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Red Wings-Blackhawks Tweetcap: Bertuzzi’d

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a 2-game losing streak as they hosted the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon. Chicago entered today’s game on a 2-game winning streak, and they boasted a 7-5-and-3 record.

At Little Caesars Arena, Detroit laid an egg on Sunday, losing 5-1 to a Chicago Blackhawks team that is, save Connor Bedard, no more talented than the Red Wings.

What was the difference? Arvid Soderblom stopped 44 of 45 shots, because he saw almost all of them;

Detroit’s power play went 0-for-4 in 10:00 of PP time;

Chicago’s power play went 3-for-3 in 1:19 of PP time;

And Wings alumnus Tyler Bertuzzi got under Detroit’s skin as the Red Wings tried to make the same plays over and over again at both even strength and with the man advantage.

Everybody is of course freaking out and suggesting that the Red Wings need to blow up the team or throw it into the Detroit River, but as far as I’m concerned…

Coach McLellan was right 3 losses ago. Detroit’s soft between the ears, and a team that can play with anyone is losing because it’s losing the mental game and it’s playing lazy hockey.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Arvid Soderblom led their respective teams out onto the ice at LCA…

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Red Wings-Rangers Tweetcap: the Quick and the dead

The 9-and-5 Detroit Red Wings hoped to rebound from Tuesday’s loss to the Vegas Golden Knights by preying upon the struggling New York Rangers, whose 6-6-and-2 record included a 3-game-win-snapping 3-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

Both teams had rested for three days, so neither team had an advantage in terms of rest, recuperation, or preparation for Friday night’s game.

At Little Caesars Arena, well…

Red Wings coach Todd McLellan doesn’t believe that the first game after a West Coast swing is a trap game, but in the Red Wings’ case, it’s still a trap game. Between Jonathan Quick’s bedeviling of the Red Wings, Artemi Panarin’s 3-point night and the Red Wings’ inability or unwillingness to play hard, fast, Red Wings hockey in front of a legion of alumni…

Detroit lost a 4-1 decision that was incredibly disappointing, and dropped the Wings to 9-and-6.

Will Cuylle opened the scoring only 6:46 into the 1st on a power play marker from Zibanejad and Panarin, and while J.T. Compher would score a glorious goal at 11:06 from Appleton and Copp to tie the game…

The Rangers scored 3 consecutive goals, at 4:52 (Noah Laba) of the 2nd period, and then 7:29 (Panarin) and 8:27 (Lafreniere) of the 3rd.

Patrick Kane’s inability to beat Quick and two Rangers defensemen when Quick went out to play the puck would loom large in the loss…

And the Wings just didn’t have the gas in the tank, the work ethic or the mental fortitude with which to out-skate a Rangers team that wins on the road and cannot win at home.

The Chicago Blackhawks come to town on Sunday, and if the Red Wings want to win the Blashill Reunion Game, they’re going to have to play a hell of a lot better and a hell of a lot smarter–and they’re going to have to take their opponent much more seriously.

Having dozens of alumni in the building with their Stanley Cup rings doesn’t mean that you’re going to be able to win easy.

PREGAME: Cam Talbot and Jonathan Quick led their respective teams out onto the ice at 6:30 PM…

Continue reading Red Wings-Rangers Tweetcap: the Quick and the dead

Health update

Hi, everybody. I wanted to let you know that I’m still recovering from this flu bug, but appear to be making some progress toward a return.

The last four weeks have been both fatiguing and incredibly physically painful. The pain has been almost too much to bear at times, and that’s why I’ve been gone for so long.

It’s incredibly frustrating to miss so much time, but when you’re in extreme discomfort, sometimes all you can do is rest and recover.

I miss you all and I miss covering hockey, and I will return as soon as this stupid body cooperates with me.

Thanks for reading.

Red Wings-Golden Knights Tweetcap: Detroit’s shut out despite Gibson’s best game as a Wing (thus far)

The NHL’s schedule-makers saved the Red Wings’ biggest challenge for last in terms of difficulty of opponent for the team’s 5-game road trip.

On Tuesday night, the Red Wings headed into T-Mobile Arena to battle the powerhouse Vegas Golden Knights, with the Red Wings hoping to earn 4 of a possible 6 wins while battling Jack Eichel and Vegas’ plucky hockey team.

On Tuesday evening, Detroit would not beat the Vegas Golden Knights, but John Gibson’s 32-save performance ensured that the Wings weren’t run out of the building, either.

Vegas would take a 1-0 lead at 13:45 of the 2nd period, with Ivan Barbashev scoring a gorgeous backhand goal over Gibson’s blocker side, but in a game that was full of pulls, tugs and holds and not many power plays (Detroit had 2; Vegas had 1), the Red Wings struggled to battle the layers with which Vegas defends, Akira Schmid deserves credit for the 24-save shutout, and Detroit was just both too indecisive in the offensive zone and too turnover-prone south of the offensive blueline in order to secure a victory.

