In the ECHL, the Toledo Walleye enjoyed a romp over the Quad City Mallards, winning 8-0. Mike Borkowski and Austen Brassard scored 2 goals apiece, and a boatload of players contributed to Pat Nagle’s 17-save shutout.
The Walleye’s website posted a recap:
Continue reading Prospect round-up: Walleye rout Quad City; Rasmussen 2A, NCAA playoffs underway
The Detroit Red Wings rallied from a 3-1 deficit to at least make things interesting during the final minutes of their 3-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, but the Wings, who’ve lost 6 straight games, are at best “competitive” and at worst are getting dominated by their opponents post-trade deadline.
The Wings will fly home tonight and spend Saturday and part of Sunday at home before embarking on a 4-game road trip to San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Colorado, and they will have to summon much more discipline, effort and structure as the Wings hope to leave their woes behind them in the Eastern Time Zone.
The Blue Jackets, who are desperately trying to climb the Wild Card standings, were absolutely delighted by their victory, as they told the Associated Press:
Continue reading Red Wings-Blue Jackets wrap-up: Six losses in a row, fun times
The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a 5-game losing streak while facing the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday evening.
Detroit managed to display some spirited, high-intensity, plain old exciting and inspiring hockey…for about 4 minutes of the 3rd period, down 3-1 and then 3-2. Ultimately, the Red Wings lost 3-2 to Columbus despite a very good effort from Jared Coreau, and there was still a lot of “poke and hope” in the games of not only the Wings’ youngsters, but also the veterans.
Wings fans will also question why Evgeny Svechnikov played 5:25 with 1 hit and a lost faceoff—less than Luke Witkowski’s 9:16 played by a fair bit…but in all honestly, Svechnikov hasn’t been all that great thus far. He is learning at least…
And again, the Red Wings will go away feeling better about themselves for making it 3-2, but they shouldn’t have made the defensive mistakes surrendering 1, 2 and 3 goals against to begin with. Mike Green ended up at -3, Larkin and Mantha at -2, and Detroit was just not sturdy as they were dominated in the 2nd period and for part of the 3rd.
Long story short, the bus is still broken.
Continue reading Red Wings-Blue Jackets quick take: Wings rally late, but dug too deep a hole
The Grand Rapids Griffins posted a video recapping their “Hockey, Hops and Hope” charitable event:
Red Wings prospect and Kitchener Rangers forward Givani Smith was facing a suspension for shoving a linesman in an altercation last Friday, and Kitchener is back in action this evening, so:
I checked the Ontario Hockey League’s website, the Rangers’ website, and the Kitchener-Waterloo Record for news regarding Smith’s suspension. According to the Record’s Josh Brown, Givani got very lucky:
– As of Thursday night, the OHL had not announced a suspension for Rangers F Givani Smith after his brush with an official in Tuesday’s game against Sarnia. UPDATE: After reviewing the play, the OHL had decided not to issue a suspension to Smith.
The Free Press’s Helene St. James spoke with Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou ahead of tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, addressing their captain and coach’s criticism from last night’s post-game media availability:
Friday morning saw Anthony Mantha admit just how bad he’d been the night before, when, after a 4-0 loss to Vegas, captain Henrik Zetterberg said there was too much poke-and-hope in some teammates, that they need to learn to play the right way. Zetterberg didn’t name names but the criticism fit Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou in particular, and Mantha owned it immediately.
“Oh for sure,” he said after an optional skate at Nationwide Arena Friday. “It wasn’t a good game for me. I made two big mistakes and it’s in the back of our net. I need to be sharper.”
Mantha has shouldered public criticism before, including last November when coach Jeff Blashill said that he “has got to be way better. Way better. It’s not OK to just be a passenger when you are given the opportunity to be an impact player.”
The latest was earned after he lost the puck to Vegas’ William Karlsson leading to a shorthanded goal, and then let Cody Eakins free-wheel in Detroit’s zone leading to a 3-0 deficit.
Athanasiou, who was on for the first and fourth goals, acknowledged a need to heed Zetterberg’s criticism.
“He’s talking to us as a group,” Athanasiou said. “Any time you have someone like that speaking out, it’s a little bit of a message to make sure you’re ready for the next one. If there’s one play where you can bear down a little more, it’s going to make a huge difference.”
St. James continues, and she posted a video of Mantha, Athanasiou and coach Blashill’s remarks:
Anthony Mantha and Andreas Athanasiou, two young players who have felt the wrath of coach Jeff Blashill before – and after Thursday’s game, too – admitted Friday the Zetterberg was correct in his criticism.
“It wasn’t a good game for me,” Mantha said. “I made two big mistakes and it’s in the back of our net. I need to be sharper.”
…
“I need to keep learning,’ Mantha said. “No one is perfect. As a young guy there is so much to learn. You have to bring your ‘A’ game every night.”
Mantha said he and Athanasiou and Dylan Larkin have talked about their desire to “be better.”
“We want to be good,” Mantha said.
…
Athanasiou, who lost the puck on Vegas’ fourth and final goal, acknowledged Zetterberg’s message struck home.
“Any time you have someone like that speaking out, it’s a bit of a message to make sure you’re ready for the next one,” Athanasiou said. “If there’s one play where you can bear down a bit more, it’s going to make a huge difference.”
Of Red Wings-related note this afternoon:
1. Here’s the Red Wings’ Game Day Preview video:
Continue reading Afternoon news: Game Day Preview videos and NHL.com’s Wings-Jax game set-up
The Red Wings posted a Twitter video of their day making a Make a Wish child named Camron’s wishes come true:
Yesterday, the #RedWings teamed up with @MakeAWishMI & @stjoes_health to help make Camron’s wish come! ❤ #forthekids #LGRW pic.twitter.com/KhGeCWrc9i
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 9, 2018
The Red Wings don’t usually hold a morning skate when playing back-to-back games, but after last night’s 4-0 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Wings found themselves on the ice in Columbus this morning, per the Free Press’s Helene St. James…
Red Wings morning skate getting underway. pic.twitter.com/jVKVExqakq
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) March 9, 2018
And the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan:
Back to work in Columbus pic.twitter.com/hFEqmg704n
— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) March 9, 2018
The Wings face the Blue Jackets this evening (7:00 PM EST on FSD Plus/FS Ohio/Sportsnet/TVA Sports/97.1 FM).
ColumbusBlueJackets.com’s Brian Hedger penned a fine game preview this morning…
WXYZ’s Brad Galli filed a report regarding a Make-a-Wish kid who the Red Wings hosted at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday:
