Author: George Malik

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!

Red Wings-Maple Leafs game #1 Tweeetcap: Wings win 3-1 despite 0-7 power play and Stolarz’s saves

The Detroit Red Wings and an NHL-level Toronto Maple Leafs team took to the ice at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday night for the first of 2 exhibition games to close out the teams’ respective preseason slates.

The Red Wings dressed a roster combining NHL’ers and prospects who’ve made a good impression over the course of the first 6 exhibition games, while the Leafs dressed their NHL roster…

On Thursday night, the Red Wings won a strange game. Toronto opened the scoring only 2:08 into the 1st, with Auston Matthews scoring a power play goal…

But Detroit was awarded a total of 7 power plays, including 52 seconds of 5-on-3 time and a 4:00 double-minor for high-sticking to Brandon Carlo. Detroit did not score on any of their power plays…

But the Red Wings stuck with it, in no small part due to a superb performance by Cam Talbot, and the Red Wings scored 3 3rd period goals–Dylan Larkin (from Chiarot and Finnie) scored at 5:04, Alex DeBrincat scored (from Brandsegg-Nygard) at 12:28, and Emmitt Finnie scored an empty-netter on a stretch pass from Moritz Seider at 18:37…

Affording Detroit a 3-1 victory. Detroit out-shot Toronto 43-20, but Anthony Stolarz was excellent, preventing the Wings from scorching Toronto with power play markers.

1ST PERIOD: Here are the starters and official rosters, with Andrew Copp earning a turn on the Larkin-Raymond pairing, and Simon Edvinsson returning from injury:

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs game #1 Tweeetcap: Wings win 3-1 despite 0-7 power play and Stolarz’s saves

Red Wings-Blackhawks Game #2 Tweetcap: Wings’ penalty-kill stars in 3-1 victory over Chicago

The Detroit Red Wings hoped to snap a 2-game losing streak as they battled a stacked Chicago Blackhawks lineup on Tuesday evening, with the Wings dressing 2 NHL forward lines and a mostly prospect-heavy lineup.

On Tuesday night, the Red Wings were not necessarily on their best behavior, so Detroit was out-penalized 6 to 1, but J.T. Compher opened the scoring (from Soderblom) only 3:36 in, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard scored (from Larkin and ASP) at 9:16 of the 1st, and Lucas Raymond scored on a slick play from a coming-out-of-the-penalty-box Jonatan Berggren at 16:24 of the 2nd, and while Colton Dach broke Cam Talbot’s shutout 2:53 into the 3rd, Talbot stopped 27 more shots…

Affording Detroit a 3-1 victory, and snapping a 3-game losing streak.

Detroit killed all 6 Blackhawks power plays, and Dylan Larkin did exit the game for a period of time in the 3rd (as per Darren Pang of CHSN), but he returned during the Wings’ sixth penalty-kill and looked really good overall.

This was perhaps Axel Sandin Pellikka’s best game, Mason Appleton looked really solid, Jacob Bernard-Docker was strong, and Elmer Soderblom was a force to be reckoned with. That, and Talbot played like he knows his job is on the line, as did Berggren.

1ST PERIOD: The teams dressed the following rosters, starters included:

Continue reading Red Wings-Blackhawks Game #2 Tweetcap: Wings’ penalty-kill stars in 3-1 victory over Chicago

Health update: stupid bug persists

Hi, everybody. I wanted to let you know that I’m still trying to recover from this cold/virus/flu type thing.

It’s been miserable to deal with the symptoms thereof (fever, congestion, body aches and pains, fatigue), but it’s been worse to miss hockey stuff and talking about hockey with you as the preseason continues. I’ve been able to do “Tweetcaps,” but it takes a full day of recovery afterward.

My aunt’s also got a really bad back issue, so whether I’m back on Friday or not, I’m going to be spending from about 1 PM until 5 PM at Aunt Annie’s doctor’s office as she’s a real mess in her own way.

I hope all of you are doing well and I want you to know that I’m doing everything I can to get back to work ASAP.

Red Wings-Blackhawks game will stream on DetroitRedWings.com, ESPN+

FYI: Tonight’s preseason game between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks (8 PM EDT start) will air on both DetroitRedWings.com and ESPN+ (CHSN feed) outside Chicago.

