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.
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It was on October 29, 1947, in a game at Chicago Stadium when Gordie Howe first skated out on the ice for an NHL game wearing the No. 9 he’d make legendary on the back of his Red Wings jersey. The Red Wings won 5-2, although Howe was held off the scoresheet.
For the first four games of the 1947-48 campaign, sophomore Howe wore the No. 17 he’d donned during his NHL rookie season. The No. 9 was made available when it became apparent that contract holdout Roy Conacher, who’d worn No. 9, wouldn’t be back with the the team. Eventually, Conacher was dealt to the Blackhawks.
Offered No. 9, Howe originally resisted. He was finally convinced to make the switch after learning the players with single-digit uniform numbers were assigned the larger lower berths on the train during road trips.
For those keeping score at home, Mr. Hockey scored 779 of his club-record 786 goals as a Red Wing while wearing No. 9.
There are some rivalries that are best summarized with the city name. For me, on this Michigan vs. Michigan State Game Day, my focus is up Highway 401, toward the first sports rivalry I really embraced: Detroit vs. Toronto.
My first hockey game as a Red Wings fan took place 30 years ago vs. Toronto at Joe Louis Arena, and
The Leafs “Took an Optional,” as Mike Babcock was wont to do before big games, per the Toronto Sun’s Terry Kohsan…
#Leafs optional this morning. Muzzin, Holl among those taking it.— Terry Koshan (@koshtorontosun) October 30, 2021
And TSN’s Mark Masters:
Jake Muzzin among those taking part in the Leafs optional skate this morning
Others on the ice this AM: Spezza, Sandin, Kerfoot, Bunting, Kampf, Holl, Campbell, Hutchinson pic.twitter.com/KisY2qSniZ— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) October 30, 2021
The Free Press’s Helene St. James and MLive’s Ansar Khan posted morning columns chronicling aspects of the Red Wings’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers last night.
“We stuck with it, kept finding a way,” said goalie Alex Nedeljkovic after making 29 saves. “Suits got a great trip. It sucks like hell to lose like that. You give up a breakaway goal, it’s tough to swallow. But guys played awesome.”
The Wings rallied from a two-goal deficit to win in overtime Wednesday at Washington.
“We’ve got a great group of guys,” Nedeljkovic said. “We’re playing some great hockey. We have a good group in there and we believe in ourselves. We’re not just going to roll over.”
The Red Wings dropped a 3-2 overtime decision to the Florida Panthers on Friday, but the above-posted video from AWood40 on YouTube certainly illustrates a level of resilience in the Red Wings that we haven’t seen in years previous.
As The Athletic’s Max Bultman suggests, the road gets tougher for the Red Wings from here on out, with a back-to-back game vs. Toronto in Leaf Land kicking off a 4-games-in-8-nights road trip–and a November schedule in which the Red Wings play 11 times (in 8 different cities!) in 19 days–but, for one night, at least, the hockey team from Detroit looks like a team that’s willing to do the dirty, sometimes painful work necessary to compete:
[The shift] did not, in the end, lead to a win. It likely won’t bring any solace as the Red Wings fly to Toronto overnight, for another game Saturday. But that sequence of swallowed pucks and frantic battling was the latest, best indication of the identity the Red Wings seem to be developing early in the 2021-22 season.
“I think it’s a little bit telling of our team, the amount of sacrifice that you saw on that shift,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “Certainly that’s not the exact way we want to play D-zone, but when you have a big block and the guy’s down, all of the sudden you get a little frantic. And then another guy’s down, you get a little more frantic. So it was chaotic, but I also think, as you could tell from the crowd’s response, that was pretty awesome what those guys did.
“The way they laid it on the line — Erne was hurt on the first block, and he stayed in there and blocked another one. I think it’s a good example of what our team’s been about: We want to sacrifice more than other teams to win hockey games, and that’s what we’re going to have to do in order to be successful.”
