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David Backes to have hearing for Nielsen hit

From Sportsnet’s Steven Young:

 

Prospect round-up: On a scrappy night, Cholowski posts 2 assists, Rasmussen scores and Smith gets in trouble

In the KHL, Alexander Kadeikin finished at -1 in 11:47 played as Lokomotiv Yaroslavl won 3-2 in overtime over Torpedo Nizhny Novogorod. Lokomotiv leads the best-of-7 series 3 games to 0.

In the Finnish Liiga, Julius Vahatalo won 11% of his faceoffs in 9:29 played as Jukurit won 2-1 in overtime over Lukko;

In the SHL, Christoffer Ehn had an assist and finished at +1 with 2 shots, winning 28% of his faceoffs in 15:49 played during the Frolunda Indians won 2-1 over the Vaxjo Lakers;

In the OHL, Givani Smith scored a goal on 7 shots and got into trouble for shoving a linesman during a fight as his Kitchener Rangers won 5-2 over Sarnia;

In the WHL, Lane Zablocki did not play in the Victoria Royals’ 7-3 win over Spokane;

Michael Rasmussen scored a goal but finished at -1 with 8 shots, 8 minutes in penalties (4 for slew-footing, 2 for embellishment and 2 for unsportsmanlike conduct) and an 8-for-13 faceoff record in the Tri-City Americans’ 4-3 loss to Seattle;

And Dennis Cholowski had 2 assists and finished at +1 on 4 shots in the Portland Winterhawks’ 4-3 win over Prince George. Cholowski, who was the Cougars’ captain before he was traded to Portland, was named the game’s first star.

Prospect news: It looks like Givani Smith may be in some trouble after pushing a linesman

This entry is a composite in that it comes from a couple of different sources. Winging It in Motown’s Kyle McIlmurray posted a .gif of Wings prospect and Kitchener Rangers forward Givani Smith doing something very stupid during a fight–pushing a linesman…

I pulled up the box score of the Rangers’ 5-2 win over Sarnia, and somewhat ironically, Smith scored a goal in the game, and got 2-and-5 for roughing and fighting, with no penalty given for abuse of officials…

But a Tweet from Sportsnet’s Neate Sager led me to the Kitchener-Waterloo Record’s Josh Brown’s blog, where I found this…

– One minus: Expect Givani Smith to get a suspension for shoving linesman Dustin McCrank in the last minute of the second period. Things that may help Smith’s case – he didn’t try to hurt McCrank, the linesman was getting in the middle of a fight and may have slipped a bit on the play. But contact is contact and, under the rules, it carries a minimum 10-game suspension.

And after the game, Rangers coach Jay McKee spoke with Brown about the incident–and this is where things get complicated:

Continue reading Prospect news: It looks like Givani Smith may be in some trouble after pushing a linesman

Red Wings-Bruins wrap-up: Wings do a whole lot of learning in comeback against, OT loss to B’s

The Detroit Red Wings were unable to snap the Boston Bruins’ hex over them, losing 6-5 in overtime on Tuesday night…

But the Red Wings displayed a hell of a lot of pluck over the course of the second 30 minutes of play, and Detroit rallied from 2-0 and 4-2 deficits to ultimately tie the game at 5-5 halfway through the 3rd period.

To the victors go the spoils–and the good feelings, as you’ll eventually read–and the Bruins spoke proudly of their efforts, as the Patriot-Ledger’s Mike Loftus noted:

Continue reading Red Wings-Bruins wrap-up: Wings do a whole lot of learning in comeback against, OT loss to B’s

So, was David Backes head-hunting here?

Video via KK: I’m not sure what to think about this one. David Backes, something of a notorious head-hunter in Wings-Blues history, caught his shoulder on Frans Nielsen’s chin with this hit, and Nielsen left the game:


Per DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji:

It started out as a pretty good night for Red Wings center Frans Nielsen.

