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Two-and-a-half hours and counting

Here comes the pregame hype:

Red Wings arrive at Stadium Series in Johnny Gaudreau jerseys; Blue Jackets led by Gaudreaus into Ohio Stadium

Very cool:

Ditto for Columbus:

Video link: The NHL’s Fourth Star of the Month, Red Wings fan Hank Stawasz

The NHL posted a video of their “Fourth Star of the Month,” Red Wings “sign guy” Hank Stawasz. It’s a cute video.

Update:

Coach McLellan wants his team to play the Stadium Series game on an even keel

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills posted a game preview ahead of tonight’s game between the Red Wings and Blue Jackets at Ohio Stadium (6 PM EST start on ESPN/TVA Sports/FX-CA/97.1 FM), and Mills noted that Red Wings coach Todd McLellan doesn’t want his team to take this game too seriously:

“This is a big spectacle,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “We’re talking a lot about it. It’s buildup. It’s unreal for both organizations and all the players involved. But when we get done here, we’re going to start talking about our next game against Carolina [Hurricanes]. If you put more value on the two points than any other night, you’re cheating a game in the future, or you’ve cheated a game in the past.”

Preparing for what marks the franchise’s fifth outdoor NHL game, Detroit aims to bounce back from a 5-2 loss to Columbus at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday.

“Areas that we had a pretty good idea we didn’t play well in showed up in the video,” McLellan said when asked about his thoughts on Thursday’s game. “Some nights, as a staff, you’re tricked, and you maybe played better than you thought or else you weren’t as bad in certain areas. We struggled in a few areas, and we’ve tried to address them.

“The thing with our club is we have played better in those areas. We can do it. It’s not like we’re asking them to do something we can’t. It’s something they have done and can do. We’ll try and improve.”

Because the Red Wings hold themselves to a high standard, DeBrincat said they weren’t pleased with their performance on Thursday, and he expects them to “to be better” on Saturday.

“A lot of mistakes and turnovers early in the game,” said DeBrincat, who is riding an eight-game point streak with six goals and six assists in that span. “It cost us. I think we need to work on the battles in front of our net. I think they had a couple goals like that and just take away some sticks when they get shots from the point. Obviously, blocking shots from the point as well.”

Continued

What about the outdoor conditions?

The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton asks three questions related to tonight’s Stadium Series game between the Red Wings and Blue Jackets (6 PM EST start on ESPN/TVA Sports/FX-CA/97.1 FM), and the second question is the most pertinent one:

For whatever advancements the NHL has made in building a rink up to their standards outdoors, the league’s open-air games nonetheless tend to promote spectacle and environment over the hockey itself.  Despite the league’s best efforts, the game inevitably takes on a different tone and tenor to standard NHL fare, in large part because of lesser ice conditions.  The forecast for puck drop at 6 PM presently looks just about optimal: 29 degrees and mostly cloudy, though the forecast also calls for 15 mile-per-hour winds, a not insignificant potential variable.

In his Friday comments, McLellan pointed to three key variables in taking NHL hockey outside: ice (the most obvious), boards, and general spatial awareness.  The league’s short-term outdoor rinks tend to take away from the predictability of pucks bouncing off the boards, inviting potential for some chaos.  Meanwhile, to the note on spatial awareness, shifting the backdrop dramatically (fans at much greater remove than they would be in an NHL arena and an unconfined space) is perhaps the biggest disruption to normality on a shift-to-shift basis, making it impossible to see the game (in the most literal sense) as identical to any other regular season game.

McLellan, predictably, emphasized that the novel environment shouldn’t disrupt Detroit’s focus, saying,  “Some of the players are in awe of it a little bit…but once the puck drops, it’s hockey.  It’s just played in a different environment.”

Meanwhile, the Ohio Stadium backdrop on campus at Ohio State invites a collegiate feel.  In his Friday remarks, Larkin—a proud University of Michigan alum—quipped that the environment is “probably the ugliest stadium I’ve ever been in, but it’s cool to play hockey outside.”  Detroit has also equipped itself with skate guards in U-M’s traditional maize and blue, as the Red Wings look to replicate the Wolverines’ recent success at the Shoe.

Continued; the key to outdoor hockey is to play simple and to play north-south hockey. The ice, boards and glass are unpredictable, perspective is off, and simpler is better.

Friday’s practice helped the Red Wings acclimate to outdoor ice

A little belated: DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills spoke with several Red Wings players and coach Todd McLellan about the importance of yesterday night’s practice at Ohio Stadium in terms of acclimating the Wings to the outdoor rink:

As enjoyable as Friday’s outdoor practice was, skating at Ohio Stadium was also very beneficial. Hitting the ice at 6:30 p.m., a later start time than any practice Detroit has scheduled this season, helped the players get a feel for the ice itself, weather conditions and sightlines they’re set to experience during Saturday’s highly-anticipated clash.

“It doesn’t feel the same when you’re on the ice surface as it does in a building,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “Add the crowd, and they’re further away yet they’re noisy. I think for those players that have played in it, it’ll come back quicker. For the new ones, I jumped on the ice with [goalie] Alex Lyon, and he was like a kid in a candy shop. ‘So cool,’ I think he said.”

Practicing in front of empty stands, the Red Wings know their surroundings will be very different in roughly 24 hours, when 90,000-plus fans are expected to pack Ohio Stadium.

“I don’t think you really know what that’s going to feel like,” Marco Kasper said. “It’s going to be awesome. I haven’t even watched a game with that many people. I’ve watched some soccer games with a lot of people, but I don’t know if there’s been that amount. It’s going to be really fun.”

The Red Wings want to earn a measure of revenge on Columbus, too:

Detroit dropped a 5-2 decision to Columbus at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday. With the loss, the Red Wings saw the Blue Jackets move into a tie with them for the Eastern Conference’s first Wild-Card spot.

“There’s still a lot of hockey to be played,” Larkin pointed out. “We were in this situation last year where we let it slip, and it got to a point where it ultimately wasn’t in our control at the end of the season. Right now, we still control our own destiny. We got to get back on the horse and start winning some games again.”

Continued

On Kane’s ‘family skate’

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen spoke with Red Wings forward Patrick Kane after the Wings held a “family skate” at Ohio Stadium last night:

Being on the rink never gets old for Kane who has long had reputation of being a rink rat.

“It’s cool. I remember the first time I took [Patrick II] on the ice and skated with him,”  Patrick said “Everyone’s like, ‘watch, watch’
 Bending over so much and picking him up. And I didn’t think anything other than the next day, my lower back was in pain. So I kind of let (partner) Amanda do all the work today and just sit back and enjoy just being out there with Amanda and Patrick and my sisters as well. That’s the cool part about these events. You know, it’s an important game. It’s a fun atmosphere. Ties in with the Michigan -Ohio State rivalry, too, and you can enjoy your family.”

As sentimental as as the game is for the Kane family, the NHL Kane has not lost the importance of the game. He’s 1-5 in previous outdoor games with the Chicago Blackhawks. He needs this win.

“Obviously, this one, it has a lot at stake to it, especially with them
coming into our building (Thursday) and taking two points from us,” Kane said. “We’d like to do the same to them here in Columbus.”

Continued