Red Wings-Stars quick take: Dammit, Dallas!

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to break the Dallas Stars’ hex on the Red Wings at the American Airlines Center, where Dallas had won 7 straight games against Detroit.

The Red Wings rallied from a 3-0 deficit to make things close, drawing to within 3-2 on goals by Filip Zadina and Dylan Larkin, but Larkin was lost in the 3rd period, and while Detroit lost 5-2 in the end…Alex Nedeljkovic’s 24 stops on 29 shots were masterful, if not nearly legendary. It was a damn frustrating game as Dallas won their 8th straight opposite Detroit at the American Airlines Center, but the Red Wings at least made some progress in battling back from the deficit.

Regrettably, the best learning in the NHL comes from losing, and the Red Wings did a LOT of learning on a night when few penalties were called and many took place.

Continue reading Red Wings-Stars quick take: Dammit, Dallas!

Three things: Glendening on facing the Wings; Wings-Stars game preview; Oettinger’s stats vs. Detroit

If you missed it, Luke Glendening spoke with the Dallas Stars’ website’s Mike Heika regarding facing the Red Wings this evening:

Luke Glendening will play his first game against the Red Wings. That’s a big deal because Glendening not only played 554 games with the Wings before signing as a free agent with the Stars in the summer, he grew up in Michigan and was a huge fan during their heyday with Stanley Cups in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2008.

“I grew up a fan,” Glendening said. “I got to live out my dream of playing for them for eight years. I have a ton of respect for the people in the organization. It’s a big game for this team. I don’t want to take anything away from that. We need the two points, and that’s the goal.”

Pressed on the subject, Glendening admitted it’ll be strange to play against friends and former teammates.

“It’s going to feel different,” he said. “I’d love to say you approach it like any other game, but obviously you want to play well against your old team.”

Glendening has already been a help to the coaching staff in preparing to face the Wings.

“We’ve talked to him about their systems and their penalty killing and things we want to do, and he helped the coaches,” Bowness said.

And as for how well Glendening is fitting in, Bowness chuckled. Glendening is tied for second on the team in goals with four, despite the fact he’s known as a checking forward.

“He’s got four goals, he’s been outstanding for us, he’s been a great addition,” Bowness said. “He’s everything we’d heard he’d be.”

The Stars also posted a game preview:

Also:

Prospect round-up: Frolunda routs Mannheim (Soderblom 2G+1A), Rogle wins in Champions Hockey League’s ‘Round of 16’

Of prospect-related note:

In the Champions Hockey League’s playoffs, Elmer Soderblom had 2 goals and an assist in 14:35 played, finishing at +1 in Frolunda HC’s 10-1 win over the COVID-ravaged Adler Mannheim.

Theodor Niederbach scored a goal, finishing even in 10:55 played, and Simon Edvinsson finished at +1 in 8:50, coming back from an injury.

The Adler Mannheim asked the Champions Hockey League to reschedule the game as they had over half a dozen players dealing with COVID issues.

Here are the highlights from the game:

And .gifs:

William Wallinder finished at -1 in 12:57 played in Rogle BK’s 4-3 win over the Zurich Lions. Here are the highlights from that game:

Press release: Griffins release D.J. King

From the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Tuesday released defenseman D.J. King from his professional tryout.

King made his AHL debut on Nov. 6 at Rockford and logged his first AHL point on an assist in his next appearance on Nov. 13 against Manitoba. The first-year pro skated in two games with Grand Rapids, totaling one assist and a zero plus-minus rating.
The Scottsdale, Ariz., native will return to the Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL, where he began the season and competed in two games and collected two penalty minutes. King has spent the previous three seasons in the OHL with Hamilton and Saginaw. The defenseman bagged 24 points (7-17—24) and 140 penalty minutes in 104 appearances at the junior level. King made his pro debut on Oct. 23 with Fort Wayne against Wheeling.

