Author: George Malik

The Detroit Red Wings begin their second 2-game series of the year against the Florida Panthers on Sunday (3 PM EST start on FSD/FS Florida/97.1 FM), a team that handed Detroit consecutive losses a week ago at Little Caesars Arena. The next two games will take place at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida tomorrow and Tuesday.

Detroit is mired in a 6-game road losing streak and an 8-game winless streak (0-6-and-2), coming off a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and while the Wings did practice on Saturday, details are scant relating what happened away from home, other than the fact that Jonathan Bernier and Tyler Bertuzzi remain sidelined with upper-body injuries.

Figuring out details about the Panthers is harder than usual this evening: the 6-0-and-2 Panthers are technically unbeaten, though they did “lose” a 6-5 OT decision to Nashville on Thursday before rebounding with a 2-1 win on Friday to split their latest series.

As a result of the team playing back-to-back games on consecutive nights, the Panthers did not practice on Saturday, and neither team will hold a morning skate on Sunday due to the early start time.

Field Level Media offers a very good game preview:

Of prospect-related note from Europe on Saturday:

In Belarus, Kirill Tyutyayev finished even with 2 shots and a minor penalty taken in Yunost Minsk’s 3-2 win over Neman Grodno;

In the Finnish Liiga, Kasper Kotkansalo finished at -1 with 3 shots in 18:36 played as Assat Pori won 5-2 over the Lahti Pelicans;

Victor Brattstrom served as the back-up in KooKoo’s 7-2 win over JYP;

In the SHL, Rogle BK won 3-2 in a shootout vs. Lulea Hockey minus Moritz Seider. HD.se, behind a paywall, hinted that Seider might return after the Beijer Hockey Games in mid-February, which clicks with all the other hints that Rogle BK’s website and other publications have suggested that Seider will be back around Valentine’s Day;

Joe Veleno finished at -2 with 2 shots in 15:53 played as the Malmo Redhawks lost 3-0 to Brynas;

Albert Johansson finished even in 17:23 played as Farjestads BK lost 3-2 to Linkoping;

Albin Grewe played only 3:01 in Djurgardens IF’s 3-2 loss to Vaxjo;

Jonatan Berggren had an assist, finishing at +1 with 2 shots in 14:49 played as Skelleftea AIK won 4-1 over Oskarshamn. As usual, IceHockeyGifs on Twitter has it covered:

Jonatan Berggren finds Hugg with a backhand pass, 4-1 Skellefteå and Berggren's 38th point of the season. pic.twitter.com/nHnt3B9nJI

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) February 6, 2021

And Lucas Raymond finished even with 5 shots on goal in 17:41 played, and Elmer Soderblom finished even with 2 shots in 12:41 as the Frolunda Indians lost 3-2 to Leksand. Rakapuckar had Raymond demoted to the 4th line, so he flexed his muscles a bit.

Update: Also, in the Swedish Allsvenskan, Theodor Niederbach finished even with 1 shot in 21:17 played (per the game summary) and William Wallinder finished with 2 shots in 14:43 (per the game summary) in MODO Hockey’s 2-1 OT win over Vita Hasten.

The Red Wings practiced on Saturday at the BB&T Center ahead of their two-game set against the Florida Panthers (starting Sunday at 3 PM EST), and Bobby Ryan and coach Jeff Blashill were made available for Zoom calls on Saturday afternoon.

Ryan told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan that the condensed schedule has done the Wings no favors in terms of attempting to stop the snowball that is the team’s 8-game winless streak:

“Everything is happening so quick, and you’re in a funk, or teamwise, or me personally, getting trouble getting the puck on the net right now, you need reps to get out of it,” Ryan said. “A lot of times when you’re practicing on a day like today, we play at 3 (p.m.) tomorrow (Sunday), you can’t really get to work on the details as much as you’d like. You have to get moving and get some shots on the goalie and get a chance to install (schematics) but other than that, you’re really saving it for the next night all the time.

“That’s the downside of where we’re at, but more so this year. We’re seeing a lot more video and things like that and that’s where you’re at right now, that’s just the way it is. It is more difficult, but we have to accept it.”

Kulfan continues; coach Blashill also weighed in on the steps that the team has taken forward, as noted by DetroitRedWings.com’s Brett McWethy…

This is just a move to give the taxi squad enough players for a non-game day:

UPDATE: Forward Givani Smith has been assigned to the #RedWings taxi squad.