Update: Here’s the Red Wings stream:

https://www.nhl.com/redwings/video/detroit-red-wings-live-stream-6336964314112

Red Wings-Penguins game #2 Tweetcap: Pens’ youngsters out-play a ‘stronger’ Detroit team, win 2-1 decision as a result

The Detroit Red Wings took on a fairly strong Pittsburgh Penguins team as the second “half” (read: four games) of the exhibition season began on Monday night.

Before heading to Chicago tomorrow (8 PM EDT start on ESPN+), Detroit wanted to assuage a bit of a stinker of a loss on Friday to Pittsburgh, and the Wings iced about half an NHL team’s worth of players vying for spots on the big club, and half a roster’s worth of players jockeying for AHL duties in Grand Rapids.

On Monday night, the Red Wings plain old played a weird hockey game, losing 2-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins despite a late goal from Dominik Shine via Ian Mitchell’s half-boards steal.

John Gibson was excellent in stopping 18 of 20 shots against, but he just didn’t get that much help in terms of stifling the Penguins’ possession and control in the offensive zone, and as both teams went 0-for-2 on the power play, the Wings’ “better lineup” got out-worked, out-hustled and out-executed by a “lesser” Penguins team.

Pittsburgh surged out to a 2-0 lead in the game’s first 24:38, leaned a bit on Tristan Jarry, who was both good and bailed out by a crossbar and goalpost, and the Pens just out-worked Detroit for about 55 of the game’s 60 minutes.

1ST PERIOD: The teams dressed the following rosters:

Continue reading Red Wings-Penguins game #2 Tweetcap: Pens’ youngsters out-play a ‘stronger’ Detroit team, win 2-1 decision as a result

Red Wings-Sabres preseason game #2 Tweetcap: Buffalo’s ‘A Team’ outworks Detroit’s ‘B+ Team’

The Detroit Red Wings played their 3rd game over the course of 3 days on Saturday, taking on a stacked Buffalo Sabres lineup with the Kasper line and Copp lines up front, the Chiarot-Johansson pair on defense, and Sebastian Cossa in goal.

Buffalo would win 5-2. This one was a real head-scratcher, because the DeBrincat-Kasper-Kane line was excellent, generating both Red Wings’ goals (Kane from DeBrincat and Kasper form Chiarot and DeBrincat), the Rasmussen-Copp-Appleton line was good defensively, Albert Johansson had a hell of a game, working with Ben Chiarot, Axel Sandin Pellikka was good…

Did it come down to goaltending? Sort of. Sebastian Cossa was not at his best at times, surrendering 4 goals on 20 shots against, while Alex Lyon was better, stopping 26 of 28, but the Wings also gave up a tremendous number of scoring chances via odd-man rushes and plain old territorial advantage as the Sabres cycled, regrouped, and cycled in Detroit’s zone over and over again.

To me, given that most of the team didn’t play in Pittsburgh the previous evening, coach Todd McLellan is likely to discuss why the Wings dropped a 2-0 lead to Buffalo in the first 12:17 of the game, and why the Wings could not stop Tage Thompson (2 goals, 1 assist) or Josh Norris (1 goal, 2 assists) from there on out. Preparation was an issue here, and execution was another.

For everybody, from Cossa on out.

1st period: The teams started the following players:

Continue reading Red Wings-Sabres preseason game #2 Tweetcap: Buffalo’s ‘A Team’ outworks Detroit’s ‘B+ Team’

Red Wings-Penguins game #1 Tweetcap: Despite Gibson’s strong ‘first half,’ Wings surrender a 2-0 lead, lose 3-2 to Pittsburgh

Neither the Detroit Red Wings nor the Pittsburgh Penguins dressed their “A Teams” on Friday night. Pittsburgh was preparing for Marc-Andre Fleury’s farewell game on Saturday vs. Columbus, and Detroit found itself away from Little Caesars Arena, in the middle of a 3-games-in-3-nights stretch…

Nonetheless, a preseason game remains an important “teaching tool” for the coaching staffs and an opportunity for the team’s players, both young and not-so-young, to make good impressions upon the coaches, front office, and anybody else working for another team in the stands.