King’s father Derek also played with the Griffins from 1999-01 and 2002-04, totaling 203 points (73-130—203) in 264 games to rank fifth on the team’s all-time scoring list. The IHL’s regular-season scoring champion from 2000-01 remains the Griffins’ career playoff scoring leader with 41 points (16-25—41) in 46 games. The King’s joined Chris (2008-09) and Jake (2018-19) Chelios as the second father-son duo to have played for the Griffins.

Press release: Griffins swap Brattstrom for Fulcher

A necessary move for the Grand Rapids Griffins:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday reassigned goaltender Victor Brattstrom to the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye and reassigned netminder Kaden Fulcher to their AHL affiliate from Toledo.

Brattstrom made his AHL debut with the Griffins on Oct. 16 against Milwaukee and has appeared in four games with Grand Rapids, amassing a 0-3-1 record, a 5.32 goals against average and a 0.835 save percentage. The Goteborg, Sweden, native made a season-high 28 saves on Oct. 24 at Manitoba. The fifth-year pro has skated in 125 pro games and holds a 66-46-8 ledger with a 2.32 goals against average.

Fulcher has appeared in six games this season with Toledo and has posted a 3-2-0 record with a 1.77 goals against average and a 0.924 save percentage. His goals against average ranks sixth in the ECHL while his save percentage places seventh. The fourth-year pro spent seven games with Grand Rapids a season ago, logging a 2-2-3 record, a 2.84 goals against average and a 0.905 save percentage with one shutout. The Brigden, Ontario, native has totaled a 20-13-9 pro record with a 2.94 goals against average.

DeFranks: Larkin, Benn reunion on tap

The Dallas News’s Matthew DeFranks notes that tonight’s Wings-Stars game involves a reunion between a certain Dylan Larkin and Jamie Benn:

Tuesday night’s Red Wings-Stars game will be the first time Dylan Larkin plays against Dallas since he injured his neck on a cross-check by Jamie Benn last season.

The play ended Larkin’s season on April 20, and he spent the night in the hospital and eight weeks in cervical hard collar, Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said previously. Larkin has talked about how his anger about the play lingered.

There was no penalty called on the play, and Benn received no discipline. The Stars and Red Wings played twice more after the Larkin injury, but he did not play.

On Tuesday, Benn had this exchange with a reporter after morning skate.

Do you expect anything tonight from Larkin?

“No, why?” Benn said.

He was pretty upset last year after his injury.

“We’ll see,” Benn said.

Benn has 27 career fights, including one this season at Ottawa with Josh Brown.

The Red Wings have one fight this season, and the player involved (Givani Smith) is not expected to be in the Detroit lineup on Tuesday night. Here is a table with the Red Wings roster’s fight history, according to Hockey Fights.

Kulfan’s notebook: Wings need to tighten up defensively

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a notebook article in which he discusses the Red Wings’ need to improve their defensive game:

The Red Wings rank 24th (out of 32 teams) in the NHL allowing 3.24 goals per game. That’s not going to keep the dream alive of possibly stealing a spot in the playoffs.

The Wings have been far too loose for the majority of the season. But victories have masked defensive miscues.

“We made a couple of mistakes and the next thing you know it slips away,” [coach Jeff] Blashill said. “But we’ve got to play better hockey than we’ve been playing. We won a few games in the last little bit that we haven’t been playing quite good enough. We’re giving up too many chances. We have to be a better team defensively if we want to have success.”

What hurt Monday was the fact the Wings appeared to be in control twice, and let Columbus rally. The second time, on Lucas Raymond’s late goal, the Wings enjoyed a 3-2 lead with just over six minutes left. But the Wings collapsed defensively.

“You get the lead late you have to buckle down and at the very least, make them earn it,” Blashill said. “In those last two goals they didn’t have to really earn it. We kind of gave it away. We have to be way better than that. You get the lead at under the six-minute mark, no way should you come away out of it without at least a point and most nights two (points).”

Continued

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