hit and fell with his head hitting the ice. The blow was bad and the 19-year-old was helped off the ice after he tried to stand up on his own, and fell.

Despite the nasty pictures, Niederbach feels better than he himself had expected.

“It’s good considering the circumstances, and so on. I’m a little sore in my eyebrow area and have a slight headache, but otherwise it’s okay,” he says to Hockeysverige.se.

Red Wings prospect Theodor Niederbach took a hard (but legal) hit on Saturday while playing for Frolunda HC, as illustrated by IceHockeyGifs on Twitter…

Theodor Niederbach left today’s game early and did not return after these hard-to-watch scenes. pic.twitter.com/bOMbqyJ7ao

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) November 6, 2021

This morning, Rakapuckar.com’s Henrik Lehman reports that Niederbach won’t take part in the Four Nations Cup as a result of his injury, and Simon Edvinsson (supposedly ill; some people believe he has a concussion) is iffy for the final pre-World Junior Championship warm-up for Team Sweden as well:

The message that Theodor Niederbach will not play for the junior national team next week came from the Swedish Ice Hockey Association today. Simon Edvinsson’s health will determine whether he goes to Angelholm [for training camp ahead of the tournament from November 12-14] or not. I maintain that a little mental rest for the 18-year-old wouldn’t hurt.

a) Frolunda has won 3 games without him;

b) But Frolunda’s offense has been worse without him.

Lehman is referring to the pause in SHL play between today and November 18th, which takes place in part because the Karjala Cup (for the men’s national team team) and the Four Nations Cup (for the national junior team) take place from November 10th-14th.

Update: For the record, I opened Rakapuckar.com and translated what Mr. Lehman had on his website long before I opened up Twitter to see this from Red Wings Prospects:

Niederbach won’t play at next weekend’s U20 tournament following his injury. Edvinsson is still on the roster but hasn’t yet returned to play with Frölunda, so Wallinder could end up being the only Red Wing on that team. https://t.co/jU0Q8uKQA6— Red Wings Prospects (@DRWProspects) November 7, 2021

Sometimes different sources find the same news on their own. If I find something from Red Wings Prospects, I make sure to cite him (it’s a him).

The Detroit Red Wings rallied from a 3-1 third period deficit to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 in overtime last night, and the Wings headed home from their 4-game road trip to host the Vegas Golden Knights this evening (6 PM EST on Bally Sports Detroit/ATT Sportsnet Rocky Mountain/97.1 FM).

Vegas has won 5 of its past 6 games, and they most recently defeated Montreal 5-2 on Saturday night.

Of Red Wings-related note this morning:

1. AWood40 posted a 14-and-a-half-minute long highlight clip of last night’s game:

2. The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a subscriber-only article chronicling the Wings’ win over Buffalo, noting that Moritz Seider spoke of relief regarding his team winning (as they continue to play 11 times in 17 nights) instead of patting himself on the back for scoring his first NHL goal:

The NHL Network’s NHL Tonight crew broke down Moritz Seider’s first goal, a.k.a. the game-winner in Saturday’s 4-3 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres:

The Detroit Red Wings are coming off a 4-3 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres, and they will get right back at ‘er on Sunday, using that “extra hour” of time* to prepare for a home engagement against the Vegas Golden Knights (6 PM EST start on Bally Sports Detroit/ATT Sportsnet Rocky Mountain/97.1 FM).

The Red Wings now stand at 5-5-and-2 after 12 games of play, and Vegas enters tonight’s game at 6-and-5, having won 5 of their past 6 games. This will be the first meeting of the season between the teams, who will meet again on November 18th in Sin City.

Vegas rallied from a 2-0 deficit and a 20-to-1 shot deficit to win a 5-2 decision over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night, and Laurent Broissoit is scheduled to start opposite Thomas Greiss tonight as Robin Lehner stopped 36 Montreal shots on Saturday.