The fact that Detroit only won 32% of their 69 faceoffs didn’t help, and the Wings’ few power plays were lackadaisical and involved too much lateral passing instead of north-south, net-front hockey.

So the Red Wings head home with 3 of 5 and 6 of a possible 10 points, and Detroit will host the New York Rangers on Friday night and Chicago on Sunday.

PREGAME: Akira Schmid and John Gibson led their respective teams onto the ice at T-Mobile Arena…

Continue reading Red Wings-Golden Knights Tweetcap: Detroit’s shut out despite Gibson’s best game as a Wing (thus far)

Red Wings-Sharks Tweetcap: Detroit prevails in a shootout over the plucky Sharks

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to rebound from their Friday night loss to the Anaheim Ducks when they headed upstate to tangle with the speedy, youthful San Jose Sharks on Sunday evening.

The speedy Sharks are the kind of team that can embarrass an opponent that looks past them, so Detroit had to be on its collective toes.

On Sunday night, the Sharks almost “San Jose’d” the Red Wings, who prevailed 3-2 in a shootout.

Lucas Raymond would open the scoring at 18:05 of the 1st, scoring from Axel Sandin Pellikka and Dylan Larkin, but only 49 seconds into the 2nd, San Jose was able to tie the game when Jeff Skinner scored;

10:16 into the 3rd, Detroit looked to pull ahead as Moritz Seider scored his first of the season from Simon Edvinsson and assist machine Alex DeBrincat (11 helpers), and between the Wings’ out-shooting the Sharks and out-everythinging them stats-wise, it appeared that the Sharks were getting worn down…

But the young, fast Sharks weren’t out of it. Will Smith took a puck off Albert Johansson, raced toward the net, put the puck off Cam Talbot’s toe, wrapped around the net and found Sam Dickinson in the slot, and Dickinson scored the game-tying goal with 3:05 remaining…

Overtime would solve nothing, and in the shootout, James van Riemsdyk was the only person who scored on Alex Nedeljkovic or Talbot, ensuring that the Wings got an extra point that nearly eluded them.

PREGAME: Alex Nedeljkovic and Cam Talbot led their respective teams onto the ice at the SAP Center:

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Red Wings-Ducks Tweetcap: Anaheim tricks Detroit on Halloween

The Red Wings played in the back half of a back-to-back slate of games on Friday night, battling the Anaheim Ducks as Detroit started John Gibson in his return to Anaheim, opposite the goaltender he mentored for several years in Lukas Dostal.

With the Wings playing 3 games over the course of the last 4 nights, energy, fit and finish would be areas of focus for the team as they played the the dynamic, Joel Quenneville-coached Ducks.

On Halloween night, Detroit got tricked, not treated, and they got tricked in no small part by the referees. Troy Terry opened the scoring with a shorty at 4:53, Lucas Raymond tied it up at 8:19, and after Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish scored goals that were caused by ugly Detroit coverage halfway through the 1st and 6:35 into the 2nd, respectively…

A Moritz Seider goal which would have made it 3-2 was deemed “no goal” by the referees due to a supposed kicking motion by Seider.

While Detroit did get that 3-2 marker at 15:25 of the 2nd by Alex DeBrincat…

Anaheim got a weird goal deemed to be awarded because John Gibson pushed the net off the pegs only 55 seconds into the 3rd period, and Detroit could not convert on 3 3rd period power plays…

Eventually surrendering an empty-netter to Troy Terry at 17:28 of the 3rd.

Detroit went 1-for-7 in 11:02 of PP time, and gave up a shorthanded goal, which isn’t good enough; the Copp line was poor, the Wings gave up so many odd-man rushes off turnovers at the offensive blueline that it was silly, and…

This became a learning lesson type of game.

PREGAME: Lukas Dostal and John Gibson led their respective teams onto the ice at the Honda Center…

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Red Wings-Kings Tweetcap: Devil’s night shootout delight

The Red Wings began a difficult stretch of 3 games to be played over the course of 4 nights in the state of California on Thursday evening, facing off against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com arena.

On Thursday night and Friday morning, Detroit time, the Detroit Red Wings won a WILD game in Los Angeles, rallying from a 1-0 shorthanded deficit to the Kings, who opened the scoring 12:39 into the 1st shorthanded via an Alex Lafreniere goal…

By goals from Alex DeBrincat at 13:22 (on the same power play), Marco Kasper (on the second power play), and Kasper again at 14:45 of the 3rd…

But Los Angeles rallied with two even-strength goals with Darcy Kuemper on the bench, surrendering markers to Corey Perry at 17:47 of the 3rd and Quinton Byfield with only 1:33 remaining…

And everybody thought that Kevin Fiala chipped home the game-winner late in overtime, on a Kings power play, but his goal was negated for going into Cam Talbot’s crease by himself…

And Lucas Raymond scored in the shootout, Cam Talbot made three stops in the extra-extra-time session, and Detroit emerged with a 4-3 shootout victory.

