In the Four Nations Cup, Eemil Viro finished even with a penalty taken in Finland’s 6-3 loss to Russia;
Simon Edvinsson had 2 assists, finishing at +1 with 2 shots, and William Wallinder finished at +2 as Sweden won 5-0 over the Czech Republic;
In North America, in the AHL, Turner Elson and Riley Barber scofred goals and Calvin Pickard pitched a 34-save shutout in the Grand Rapids Griffins’ 2-0 win over the Manitoba Moose. The Griffins’ website posted a recap, photo gallery and highlight clip:
The Grand Rapids Griffins were not able to sweep their weekend series against the Manitoba Moose, following up a 2-0 win on Friday with a 6-2 defeat to the Moose on Saturday evening.
Turner Elson and Kyle Criscuolo’s goals came amidst a flurry of Moose markers, and there is some concern as Victor Brattstrom gave up 4 goals on only 19 shots on Saturday. He was replaced by Calvin Pickard for the 3rd period, and Pickard gave up 2 more goals on 16 more Moose shots, but Brattstrom now stands at 0-3-and-1 with a 5.32 GAA and a .835 save percentage.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins fell to the Manitoba Moose 6-2 on Saturday at Van Andel Arena, which ended their three-game winning streak.
Despite the loss, Riley Barber (4-5—9), Jonatan Berggren (3-4—7) and Taro Hirose (2-7—9) all extended their point streak to six games.
The opening period was not in the Griffins favor as they let in four goals, the most given up in a period this season. At the 6:40 mark, Manitoba’s Austin Poganski made a pass to Jimmy Oligny who stood in the slot and sent a one-timer through the legs of netminder Victor Brattstrom and gave the Moose the early score.
With 9:11 remaining in the period, Manitoba attacked again when C.J. Suess danced around the defenders in the Grand Rapids’ zone and fired a wrister into the net, extending its lead to two.
After a pair of unanswered goals, Berggren stood at the left circle and connected with Turner Elson as he skated down the slot by himself to put the Griffins on the board at the 12:40 mark. This tally marked Elson’s second straight game with a goal and third in the last four contests.
Just as Grand Rapids scored its first, Manitoba added another to its lead. With 5:06 remaining, Mikey Eyssimont chased the puck behind the net and wrapped around the goal mouth for the score.
At the 15:14 mark in the opening period, Kristian Reichel fought for the loose puck when teammate Jeff Malott got free and stood in between the circles and smashed the puck into the right corner, extending the Manitoba lead to three.
As the middle frame began, Brattstrom was relieved of his duties by Calvin Pickard. The Griffins then went on to allow just two shots in the second, which was the fewest allowed in a period this campaign.
With 10:27 left in the frame, Barber got tripped by an opposing players stick and slid to make a pass to an open Kyle Criscuolo who stood left of the goal crease and reduced the Grand Rapids deficit to two, marking his second goal of the season.
As the final period started, Manitoba looked to take advantage on the power play. At the 1:25 mark, Malott took a shot but Pickard was able to make the save. However, the rebound fell to Greg Meireles and he finished the opportunity in the left corner to extend the Moose lead, 5-2.
With 16:20 remaining, Reichel skated down the right side on a 2-on-1 break and found Maier who took a shot from the slot to give Manitoba the 6-2 victory.
The third period saw Grand Rapids register only two shots, marking the fewest attempts in a period for the Griffins this year. Grand Rapids garnered just 16 total shots in the contest, which was the fewest attempts in a game since Oct. 22, 2021 when the team totaled 22 chances at Manitoba.
The Griffins also posted a photo gallery, and a highlight clip:
The Detroit Red Wings’ 3-2 overtime victory over the Montreal Canadiens felt a little bit unbelievable given how badly the Red Wings were out-played in the 3rd period, but Alex Nedeljkivic made 13 stops, some spectacular…
And Detroit managed to sneak their way into overtime, where Dylan Larkin scored a beautiful goal off Samuel Montembeault, who replaced Jake Allen after Larkin was very dirtily shoved into Allen by Jeff Petry earlier in the game.
Larkin said he was worried about Allen on the play. “I can’t do much,” Larkin said. “I’m full speed, Petry is full speed. A little push. I’m can’t move. I’m tired, I’m at the end of my shift. I can’t do anything. I think about him, I think about myself, yes, with injuries. It was a tough play and I feel really bad about it.”