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 6, 2021

After the Red Wings practiced on Saturday, Bobby Ryan and coach Jeff Blashill spoke with the media via Zoom calls:

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a “the morning after” notebook article which reflects upon the Red Wings’ 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night. Khan notes that both coach Jeff Blashill and captain Dylan Larkin suggested that the way the Wings played in Friday’s game is in fact the way they need to play to win games regularly:

“That’s the formula for us to be successful,” coach Jeff Blashill said following his team’s 3-1 loss at Amalie Arena. “We just have to make sure our preparation is great. Our guys know we can play this type of hockey and have a chance to be successful. Do we need to find ways to score? Yes. But we have to be in games like this every night, and if we are, you give yourself the best chance to win.”

The Red Wings (2-7-2) are winless in seven (0-5-2) but felt much better about their effort than two nights earlier in a 5-1 loss to the Lightning.

“I’m proud of the way we showed up after a tough night,” Dylan Larkin said. “We played hard. You saw guys all over the ice finishing checks. It makes a difference when we’re bumping them. They’re a skilled team. They want to play with the puck and when we’re finishing them and making it hard on (goaltender Andrei) Vasilevskiy and going after their defensemen, they don’t think as much about offense and playing with the puck. We have to continue that gritty style of game and be hard to play against.”

Continued (paywall); I’m sticking with my argument that the Wings’ current style of play can be modified to be more assertive. As I see it, right now, the Wings are still far too comfortable waiting for a good break to happen instead of dictating the pace of play or the outcome of the game themselves.

The Grand Rapids Griffins played for the first time in eleven months on Friday, and all did not go well for the Griffins, but they gave the Chicago Wolves a battle in the form of a 3-1 loss at the Triphahn Center on Friday night.

The Griffins’ website has posted both a recap and highlight clip:

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – Kyle Criscuolo provided an early spark in his first game with the Grand Rapids Griffins since hoisting the Calder Cup in 2017, but the Chicago Wolves responded with a goal in each period to take a 3-1 win in the 2020-21 season opener for both teams at the Triphahn Center Ice Arena on Friday.

Criscuolo opened the scoring 7:38 into the first period, cashing in assists from newcomer Riley Barber and Michael Rasmussen to tap the puck through Antoine Bibeau’s pads for a power play tally. Tom Novak answered on a pinball goal with 1:34 left in the frame, the only puck the Wolves could get past Pat Nagle despite a 12-5 advantage in shots over the first 20 minutes.

Of prospect-related note in North America on Friday:

In the USHL, Kyle Aucoin finished at -2 with 2 shots in the Muskegon Lumberjacks’ 6-4 loss to Team USA;

Cross Hanas finished even with 1 shot–and 15 minutes’ worth of penalties for a check to the head–in his return to the Lincoln Stars’ lineup. Lincoln lost 3-2 to Des Moines;

Chase Bradley finished at -1 with 4 shots in the Sioux City Musketeers’ 3-2 loss to the Omaha Lancers. Kienan Draper finished even for Omaha;

In NCAA Hockey, Sam Stange finished even with 1 shot in the University of Wisconsin Badgers’ 4-1 win over the University of Minnesota;

Keith Petruzzelli stopped 30 of 31 shots in the Quinnipiac Bobcats’ 4-1 win over St. Lawrence;

Seth Barton finished at -1 with 2 shots in the UMass-Lowell Riverhawks’ 2-1 loss to New Hampshire;

Robert Mastrosimone finished at -1 with 3 shots, and Ethan Phillips didn’t play in the Boston University Terriers’ 4-3 OT loss to Boston College;

And Antti Tuomisto finished even with 1 shot in the University of Denver Pioneers’ 3-1 win over the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

The Detroit Red Wings’ 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday, their 8th straight defeat and 18th loss of some sort to Tampa Bay, was not as frustrating as usual, but it was still innervating to watch the Red Wings continue to wait for their breaks instead of creating their own momentum.

This Tyler Bertuzzi-less team seems to be missing a “straw that stirs the drink” or two, and the Red Wings’ demonstrativeness is simply absent at present. They’re very happy to nurse ties and live down a goal or two, looking for their right opportunity to come to them instead of influencing the outcome of the game themselves.

So the 2-8-and-2 Red Wings head southeast toward Miami, where the unbeaten Florida Panthers await for a matinee game on Sunday (3 PM EST start; Florida is 6-0-and-2 and won 2-1 over Nashville on Friday) and another affair on Tuesday, and the Wings only win in Sunrise at the BB&T Center slightly more often than they do in Tampa (almost never), so the road gets no easier for Detroit.

In terms of Friday’s game, the strangest part is that both teams felt that the Red Wings played very well. In Tampa Bay’s case, it was a matter of preventing the Red Wings from achieving their desired results, as they told TampaBayLightning.com’s Bryan Burns:

The Detroit Red Wings dropped a 3-1 decision to the Tampa Bay on Friday, and after the game, Dylan Larkin and coach Jeff Blashill spoke with the media via Zoom calls:

Fox Sports Detroit also posted a short clip of Mickey Redmond’s remarks: