Red Wings-Sharks quick take: Wings hit seven losses despite strong efforts by Zetterberg, Nyquist, Bertuzzi

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a 6-game losing streak while battling a team in a fight for its playoff life in the San Jose Sharks on Monday night.

The Red Wings could not rally from the multiple deficits they surrendered after taking a 1-0 lead only 5:01 into the 1st period–ultimately trying to battle back from a 3-1 and then a 4-2 deficit–and Detroit almost rallied, with Henrik Zetterberg scoring a milestone marker (he passed Ted Lindsay on the Wings’ all-time goal-scoring list), Gustav Nyquist playing strongly (1+1) and Tyler Bertuzzi posting 3 assists, but Detroit was out-hustled and out-desperation-ed by the playoff-hungry Sharks, losing 5-3 on an empty-net goal against.

Andreas Athanasiou (-3), Nick Jensen (-2) and Danny DeKeyser (-1) were among the Wings who had mistake-prone games, Evgeny Svechnikov (-2 in only 7:13 played) wasn’t great, and the Wings made just enough bad mistakes, “learning” mistakes or their concentration lapsed just enough to give the Sharks the breaks they needed to come away with the two points.

Detroit will get 2 days off before playing 3 games over the course of 3 nights, in Los Angeles (Thursday), Anahiem (Friday) and Colorado (Sunday), and the Wings will hustle home for an NBCSN game against Philadelphia on Monday the 19th.

Continue reading Red Wings-Sharks quick take: Wings hit seven losses despite strong efforts by Zetterberg, Nyquist, Bertuzzi

Toledo Walleye’s trade deadline acquisition Doornbosch declines to report, retires from hockey

This is pretty wild stuff. The Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe reports that the Toledo Walleye’s ECHL trade deadline acquisition, Jamie Doornbosch, has chosen to retire instead of report to the Walleye:

The Toledo Walleye on Monday suspended recently acquired defenseman Jamie Doornbosch after he opted not to report to the team.

The organization traded for Doornbosch in a deal with Brampton on Thursday in exchange for their leading scorer, Erik Bradford.

But Doornbosch told Walleye officials he has decided to pursue avenues other than hockey and will not be joining the organization.

“I’m disappointed because he [told Brampton officials] that he would report,” Watson said. “I’m glad he chose to quit now rather than getting to Toledo and quitting. We want players who want to be in Toledo. If you don’t want to be here, we don’t want you anyways.”

Bradford, a 23-year-old forward, had tallied a team-high 45 points with 15 goals and 30 assists in 53 games this season. Doornbosch, a 28-year-old defenseman, had appeared in 26 games this season for the Beast posting two goals and 12 assists.

“It was a difficult decision for Jamie,” Watson said. “At this time he felt it was better to start another career than continue playing.”

Watson said he still plans to bring in a high-end defenseman, most likely a recently graduated college player.

Continued, and Mark Monroe reports that the trade hasn’t been invalidated:

 

 

 

Hockeybuzz’s Duff confirms that Mike Green suffered a herniated disc in his neck

Hoceybuzz’s Bob Duff confirms MLive’s Ansar Khan’s report that Wings defenseman Mike Green has a herniated disc in his neck, and Duff reports that Green will need surgery to repair the injury:

No wonder teams shied away from making a move to acquire defenseman Mike Green from the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL trade deadline. According to an NHL source, Green will require off-season surgery for a herniated disc in his neck.

“Yeah, we’ll see,” Green told Mlive.com. “It’s something we’ll talk about. As of right now it’s maintenance and get through it.”

The Tampa Bay Lightning were strongly after Green’s services, and he’d even agreed to waive his no-trade clause to enable a move to the Atlantic Division leaders. But oddly enough, it was in a Feb. 15 game at Tampa Bay that Green suffered his neck injury when checked by Lightning forward Adam Erne.

With the realistic concern that Green’s injury would linger and could flare up again at any moment, the Lightning backed away from Green and opted instead to acquire Ryan McDonagh from the New York Rangers. The Washington Capitals, Green’s team prior to his signing with the Wings as a free agent in 2015, also moved on from his trail, as did the San Jose Sharks, the team the Wings play Monday.

“Obviously it was bad timing,” Green said. “At the end of the day, it is what it is. I’m here and I’m focused and I’m happy, so I move forward.”

Duff continues…

Red Wings-Sharks game-day updates: Wings wary of Sharks’ urgency; on Svechnikov and Bertuzzi

The Detroit Red Wings face the San Jose Sharks this evening (10:30 PM EDT on FSD/NBCS Bay Area/97.1 FM), and the morning skate revealed what you would expect: no lineup changes for the Red Wings, and Jimmy Howard starting opposite Martin Jones.