Thanks to Larkin’s OT goal, most things ended well* for the Red Wings, who finish with 3 victories on their 4-game home-stand by taking their only victory of the season from the Canadiens.
The Detroit Red Wings played their third and final game of the season against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night, hoping to snap an 0-and-2 losing streak against the Habs.
With most of Red Wings blog-dom in the crowd due to the Winged Wheel Podcast and Winging It in Motown meet-ups taking place, the Detroit Red Wings surrendered a 1-0 lead to the Canadiens, Dylan Larkin and Pius Suter scored goals under a minute apart to give the Wings a 2-1 lead, Montreal tied the game early in a 3rd period that the Habs dominated, but Alex Nedeljkovic was huge, and Dylan Larkin scored a gorgeous goal in overtime to deliver a 3-2 OVERTIME victory for the Red Wings.
We’ve signed veteran defenseman Steve Oleksy to a PTO.
Oleksy skated in 36 games with us back in 2019-20, posting 15 points (1G, 14A) and 62 PIM. He’s also appeared in 73 career NHL contests. pic.twitter.com/iJkeBVPpe8— Toledo Walleye (@ToledoWalleye) November 13, 2021
The Wings have their last chance to earn two points against the Canadiens on Saturday — the teams only meet three times this season. The Wings will have to play a more complete game than the previous two times.
“They were probably a little bit different games,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “The first game (Oct. 23, a 6-1 loss), we started fine. We got into penalty trouble, and then we weren’t able to create enough after that. The last game (Nov. 2, a 3-0 loss), we played poorly. It was the worst game, I think, we’ve played all season in terms of how we actually played, in terms of our energy. We were a step behind the whole night. It was an egg for us, just one of those nights.”
One noticeable difference in Saturday’s game will be the presence of forwards Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi for the Wings.
Bertuzzi hasn’t been available for the Wings in either game in Montreal because of his vaccination status. The fact Bertuzzi has decided to dec a shot, makes him unable to go into Canada. The Wings also didn’t have Larkin in the last game, as he returned home to deal with a family emergency.
Larkin and Bertuzzi are two of the Wings’ best offensive players. But teams will miss players at certain points of the schedule for injuries, or any other number of reasons, Blashill said. It’s important to overcome the absences.
“In the NHL you’re always going to be in situations where you’re missing guys, and you have to find a way to be successful,” Blashill said. “We’ve seen Montreal play great hockey and in the last game they were outstanding against us. They won every loose puck, every battle, they made us look poor defensively.”
The Grand Rapids Griffins are hosting the Manitoba Moose for the second half of a home-and-still-at-home series tonight at 7 PM EST, and here’s the Griffins’ Game Day Preview video:
“The last game, they crushed us. I don’t care who we were missing, they were way better than us,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “I didn’t necessarily feel that way totally in parts of the first game, but when I look back on it, we didn’t have many chances. So, they’ve kind of put a beating on us for two games, regardless of who we had or didn’t have.
“In the NHL you’re always going to be in situations where you’re missing guys. You got to find a way to be successful. We’ve seen Montreal play great hockey and I thought in the last game they were outstanding against us. They won every loose puck, every battle. They were faster than us, they made us look poor defensively.”
The Red Wings (7-6-2) wrap up a four-game homestand. The Canadiens (4-10-1) have gained points in back-to-back games (overtime loss to Kings, victory over Flames) for the first time this season. The Red Wings are coming off a 2-0 loss to Washington on Thursday, the third time they have been shut out this season.
“The key for us to creating offense is that we’re playing on our toes, playing aggressive but playing smart,” Blashill said. “I thought (on Thursday) we started really aggressive and playing well and then we gave up some easy outnumbered rushes because we weren’t playing smart, we lost our body position a little bit too much. We just got to make sure we’re playing our game, we’re playing with confidence, we’re good with the puck.”
I’m fairly certain that I’ve posted this before, but The Coaches’ Site is sharing a 50-minute clip of Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill discussing skill development during practice as a, well, practice for all coaches to focus upon over the course of a 50-minute conversation held during last summer’s coaches summit:
#LGRW head coach Jeff Blashill on the importance of focusing on skill development in practice.
