Red Wings-Maple Leafs quick take: another frustrating loss to Toronto

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 12-game home winning streak on Saturday evening.

Detroit blew 3-1 and 3-2 leads en route to a 4-3 loss to the Maple Leafs on Saturday, affording Toronto its 13th straight home win while losing the Wings’ 10th straight road game.

Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi and Frans Nielsen all scored goals, Nielsen had 6 shots, Larkin 5, Jimmy Howard was pretty damn excellent for a goalie who gave up 4 goals, and the Wings just were unable to hold onto the leads they generated, which was incredibly frustrating.

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs quick take: another frustrating loss to Toronto

Friedman weighs in on KH’s future

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned Red Wings GM Ken Holland during Sportsnet’s Saturday Headlines, stating that Ken Holland was scouting as hard as ever, that the Red Wings were about to make a free agent pitch to college UFA Daniel Brickley, and Friedman believed that there would be clarification regarding Ken Holland’s status coming from ownership by the end of the season. According to Friedman, the scuttlebutt suggested that Holland was talking with ownership regarding the term and role he would play under his new contract, and “hockey people were not talking” like Holland would be out.

Check out the 1:50 mark of the following video.

 

FYI:

Here’s the Griffins’ Game Day Preview ahead of tonight’s rematch with Iowa

The Grand Rapids Griffins will battle the Iowa Wild this evening (at 7:00 PM EDT on WOOD Radio), and Griffins announcer Bob Kaser sets up tonight’s rematch between the teams, who played together on Friday:

 

On Mantha emulating van Riemsdyk, and Mantha and Larkin’s chemistry

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and the Free Press’s Helene St. James spoke with Anthony Mantha, Dylan Larkin and coach Jeff Blashill regarding a pair of topics…

First discussing the Wings’ hope that Mantha can emulate James van Riemsdyk’s net-front presence, as Kulfan noted…

Mantha (6-foot-5, 225) and van Riemsdyk (6-foot-3, 217) have the same body type – lanky and with a long reach – and with Mantha’s hand-eye coordination and knack with the puck, the potential is there to dominate around the net.

“He’s a good player in this league – I look at his game,” said Mantha, who has watched video with the coaching staff on JVR’s work. “Watch a lot of clips of him net-front, learn the details, and how to get into the right spot.”

Entering Saturday’s game, van Riemsdyk leads the Maple Leafs with 34 goals, while averaging 14:49 of ice time. Of the 34 goals, a team-leading 11 have come on the power play.

Over the last five games, van Riemsdyk had scored eight goals.

“James van Riemsdyk is a guy we’ve talked about with Anthony,” Blashill said. “JVR has as good a hands around the net for a big guy, and makes a lot of plays, makes their power play extremely dangerous. A lot of penalty kills want to leave the net-front guy to the goalie. He’s a tough guy to leave alone for a goalie because of how dangerous he is in that area.”

Kulfan continues, and the Free Press’s St. James both spoke of Mantha’s desire to emulate van Riemsdyk as well as the Wings’ decision to reunite #39 and #71:

Continue reading On Mantha emulating van Riemsdyk, and Mantha and Larkin’s chemistry

Wakiji on the brothers Svechnikov

DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji spoke to Evgeny Svechnikov about his brother Andrei, with whom “Geno” was able to catch up on Friday night:

Rookie Evgeny Svechnikov was in an especially good mood Saturday morning as he got a chance to spend time with his mom, Elena, and younger brother, Andrei, the night before.

“It’s a good feeling, seeing my mom and my brother last night,” Svechnikov said. “They came for dinner. We went to CN Tower. It was nice dinner. It was a great atmosphere. I haven’t seen my brother since the summer, so I was very happy. He’s bigger than me, so it was exciting to see.”

Andrei Svechnikov, who turns 18 in two days, plays for the OHL’s Barrie Colts and is listed at 6-foot-3, 184 pounds.

Evgeny Svechnikov, 21, is 6-foot-3, 212 pounds.