PREGAME: Darcy Kuemper and Cam Talbot led their respective teams out onto the ice at Crypto.com Arena…

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Red Wings-Blues Tweetcap: Detroit fine-tunes a 5-2 win in St. Louis

The Red Wings hit the 10-game mark in St. Louis on Tuesday night, hoping to improve upon their 6-and-3 record by sweeping their home-and-home series against a St. Louis Blues team which would play without the services of injured forwards Robert Thomas and Jake Neighbours.

As the Wings embark upon a rough road trip which consists of 5 games to be played over the course of 8 nights, sometimes you’ve got to kick an opponent while they’re down, and that was the goal for the Wings in St. Louis.

On Tuesday night, the game started on a very sour note, as Brayden Schenn opened the scoring only 47 seconds into the 1st period, against the Larkin line, no less, but a fight by Travis Hamonic at 7:35 seemed to turn the momentum in Detroit’s way, and the Wings would score four consecutive goals–Ben Chiarot at 12:01 of the 1st, Alex DeBrincat at 19:24 on the power play, Larkin at 11:14 of the 2nd and Elmer Soderblom only 1:42 later in the 2nd–and while Jordan Kyrou’s 3rd period marker with only 4:24 left was a worrisome situation, Detroit killed a long 6-on-5 against, with Larkin scoring goal #8 (his 3rd point of the night) at 18:53 of the 3rd.

John Gibson stopped 20 of 22 shots for Detroit, and Lucas Raymond (2 assists) and Alex DeBrincat (1G, 1A) also had multi-point games…

But perhaps the biggest development of the game was the establishment of a big, steady fourth line in Elmer Soderblom, Michael Rasmussen and James van Riemsdyk, who played heavy, literally and figuratively.

4 more games in 4 more cities over the course of the next 7 nights won’t be easy, but Detroit’s road trip started off on the “right note” in St. Louis.

PREGAME: Jordan Binnington and John Gibson lead their respective teams out onto the ice at the Enterprise Center…

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Red Wings-Blues Tweetcap: Detroit rallies from a 4-0 deficit to win 6-4 over St. Louis

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a two-game losing streak as they opened a home-and-home series with the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.

Heading into their 9th game of the regular season, the Red Wings could “stick the landing” by improving their 5-3-and-0 record, or they could wander back toward becoming a .500 team.

On Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings somehow prevailed in a wild and woolly 6-4 victory over the Blues, snapping that 2-game losing streak.

St. Louis took a 4-0 lead on goals by Kyrou, Neighbours (2) and Buchnevich, but after the 2nd Neighbours goal at 3:12 of the 2nd period, coach McLellan called a timeout, and chewed out his team…

And the Red Wings slowly but surely climbed back, via a power play goal by Jonatan Berggren at 7:52, a pair of late-period goals by Finnie at 18:34 and Compher at 19:01 of the 2nd…

And in the 3rd period, Alex DeBrincat scored his first goal of the game on a glorious shot, and Simon Edvinsson would salt the game away with both a game-winner 47 seconds after DeBrincat’s game-tying marker…And Edvinsson would score the empty-netter after some fine John Gibson saves (and a couple of goalposts).

Six straight goals and a hell of an effort over the final period-and-a-half of the game = Detroit received a result that was equal to its work ethic after coach McLellan straightened them out.

Detroit now gets two days off before rematching with the Blues as the teams battle in St. Louis, kicking off a 5-game road trip.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Jordan Binnington led their respective teams out onto the ice at LCA:

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Red Wings-Islanders Tweetcap: Detroit drops a 7-2 decision on Long Island

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to rebound from Wednesday’s difficult loss to the Buffalo Sabres by taking their frustrations out on Patrick Roy’s New York Islanders on Thursday night.

Back-to-back games are never easy, but the Wings needed to earn at least a couple of points out of their two-game set to keep up with their rapidly-rising foes in the NHL standings.

Thursday night on Long Island, the Detroit Red Wings got embarrassed, losing 7-1 to the Islanders. Emil Heineman had 2 goals, Anders Lee had 3 assists, the Islanders finished at a massive +30, and Patrick Roy’s team smoked Detroit. Dylan Larkin (6) did score to extend his point streak, assisted by Emmitt Finnie (4) and Alex DeBrincat (7)…And Jonatan Berggren did score a pretty goal from J.T. Compher and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, giving the Norwegian his first NHL point…

But those were the only highlights. The Wings lost their challenge of an Islanders goal, the Isles’ fans got free chili for scoring 6 on the Wings, and Detroit has now lost 2 straight games in 2 evenings, dropping to 5-and-3 over the course of their first 8 games.

The Red Wings will head home to play their 3rd game in 4 nights on Saturday, hosting the St. Louis Blues, before embarking on a 5-game road trip which starts in St. Louis next Tuesday.

PREGAME: Cam Talbot and David Rittich led their respective teams out onto the ice at UBS Arena…

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