After the morning skate, DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji spoke with Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill regarding the Wings-Sharks match-up…

Continue reading Red Wings-Sharks game-day updates: Wings wary of Sharks’ urgency; on Svechnikov and Bertuzzi

Red Wings-Sharks morning skate Tweets and articles: Howard vs. Jones, ‘no changes’

Updated 2x at 3:24 PM: The Detroit Red Wings face a difficult opponent in the San Jose Sharks this evening (10:30 PM on FSD/NBCS Bay Area/97.1 FM).

The Sharks sit in a tightly-packed Pacific Division and are coming off a 2-0 loss to the Washington Capitals this past Saturday.

The Red Wings find themselves 14 points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, and the Wings spoke with DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner regarding their status:

Continue reading Red Wings-Sharks morning skate Tweets and articles: Howard vs. Jones, ‘no changes’

The Athletic’s Scott on Wings’ ‘lack of push-back’

The Athletic’s Topher Scott weighs in on several Red Wings-related topics in this week’s “View From a Coach“:

It was a tough week for the Red Wings, losing all four games and extending their current drought to six. It’s their longest skid since they dropped seven straight that ended with a 10-1 drubbing from the Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 2.

Up until this week, the season’s second half had been pretty even, without too many highs and lows in the record column. Since that dreadful night in Montreal, the Red Wings hadn’t gone more than three games without a win.

It is a testament to the team’s leadership that things haven’t deteriorated. I credit the coaching staff and older core for doing a solid job in the locker room in keeping everyone together and headed in the right direction. If they weren’t doing the job, we would be seeing a lot more losing streaks like the one they are on right now.

But this week, it just seemed … different.

I didn’t really see the pushback from the Red Wings that I have seen throughout the second half (aside from the Boston game, which I will get to later). The discipline wasn’t great either, and the work ethic was average, at best, in too many parts of the last four games.

Continued (paywall)…

Prospect round-up: McCollum shuts out Hershey; Walleye lose to Indy; Cholowski 1A, Rasmussen 1G

In the AHL, Matthew Ford and Ben Street (2) scored goals, Matt Puepel had 2 assists and Tom McCollum posted a 21-save shutout as the Grand Rapids Griffins defeated the Hershey Bears 3-0. The Griffins’ website posted a recap:

Continue reading Prospect round-up: McCollum shuts out Hershey; Walleye lose to Indy; Cholowski 1A, Rasmussen 1G

Red Wings-Sharks mini preview

The Detroit Red Wings face the San Jose Sharks this evening (10:30 PM EDT on FSD/NBCS Bay Area/97.1 FM), and this is going to be a difficult game for the Wings as the Sharks are facing some serious playoff pressure.

San Jose sits second in the Pacific Division with a 36-23-and-9 record and 81 points, but there are two wild card and three playoff-hopeful teams hot on their tail.

The Joe Thornton-less Sharks have gone 3-and-2 over their past 5 games, but have lost 2 of their past 3, with Saturday’s 2-0 loss to the Washington Capitals representing the latest setback.

STATS’ game preview sets up tonight’s game from the Sharks’ perspective:

Continue reading Red Wings-Sharks mini preview

Regner: Wings have an uphill battle, try to ‘play the right way’ for today and tomorrow

DetroitRedWings.com’s Arthur J. Regner spoke with the Red Wings’ players and coach regarding the team’s attempt to scale a near-vertical incline as the team insists it can still push for a playoff spot:

They trail Columbus for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference by 14 points with 14 regular season games left on their schedule, but despite the near impossible odds, the Wings are approaching each game with a must-win mentality.

“I think it’s a process,” defenseman Mike Green said. “It’s a mindset right now, obviously this time of the season a big chunk of it is mental. We have to make sure we’re going into these games with the right process, right mind frame. Not only that, we’ve got to compete really hard every night to make sure we’re giving ourselves a chance. I think with that mentality we’ll get our wins here. It’s just unfortunate we have to make sure we win pretty much every night. There is a big task ahead of us.”

If Detroit cannot string together a plethora of wins in the coming weeks, the players vow they will continue to play hard with their sole purpose of winning hockey games and getting better.

“Regardless of where we are in the standings, it’s about coming in and doing it right every day,” alternate captain Niklas Kronwall said. “You work hard and you get rewarded for it. If you don’t work hard, it’s going to show right away.

“We haven’t been good enough here as of late. We need to get out of there as soon as possible. It just hasn’t been nearly good enough when it comes to all the small details of the game — the stick battles, the positioning. And when we do get our chances, we have to make the most of them.

“If you look at the bigger picture, this isn’t just now. What we’re doing right now is preparing ourselves, the young guys, for next year and for their careers, really. You (have to) learn to do it right and learn that you’re coming to work every day.”

Continued