“He’s bigger in the shoulders and a little bit taller,” Svechnikov said. “It’s impressive. I’m really happy with what’s he got for the future.”

Wakiji continues…

Red Wings-Maple Leafs game-day articles: Wings aim for better play opposite a Leaf team on cruise control

Updated 2x at 2:33 PM: The Red Wings and Maple Leafs engaged in their morning skates ahead of tonight’s game (7:00 PM EDT on FSD/CBC/97.1 FM), and at present, the post-skate media available comes from Leaf sources.

According to TSN’s Kristen Shilton, the Leafs do not plan on looking past the Wings…

Regardless of where they are in the standings, Detroit frequently plays the Leafs tough – The last time the two teams met on Feb. 18, the Leafs let their lead evaporate midway through the third period and it took a goal from Auston Matthews with 31 seconds left in regulation to put Toronto over the top.

“Absolutely, every time we play them it seems to be a close game and a good battle. We expect nothing less from them tonight,” said Matthews. “[But] knowing [Nashville] is one of the best teams in the league and at the top of their conference, to play as well as we did, it definitely gives us some confidence moving forward and into another game tonight.”

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs game-day articles: Wings aim for better play opposite a Leaf team on cruise control

Quote of the day: Blashill on returning to ‘great’-ness

The Toronto Sun’s Lance Hornby landed quite the quote from Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill after the Wings’ morning skate in Toronto:

 

Red Wings-Maple Leafs morning skate Tweets and articles: No Komarov for Toronto; Witkowski draws in for Detroit

Updated 2x at 12:34 PM: The Detroit Red Wings will battle the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening (7:00 PM EST on FSD/CBC/97.1 FM), with the Red Wings hoping to derail some of the Leafs’ pre-playoff momentum by stealing a win at the Air Canada Centre.

The Maple Leafs hit the ice at the ACC before the Red Wings, as noted by TSN’s Kristen Shilton…

Leo Komarov is the only absentee at #Leafs morning skate. Appeared when I arrived around 9 am this morning that someone had already been skating, I’m assuming that was probably him.

#Leafs lines at morning skate: Hyman-Matthews-Nylander Marleau-Kadri-Marner

van Riemsdyk-Bozak-Brown

Johnsson-Plekanec-Kapanen

Leivo, Moore, Martin

Rielly-Hainsey

Gardiner-Zaitsev

Dermott-Polak

Carrick

Andersen McElhinney

And TSN’s Mark Masters:

Continue reading Red Wings-Maple Leafs morning skate Tweets and articles: No Komarov for Toronto; Witkowski draws in for Detroit

Meet the Toledo Walleye’s emergency substitute goaltender

The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe penned a superb article profiling the Toledo Walleye’s emergency substitute goaltender, Kent Nusbaum:

When Toledo Walleye trainer Brad Fredrick walked into Jimmy John’s in Sylvania before a recent Sunday game, the last person he expected to make his sub was someone who has served as one of the team’s goaltenders.

Yet there was Kent Nusbaum, a 22-year-old fledgling netminder, standing behind the counter. The Temperance native has one of the most unusual part-time occupations in sports: emergency backup goaltender.

Nusbaum has become the Walleye’s go-to reserve player when a need arises. He has dressed several times for Toledo’s ECHL team — and its opponents — but has played in only one game.

“It’s unique,” Nusbaum said. “It’s exciting. I’d rather be doing something I love than working a normal job.”

But he is not a full-time member of the team. So to make ends meet while pursuing his dream of playing pro hockey, the 6-foot-6 and 180-pound Nusbaum also is sandwich-maker. And that was news to the team’s longtime trainer, Fredrick.

“Brad was shocked. He said, “Hey Baumer, what are you doing here?’ I said, ‘Just working my day job,’” Nusbaum said. “I made him a sandwich. I believe it was a No. 5.”

Every ECHL team has its own list of go-to substitute goalies who can be available at a moment’s notice. If the local team or its visiting opponent loses one of its two goalies to a sudden injury, illness, or transaction on game day, a substitute has to be available to sit on the bench in case he is needed.

Continued