Prospect Round-up Europe: Wallinder 1+1, Johansson 1A in SHL

Of Red Wings-related note in Europe today:

In the Finnish Liiga, Otto Kivenmaki finished even with 2 shots in 15:07 played as the Lahti Pelicans lost 2-1 to HPK;

William Wallinder had a goal and an assist, finishing at +1 with 2 shots on goal in 14:51 played as Rogle BK won 5-4 over Oskarshamn:

Albert Johansson had an assist, finishing even with 1 shot in 20:11 played as Farjestads BK lost 5-2 to Linkoping:

And, in Frolunda HC’s 1-0 win over Malmo:

Liam Dower Nilsson finished even in 4:41 played;

Theodor Niederbach finished even with a shot in 14:48 played;

And Elmer Soderblom finished even with 2 shots in 19:16 played.

Simon Edvinsson remains out of the lineup with a non-COVID illness.

Game-day videos: Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill, Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy

Neither the Red Wings nor Bruins’ morning skates offered much information as to who will play tonight in the Wings’ battle vs. Boston (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/NESN/Sportsnet East/Sportsnet Ontario/Sportsnet Pacific/Sportsnet 360/97.1 FM), but we do know that Jeremy Swayman will start in goal for Boston, and that Dylan Larkin (personal issue) is still out due to a personal issue.

Coach Blashill spoke with the media for about 10 minutes this morning…

Update: Here’s Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy as well:

Red Wings-Bruins morning skate Tweets and articles: Larkin out + game previews

The 4-4-and-2 Detroit Red Wings battle the 4-and-3 Boston Bruins this evening (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/NESN/Sportsnet East/Sportsnet Ontario/Sportsnet West/Sportsnet 360/97.1 FM). DetroitRedWings.com’s Josh Berenter posted a game preview…

The Bruins come into Thursday’s game at 4-3-0 this season, fresh off handing the first-place Florida Panthers their first loss on Saturday.

13-year veteran winger Brad Marchand leads Boston in goals (4), assists (4) and points (8). The Bruins have featured a balanced offensive attack early this season, with six players earning at least three points in their first seven games.

Boston has platooned goaltenders Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman so far this season, with Ullmark seeing the most success at 3-1-0 with a 2.23 goals-against average and a .927 save percentage. The 22-year-old Swayman comes in at 1-2-0 with a 2.71 GAA and .893 save percentage.

Seider said one of the biggest aspects of Thursday’s game will be to re-invigorate Detroit’s power play, which excelled during the preseason and early in the regular season, but has struggled in the last five games, converting just 2-for-17 on the man advantage during that span.

“If I hit the net (Tuesday), I think we score, and then (Filip Zadina) hits the crossbar right after,” Seider said. “Getting better puck retrievals, I think it’s going to be key for us. I think sooner rather than later, we’ll get our chances, and we’ll look really good.”

Thursday’s matchup against Boston will be Detroit’s first game against their Original Six rival since Feb. 15, 2020, after being in separate divisions last season due to COVID-19. The Red Wings have gone 5-2-0 in their last seven games against the Bruins, but Detroit hasn’t won at TD Garden since Dec. 1, 2018.

The Bruins either “took an optional” or their press corps was distracted by the Jack Eichel trade, because we didn’t get a morning skate Tweet from the B’s until 11:10 AM, at the Warrior Ice Arena in Boston:

Skipper Sway.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/cazVwKVbEA— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 4, 2021

Boston Hockey Now’s Joe Haggerty offers a morning column on the Perfection Line’s early-season hiccups…

Continue reading Red Wings-Bruins morning skate Tweets and articles: Larkin out + game previews

Prospect round-up, North America: Fulcher back-stops Walleye to win; Plandowski scores for Charlottetown

Of prospect-related note, from North America on Wednesday:

In the ECHL, Kaden Fulcher stopped 25 of 26 shots in the Toledo Walleye’s 4-1 win over the Indy Fuel;

In the QMJHL, Oscar Plandowski scored a goal, finishing at +1 with 1 shot in the Charlottetown Islanders’ 4-1 win over Drummondville (and you can watch the game highlights by clicking on the score);

In the OHL, Pasquale Zito finished even with a shot and a 5-for-8 faceoff record in the Windsor Spitfires’ 6-2 win over Flint;

In the WHL, Cross Hanas finished at -1 with 4 shots in the Portland Winterhawks’ 7-1 loss to Kamloops;

And in the BCHL, Kienan Draper finished even in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 2-1 loss to Surrey.

Red Wings-Bruins set-up: Rested B’s play 8th game vs. 0-2-and-1-of-late Red Wings, who are busy as busy can be

The 4-4-and-2 Detroit Red Wings will face a well-rested 4-3-and-0 Boston Bruins team on Thursday night (7 PM EDT on Bally Sports Detroit/NESN/Sportsnet 360/97.1 FM) with the Red Wings on an 0-2-and-1 streak as Detroit opens up a stretch of 3 games in 4 nights (and 10 in 17 nights overall).

The Bruins are on the other end of the spectrum, having not played since Saturday’s 3-2 shootout win over the Florida Panthers, and the Bruins have been talking about watching the Kyle Beach interview as a team more than they’ve been talking about playing hockey of late–which is good, because that’s the kind of thing that teams should be focusing on when they’re not playing hockey right now.

You’d expect that from a team that’s had 5 days off between games, so the Bruins won’t really focus in on Thursday’s game until later this morning.

That being said, The Athletic’s Fluto Shinzawa offered Wednesday’s practice lines, which included Patrice Bergeron, who took a “maintenance day” on Tuesday…

Continue reading Red Wings-Bruins set-up: Rested B’s play 8th game vs. 0-2-and-1-of-late Red Wings, who are busy as busy can be

Via A2Y: A bit ‘Mo’ on Seider from NHL.com’s Mike Zeisberger

Via Abel to Yzerman’s Paul Kukla comes this Tweet of note from the NHL on Sirius XM radio, in which NHL.com’s Mike Zeisberger talks about Moritz Seider:

Niyo on Seider, work in progress

The Detroit News’s John Niyo wrote a subscriber-only column about Moritz Seider on Tuesday evening, discussing Seider’s impact over the first 10 games of the young season:

“Well, he’s got tons of physical ability,” [Red Wings coach Jeff] Blashill said. “Now our job is to help him continue to (develop) from a really good talent to a great player ultimately. That’s what we’d love him to be here. I think without improving, Moritz could be a good player in this league. But that’s not what anybody wants, him or us. So we just want to make sure that we’re continuing to push him, even as he has early success.”

That means calling him out when Seider makes an unforced error like he did Saturday night in the loss at Toronto, sending a blind backhand pass across the ice on a power play that led to a breakaway for the Maple Leafs. Seider also was on the ice for both of Montreal’s 5-on-5 goals Tuesday in a lackluster effort by the Wings that Blashill described as “inexcusable.”

“We were just bad,” Seider said. “It was a tough one for us. But I think we’re done. We turned the page.”

Indeed, Seider talked Wednesday about how “hungry” he and his teammates are to finish this four-game road trip with wins in Boston and Buffalo. But he also knows the Wings will get their fill with 10 games over the next 17 days — a stretch that ends with four games in six nights, hopscotching from Columbus to Dallas to Las Vegas and Phoenix.

And if we’re talking about Seider then the way we are now, things will be pretty OK, all right.

“I had a lot of belief that he could be a really good player in this league — I just didn’t know how fast and how good,” Blashill said. “And I think that story is still to be told.”

Continued (paywall)