In all, Detroit blocked 23 shots Friday. That’s not a solely positive stat, as it does also speak to the amount of shots the first-place Panthers were able to take to begin with. But there’s no question it illustrates a willingness to sacrifice on the Red Wings part, and Erne and Fabbri left no doubt on that shift that they’d keep doing so to win.
Continued (paywall); this year’s Wings team may not make the playoffs, but 8 games in, they’re in the games they’re playing, and that’s exciting.
In the WHL, Sebastian Cossa stopped 26 of 27 shots, earning second star honors as the Edmonton Oil Kings won 3-1 over the as-until-tonight unbeaten Winnipeg Ice;
The Red Wings are coming into Toronto having flown overnight into Lester B. Pearson Airport, having dropped a 3-2 OT loss to the Florida Panthers on Friday night;
None other than Leafs GM Kyle Dubas called upon his team to snap out of a cold start on Friday, as the Toronto Sun’s Terry Koshan noted:
“I don’t think anybody wants to hear any words about what the (antidote) is or what we’re going to be doing,” Dubas said on Friday. “It’s all in our actions and how we play — our focus, our work ethic, our attention to detail.”
The Leafs won their most recent outing, 3-2 in overtime in Chicago against the Blackhawks on Wednesday. But Dubas rightfully lumped that in with the three previous games. Each was a loss, and none featured much inspiring play by the Leafs. Having to come back to beat a winless Chicago team after falling behind 2-0 didn’t exactly have the Leafs yelling with pride from the rooftops.
“Everyone saw (the past four games), there’s no reason to run from it or hide from it,” Dubas said. “I think everyone’s tired of hearing from us about what we’re going to do.
“It’s about going out (Saturday) night and all through this home stand and getting back to work. The team has shown what they’re capable of going back to last season, the regular season, the beginning of this year.
“My hope is that we’re able to use this to go through and endure some difficulty and some question marks and some criticism and learn how to deal with that well and help propel us forward.”
The Detroit Red Wings will tangle with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/CBC/97.1 FM) after taking a bit of a punch to the gut in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers on Friday night.
The Red Wings rallied valiantly from a 2-0 deficit to force overtime, but were victimized by standing still on their blueline in OT–affording a home-run pass from Jonathan Huberdeau to Aleksander Barkov, who made no mistake:
That being said, the Red Wings’ ability to battle through this sequence of Panthers shots was remarkable:
For the Panthers, the night’s result was both earned and appropriate, given that interim coach Andrew Brunette had to step in to relieve Joel Quenneville, as Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards noted:
Tyler Bertuzzi’s decision not to get the COVID-19 vaccine means he cannot cross the border under current regulations. The Wings are at Toronto Saturday, and at Montreal Tuesday. During the four days they are in Canada, In addition to two games, Bertuzzi will miss a practice, and is responsible for arranging and paying for his own way to Boston, where the Wings play Nov. 4.
“It’s up to him if he wants to skate,” coach Jeff Blashill said Friday. “We have a plan in place that he will follow according to what he wants. He will be by himself.”
The Wings will not pay Bertuzzi, the NHL’s sole unvaccinated player, while he misses team activities in Canada. Bertuzzi is making $4.25 million this season. Divided over the 200-day pay schedule the NHL uses, that works out to $85,000 gross over four days. (That does not include escrow, taxes, and agent’s fee.)
Actions have consequences, and if Tyler is comfortable with losing $450,000 in gross pay to not take a shot, that’s his call.
The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap the 7-0-and-0 Florida Panthers’ winning streak as the Wings embarked upon a stretch of 2 games in 2 nights on Friday.
Detroit put together a valiant effort, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to tie the Panthers 2-2 and force overtime on goals by Sam Gagner and Moritz Seider–and 29 stops by an excellent Alex Nedeljkovic–but Alex Barkov snuck behind Bertuzzi, Fabbri and Leddy standing stationary at the Wings’ blueline, and he scored a backhand, top shelf game-winner.
The result was incredibly disappointing, but the process was damn fine.