Absent a morning skate for both teams, most likely, we’ll examine Vegas’s win over the Canadiens, which was a rematch of last Spring’s Stanley Cup Semifinal.

In terms of video highlights, for those of you who are visual learners, here are Sportsnet’s Vegas-Montreal highlights…

The Detroit Red Wings may or may not have earned their 4-3 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres, but they took it nonetheless, and coming into Saturday night’s tilt 0-3-and-1, sometimes you have to just take those “unearned” victories and run with them.

Detroit comes home for a 4-game home stand that begins tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights (6 PM EST on Bally Sports Detroit/ATT Sportsnet Rocky Mountain/97.1 FM). Vegas rallied from a 2-0 deficit and a 20-to-1 shot deficit in their first period vs. Montreal to take the Canadiens 5-2 on Saturday, so it will be interesting to see who comes out and takes Sunday’s affair.

As far as Saturday’s effort is concerned, Detroit rallied from a 3-1 third period deficit on the strength of a pair of Tyler Bertuzzi markers, and Moritz Seider’s game-winning OT goal was his first…

But if the Red Wings had not received fine goaltending from Alex Nedeljkovic, who stopped 29 shots, I’m not sure we would have seen the Wings recover after Pius Suter’s first-shift goal was buried by 2 2nd period goals scored in 1:04, and a 3rd period-marker by a man whose name is legally spelled Arttu Ruotsalainen.

Lucas Raymond had a game of his own, assisting on 3 of the Wings’ 4 goals; Bertuzzi added a helper for a 4-point night, and the pairing of Nick Leddy and Filip Hronek played close to (and over) 25 minutes, so Detroit may have found a 1A/1B pairing on defense…

And the Sabres, who were without several of their own marquee names, sounded quite a lot like the Red Wings in their assessments of Saturday night’s loss, as the Buffalo News’s Lance Lysowski noted:

Of prospect-related note in North America on Saturday:

In the ECHL, the Toledo Walleye held their home opener on Saturday, and Red Wings prospect Kaden Fulcher stopped 22 shots en route to a 6-0 Walleye shutout over the Kalmazoo K-Wings.

The Walleye’s website and the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe provide recaps, and the Walleye also posted a highlight clip and an interview with Fulcher:

Elsewhere, in the QMJHL, Jan Bednar stopped 29 of 31 shots as the Acadie-Bathurst Titan won 3-2 over Halifax;

Oscar Plandowski finished at -1 with 3 shots in the Charlottetown Islanders’ 4-3 win over Blainville-Boisbriand;

In the OHL, Pasquale Zito did not play in the Windsor Spitfires’ 3-2 win over Erie;

In the WHL, Sebastian Cossa was the back-up in the Edmonton Oil Kings’ 3-2 win over Calgary;

Cross Hanas finished even with 3 shots as his Portland Winterhawks lost 3-1 to the Vancouver Giants, who did not have Alex Cotton in the lineup;

In the BCHL, Kienan Draper had an assist, finishing even with a penalty taken in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 4-3 loss to Powell River;

And in NCAA Hockey, Carter Gylander was the back-up in the Colgate Raiders’ 5-1 loss to the Harvard Crimson. Kyle Aucoin finished at +1 for Harvard;

Chase Bradley finished even with 4 shots in the UConn Huskies’ 3-2 win over Maine;

Sam Stange finished at -1 in the University of Wisconsin Badgers’ 4-1 loss to Minnesota;

Ethan Phillips had an assist, finishing at +1 with 1 shot in the Boston University Terriers’ 6-2 loss to Northern Michigan University. Robert Mastrosimone finished at +1 with 1 shot;

Red Savage finished at –1 with a 5-for-18 faceoff record in the Miami of Ohio Redhawks’ 4-1 loss to the University of Nebraska-Omaha;

Cooper Moore finished at -1 with 3 shots in the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks’ 4-1 win over the University of Denver Pioneers. For Denver:

Shai Buium finished at -2 with 1 shot;

Carter Mazur finished at -2;

And Antti Tuomisto did not play for Denver.