Nielsen cut the Boston Bruins’ lead to 2-1 at 2:16 of the first period when captain Henrik Zetterberg found him in the slot. Nielsen beat Boston goaltender Anton Khudobin glove-side. It was his 14th goal of the season and 150th of his career.

Unfortunately, Nielsen was not able to build on that as David Backes hit him in the Detroit end along the boards with 11.2 second left in the first period.

Detroit athletic trainer Piet Van Zant rushed to Nielsen’s side and helped him off the ice.

Update:

Update: Here’s more from St. James:

Continue reading So, was David Backes head-hunting here?

Red Wings-Bruins quick take: Marchand the rat stifles a wonderful rally by a surprisingly plucky Wings team

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a 7-game winless streak against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday evening. Detroit faced a streaking Bruins team that attempted to battle through injuries to Patrice Bergeron, Tuukka Rask and Charlie McAvoy.

The Red Wings are now winless in 8 games against Boston, with the Bruins scoring in OT to defeat the Wings 6-5, but Detroit rallied from 2-0 and 4-2 deficits to tie the game at 5 on a Martin Frk marker halfway through the third…

Anthony Mantha had 2 goals and 2 assists, Tyler Bertuzzi was a pest who had 2 assists, Dylan Larkin was excellent with 8 shots, 12 attempts and an assist, Mike Green had a goal and an assist, Henrik Zetterberg was inspired as well and Jimmy Howard bailed out Jared Coreau by helping Detroit salvage a point against a Bruins team now 15-1-and-1 against Detroit. The Wings were physical, heavy on the puck, determined defensively when they weren’t giving up goals, and the 3rd period was one of the Wings’ better periods over the last month.

A lot of Wings fans will complain about this game, but I feel that the Wings have earned some good marks for effort and execution despite the disappointing result.

Continue reading Red Wings-Bruins quick take: Marchand the rat stifles a wonderful rally by a surprisingly plucky Wings team

Monroe: Walleye looking to add an offensive defenseman via trade

The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe reports that the Toledo Walleye hope to add an offensive defenseman to the mix before the ECHL’s trade deadline passes on Thursday:

While Toledo has charged to the top of the overall ECHL standings with a 40-14-5 record, Walleye coach Dan Watson is not content with the current makeup of his roster. The second-year head coach has made it abundantly clear that he would like to shore up his defensive corps.

“I think we’re still a deal away,” Watson said. “Obviously with the amount of forwards we have right now, we’ll be looking to get a high-end D-man.”

The goaltending is more than solid with the ascension of vet Pat Nagle to clear-cut No. 1 status. His teammates and coaches have the utmost confidence in the calm and confident Nagle, who leads the ECHL in wins.

The offense remains as steady as ever with an average of 3.24 goals per night. In fact, Watson believes the abundance of quality forwards should allow him to let go of a high-end offensive weapon.

It’s clear it will be one of the team’s top producers. “100 percent,” Watson confirmed.

Continued

Red Wings-Bruins game-day articles: B’s adjust to injuries; Frk looking to reestablish spot in Wings’ lineup; Coreau gets a start

Updated 3x at 3:03 PM: The Detroit Red Wings battle the Boston Bruins this evening (7:00 PM on NBCSN/Sportsnet/TVA Sports/NESN/97.1 FM), and the morning skate revealed that the Wings will start Jared Coreau opposite Anton Khubodin, with Martin Frk drawing into the lineup as well.

The Bruins are a little shaken up after finding out that Charlie McAvoy will miss a month with a sprained MCL (Patrice Bergeron and Tuukka Rask will also miss tonight’s game), but the Boston Globe’s Kevin Dupont notes that the B’s haven’t exactly had a hard time winning games this year:

NHL.com posted a Bruins morning skate update:

Continue reading Red Wings-Bruins game-day articles: B’s adjust to injuries; Frk looking to reestablish spot in Wings’ lineup; Coreau gets a start