The Malik Report

Updated at 2:19 PM: The Detroit Red Wings will welcome Justin Abdelkader, Trevor Daley and Darren Helm back into the lineup as they host the San Jose Sharks this evening (8:00 PM on FSD/NBCS Bay Area/97.1 FM).

As we wait for Red Wings-related articles to pop up, NBCS Bay Area’s Marcus White suggests that the Wings provide a “cautionary tale” for the Sharks to avoid (and, for the record, the Sharks did not hold a morning skate after dropping a 5-2 decision to Pittsburgh on Monday night):

Continue reading Red Wings-Sharks game-day articles: lineups, a game set-up and a ‘cautionary tale’

Fox Sports Detroit posted an 8-minute video in which David Booth tells his hockey-playing story:

From 97.1 the Ticket’s Ken Kal:

Breaks are over…let the grind begin. Red Wings will be playing 34 games in the (20 of those games are on the road) in the next 67 days starting tonight vs San Jose.

— Ken Kal (@KenKalDRW) January 31, 2018

 

I wasn’t particularly worried about aesthetics when setting up this website–I just needed to make sure that things worked, that the format was readable and that I could get underway.

Now that I am underway, I’ve gotten a few suggestions for improvement, including less white space, smaller fonts and a new banner.

I’m looking to recruit someone who is familiar with WordPress to assist me in updating the website to make it easier to read and/or update the header so that The Malik Report’s brand gets a new start.

If any of you are interested in helping me install a new theme and/or design a banner, I will pay you for your work. Please contact me in the comments section, on Twitter at @georgemalik or via email at rtxg@yahoo.com so we can hash things out.

The Detroit Red Wings host the San Jose Sharks this evening at Little Caesars Arena (8:00 PM EST on FSD/NBCS Bay Area/97.1 FM), with both teams looking to gain ground in desperate battles for playoff spots.

The Wings took to the ice at Little Caesars Arena for their morning skate just after 10:30 AM on Wednesday, and DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji confirmed that Petr Mrazek would start:

Continue reading Red Wings-Sharks morning skate: Mrazek starts; Abdelkader, Daley, Helm skating with team

Today, Bell.ca will donate 5 cents for every Tweet sent using the hashtag #BellLetsTalk to mental health care initiatives in Canada. Bell also is raising funds via Facebook video views. If you’re willing to lend a hand, I would greatly appreciate it.

The Detroit Red Wings take on the Joe Thornton-less San Jose Sharks (8:00 PM EST on FSD/NBCS Bay Area/97.1 FM) with both teams hoping to earn two crucial points as they look toward the playoffs…

The problem for the 19-21-and-8 Red Wings is that their friends from San Jose, who sit in the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, boast a 26-16-and-7 record, some 13 points ahead of the Wings…

Continue reading Red Wings-Sharks set-up: desperate teams meet with eyes on playoff push

Of prospect-related note:

In the SHL, Christoffer Ehn scored a goal on 2 shots, finishing at +1 and winning 37% of his faceoffs in 12:20 played as the Frolunda Indians lost 4-2 to Djurgardens IF. You can watch highlights of the game here;

In the Swiss NLA, Joren van Pottelberghe served as the back-up in HC Davos’ 2-1 shootout loss to HC Lugano;

And in NCAA hockey, Keith Petruzzelli stopped 34 of 38 shots in the Qunnipiac Bobcats’ 5-3 loss to Princeton. Petruzzelli very, very rarely starts for Quinnipiac as they’ve stuck with Andrew Shortridge.

 

 

From the Free Press’s Helene St. James’ practice report:

Entering Wednesday, the Wings were also 15 points out of third place in the Atlantic Division. And this even as the Wings have played well through the first half but haven’t once won more than four games in a row. Now comes a schedule that shows 20 games on the road, including two five-game trips.

Hence the Wings look for inspiration from the 2015-16 Philadelphia Flyers, who went on an 18-7-5 run and made the playoffs; to the 2014-15 Minnesota Wild, which went on a 28-9-3 run and reached the playoffs; to the 2014-15 Ottawa Senators, who went on a 23-4-4 run and made the playoffs.

“The past hasn’t predicted a run, that’s why all of you and pretty much everybody in the hockey world would bet against us right now,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “I get that. I understand the past says that we haven’t gone on a run. Where do you get confidence from that? One would be history – I don’t know where Ottawa’s run came from that year, I don’t know where Philly’s run came from a couple years ago, but all of a sudden they got hot and they couldn’t lose.

“I know we have the players to do it. I know that we’ve built as a team. I think we play good hockey almost every single night. We just need to get that little fraction better on a night-by-night basis, gain that confidence and go. I understand why people wouldn’t believe me. I have no problem with that. I don’t care what anybody else thinks. I care what the group in this room thinks.  And in the end it doesn’t really matter what any of think, it matters what we do.”

Continued

From MLive’s Saginaw Spirit blog:

The Saginaw Spirit, in partnership with Pulse3 Foundation and Mobile Medical Response, are proud to announce the Detroit Red Wings Alumni taking part in the 11th annual Shocks and Saves Charity Game held at The Dow Event Center Saturday, February 3rd at 4:30 p.m.

The Spirit are proud to welcome back Jiri Fischer, who’s cardiac arrest during an NHL game on November, 21 2005 cut his promising playing career short at just 25 years old. Since then, Fischer, with the help of Pulse3 Foundation, local sponsor, Mobile Medical Response, and the Saginaw Spirit, has teamed up with the rest of the Detroit Red Wings Alumni Association to put on the Shocks and Saves Charity Game in hopes of raising funds to make sure public facilities in the Great Lakes Bay Region are equipped with AED’s (Automated External Defibrillator).

Since the inception of the Shocks and Saves Charity Game, the event has raised more than $592,000 and has placed 188 AED’s in the Great Lakes Bay Region. With those AED’s in place, a total of 11 lives have been saved.

Continued