The Grand Rapids Griffins won a tight game on Saturday night, building a 2-0 lead on goals by Tyler Spezia and Taro Hirose, and then hanging on for a 2-1 win over the Rockford IceHogs thanks to a 21-save effort by Calvin Pickard.

The Griffins’ website posted a game recap:

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a 4-game winless skid as they took on the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

The Detroit Red Wings probably didn’t earn their win, fumbling a 1-0 lead into a 3-1 deficit heading into the 3rd period, but the Red Wings’ talent took over, with Tyler Bertuzzi scoring 2 3rd-period goals, and Moritz Seider scoring his first NHL goal to make it a 4-3 overtime victory.

FIRST CAREER NHL GOAL.
OVERTIME GAME-WINNER.

MO. SEIDER. pic.twitter.com/yJkDR5CGCE— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) November 7, 2021

Detroit is arriving. Seider, Raymond, Bertuzzi, Larkin are high end. They need to hit pretty big on 4 more draft picks to play or use to big game trade hunt; the have enough solid guys to fill out the rest. they are ready to add UFAs. Just got to make the right bet. https://t.co/xRZcZ8F2Eh— Bucci Mane (@Buccigross) November 7, 2021

The Red Wings got going on a first-shift goal by Pius Suter, assisted by Lucas Raymond and Tyler Bertuzzi, but Buffalo crawled back into the 1st period, had a huge second, scoring 2 goals, and by the time Arttu Ruotsalainen had scored the 3-1 marker some 6:08 into the 3rd, it felt like the game was over.

Instead, Tyler Bertuzzi was given two great feeds Danny DeKeyser and then Pius Suter–set up by Lucas Raymond both times–as Detroit scored 2 goals in 1:30, and in overtime, Moritz Seider came off the bench (on a sketchy change) and made no mistake on the feed from Bertuzzi.

That being said, without the play of Alex Nedeljkovic, who stopped 29 of 32 Sabres shots, the Red Wings played far too sloppily and loosely defensively to win. Detroit just earned its luck the old-fashioned way–they lucked their way out to some extent, and earned the rest because the Red Wings were more talented than the Sabres.

In no small part thanks to Bertuzzi, Raymond and Seider.

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in Europe today:

In the Finnish Liiga, Eemil Viro finished even with 2 shots in 17:53 played as TPS Turku lost 4-1 to Tappara;

In the SHL, William Wallinder had 2 assists, finishing at +1 with 2 shots in 17:07 played as Rogle BK lost 4-3 in overtime to Linkoping;

Wallinder's assist on the 1st goal of the game. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/FHndcvfmuu

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) November 6, 2021

William Wallinder with his 2nd assist of the game and 7th point of the last 8 games. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/vfsIlbSaYV

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) November 6, 2021

Elmer Soderblom scored a goal on 7 shots, finishing at +1 in 19:50 played as Frolunda HC won 3-1 over Skelleftea AIK:

Elmer Söderblom got the game-winning 2-1 goal, he was also looking for another one on this play #LGRW pic.twitter.com/4fgcbJRowc

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) November 6, 2021

Staffan Kronwall on the right is 6'4" (194cm). pic.twitter.com/QvDqLi4n23

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) November 6, 2021

Simon Edvinsson (illness) did not play;

Theodor Niederbach played only 34 seconds, taking a hard hit and hitting his head on the ice (Aftonbladet’s Fredrik Anderson confirms the injury):

Theodor Niederbach left today's game early and did not return after these hard-to-watch scenes. pic.twitter.com/bOMbqyJ7ao

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) November 6, 2021

And Liam Dower Nilsson finished even in 8:21 played.

Finally, Albert Johansson finished even with 1 shot in 19:16 played as Farjestads BK lost 3-2 to Orebro.