And the result was a 3-2 victory for the Pittsburgh Penguins in which they rallied from a 2-0 deficit to the Red Wings over the course of the second half of the game.

John Gibson was excellent in the first half for Detroit, stopping 13 of 14 shots in 31:48 of play; Michal Postava didn’t have much help defensively while stopping 4 of 6 shots. Detroit’s power play went 1-for-3 in 4:23, and the PK went 3-for-4.

John Leonard scored two VERY nice goals for the Red Wings to open the scoring, but the Red Wings could not dent Arturs Silovs in the second half of the game, despite out-shooting Pittsburgh 7-6 over the final 28:12.

This was also a very penalty-happy game, with Detroit taking 7 penalties and Pittsburgh taking 6.

All of that being said, in a game that means nothing in terms of the standings and very little other than watching the team’s prospects compete for jobs, Emmitt Finnie had a hell of a game, playing 18:16; Leonard had 4 shots, as did try-out Justice Christensen, and Erik Gustafsson had 3 shots and 6 attempts; Carter Bear, Alexandre Doucet and Carson Bantle all had 4 hits; Travis Hamonc blocked 3 shots; and J.T. Compher went 11-and-7 (61%) on faceoffs. Gustafsson led the Wings in ice time at 21:16.

Overall, the kids looked okay–Nate Danielson admittedly looked a little gassed playing his 3rd game in 4 nights, while William Wallinder and Antti Tuomisto had their moments, they were out of position on the Penguins’ power play game-winner, and J.T. Compher, Jonatan Berggren and a couple other guys didn’t play like their jobs depended upon their effort, though Elmer Soderblom was impressive, and Dominik Shine was his plucky self.

Really, the highlight of the game was Gibson’s steady and sometimes spectacular play, and between his fine outing and the Wings’ youngsters showing fairly well, that’s what the team will take forward.

Tomorrow, the Wings’ “A Team” heads to Buffalo to take on the Sabres at 4 PM, and the game will air on DetroitRedWings.com.

1st period:

Continue reading Red Wings-Penguins game #1 Tweetcap: Despite Gibson’s strong ‘first half,’ Wings surrender a 2-0 lead, lose 3-2 to Pittsburgh

Red Wings-Penguins game won’t be streamed tonight

FYI: Per the NHL’s media website, tonight’s Red Wings-Penguins affair (7 PM EDT start) will air on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit, Sportsnet Pittsburgh, the NHL Network and Sportsnet Pacific…

But because it’s an NHL Network game, there will be no stream on ESPN+ or any other streaming service.

Update: I’ve been told that the game’s on Sportsnet + in Canada, but there’s still no U.S. streaming option.

Red Wings-Sabres preseason game #1 Tweetcap: Detroit cruises past the Sabres 5-2 thanks to vets & youngsters

The Detroit Red Wings dressed their “A Team” for Thursday night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, and yes, Dylan Larkin scored a goal, Lucas Raymond had 2 assists, Andrew Copp had a goal and an assist, and Detroit cruised to a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres…

But Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Axel Sandin Pellikka, Emmitt Finnie, Amadeus Lombardi and the Grand Rapids Griffins-contracted Jacob Truscott all had good games, Michal Postava pitched a 10-save shutout in the second half of the game, and the youngsters looked very, very bright as Detroit ended up going 3-for-5 on the PK and 1-for-4 on the PP.

Cam Talbot also had 6 stops; Mason Appleton opened the scoring on a shorthanded goal at 5:39; Brandsegg-Nygard scored from Sandin Pellikka and the also quite good Nate Danielson; Jacob Bernard-Docker’s “around the world” play yielded Dylan Larkin’s game-winner; and Moritz Seider led the team with 21:48 played, landing 5 hits, tied with Finnie for the team lead in that regard.

Long story long, for the second time in 3 nights, the Red Wings out-worked, out-hustled and out-executed their opponents.

Now Detroit will send one team to Pittsburgh tomorrow afternoon for the 7 PM game on Friday night (on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit), and then another team to Buffalo for a 3 PM matinee on Saturday (on DetroitRedWings.com).

1st period: The Red Wings came out with some “oomph”…

Continue reading Red Wings-Sabres preseason game #1 Tweetcap: Detroit cruises past the Sabres 5-2 thanks to vets & youngsters