The Malik Report

MLive’s Ansar Khan filed his usual morning post-game story after the Red Wings won a 3-2 decision over the New York Islanders last night, and Khan focuses upon Alex Nedeljkovic’s 32-save performance:

“We came off a good heater there, winning five in a row, then not too great on the road,” Nedeljkovic said. “To come back and get this win tonight was huge, obviously.”

The game might have taken a different turn if Nedeljkovic hadn’t stopped Anthony Beauvillier during a three-on-one break in the final minute of the second period.

“I was just trying to be as patient as possible,” Nedeljkovic said. “That’s all you can really do in those situations. Especially when they had some good players on the ice, too. Just be as patient as possible and not really thinking too much about what it meant in that moment. Obviously now it was probably pretty big.”

Blashill said that would have been a tough goal to surrender under the circumstances.

“I think goalies need to stop things they’re supposed to stop and then make big saves at big moments if you want to be a great goalie and that’s what he did tonight,” Blashill said. “I thought we helped him, allowed him to play well by playing good defensively, didn’t allow the Grade A’s we’ve been giving up and then he answered the bell by stopping those shots.”

The Red Wings need to improve their team goals-against average of 3.34, which ranks 27th in the league.

Continued

ESPN’s Kristen Shilton offers a set of power rankings which examine NHL teams’ “superpowers,” and I’ll take the Red Wings’ “superpower” any day of the week:

23. Detroit Red Wings

Previous ranking: 19
Points percentage: 0.534
Upcoming schedule: @ CAR (Dec. 16), vs. NJ (Dec. 18), vs. COL (Dec. 20)

Superpower: Rising stars. It’s been a weird month for the Red Wings, with a five-game win streak stuck between sets of consecutive losses. But like a microcosm of Detroit’s season, those five games highlighted the true strength of its team: young talent. Lucas Raymond had three goals, Moritz Seider had four points and Dylan Larkin had five. The more Detroit gets from them, the merrier.

Continued; as Steve Yzerman might say, “The more the merrier, so we need more rising stars.”

The Free Press’s Helene St. James asked Red Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic and coach Jeff Blashill about the probability of the Wings playing against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday given that the Canes’ game in Minnesota was postponed due to multiple players entering COVID protocols:

The Detroit Red Wings await word on whether it’s game on with the Carolina Hurricanes next on the slate, because the Hurricanes — Nedeljkovic’s former team — had their Tuesday game postponed when four players entered COVID-19 protocol. 

“I played with them for a while, started my career there, so hopefully they’re all doing well,” Nedeljkovic said after Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders at Little Caesars Arena. “Obviously, they’re sick but they’re doing OK and they’re battling and nobody is too ill.”

The Wings likely will know before their 1 p.m. practice. They are scheduled to fly in the afternoon.

The Wings just dealt with three players going through protocol: Danny DeKeyser, Tyler Bertuzzi and Marc Staal. The Wings were in enhanced measures on their last road trip (meaning players essentially stayed in their hotel rooms) and continue to preach caution.

“We certainly have addressed that going back to when we had a few cases in a row and just making sure that our awareness is heightened and that our due diligence is heightened,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “We’re going to do the best we can. But you can do everything right and seem to still get the virus. All you can do is try to do it right to be as proactive as you can then you hope for the best and that’s what we’re doing.”

Continued

10:25. Annotated. Just a couple hours after the game ended. AWood40 is at it again, posting a massive slate of highlights from the Red Wings’ 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night:

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in North America on Tuesday night:

In the WHL, Alex Cotton had 2 assists, finishing at +2 with 5 shots in the Vancouver Giants’ 5-3 loss to Prince George;

And Cross Hanas finished at -1 with 7 shots in the Portland Winterhawks’ 4-3 overtime win over Everett.

The Detroit Red Wings advanced to 14-13-and-3, snapping a 3-game losing streak thanks to a 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.

The Red Wings got goals from Dylan Larkin and Michael Rasmussen, a fine 33-save performance from Alex Nedeljkovic, and the Wings played relatively well over the course of the game’s first 50-or-so minutes, receiving a necessary bail-out from “Ned” as the game wound down and Detroit’s energy seemed to waiver a bit.

Overall, it wasn’t a perfect game by any means, but the Red Wings got the lead, built upon it, and held it, and they weren’t able to do any of those things in their 3 previous games.

Now we wait and see as to whether the Carolina Hurricanes will be able to cobble together a roster for Thursday’s scheduled game in Raleigh.

Anyway, regarding Tuesday night’s game, our friends from Long Island felt that they waited too long to get started, and came on too late, as NewYorkIslanders.com’s Sasha Kandrach noted:

Continue reading Red Wings-Islanders wrap-up: Wings right the ship with via a Nedel-jo-win

FYI:

Jeff Blashill says Red Wings will practice Wednesday and prepare to go to Carolina until they hear otherwise. Hurricanes had Tuesday game postponed because of pandemic protocol.— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) December 15, 2021

We will have more in the 2nd intermission of the Leafs/Oilers game. Pending final decision from a medical conf call involving NHL and PA doctors, it’s likely enhanced protocols will be implemented on a League-wide basis for a period of time. Final details being worked out.— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) December 15, 2021

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a 3-game losing streak as they hosted the New York Islanders on Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena.

Detroit managed to win a 2-1 decision over a plucky, tenacious New York Islanders team, advancing to 14-12-and-3 thanks to goals from Dylan Larkin and Michael Rasmussen, a fine set of assists from Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond (on the 1st goal) and Adam Erne (on the 2nd), and a TREMENDOUS job by Alex Nedeljkovic, who stopped 32 of 33 shots, including a last-second game-tying attempt.

Continue reading Red Wings-Islanders quick take: Wings snap 3-game slide with a tightly-contested win

Of note from Bally Sports Detroit…

The kids are prospering, the time is now. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/DanlkgdXf8— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) December 15, 2021

And the NHL:

Moritz Seider recorded his 20th career point (3-17—20 in 29 GP). He required the third-fewest games by a rookie defenseman to reach the mark with the @DetroitRedWings behind Nicklas Lidstrom (22 GP) and Jeff Sharples (26 GP).#NHLStats: https://t.co/GmoeSVNw6v pic.twitter.com/vbN2MHuiGg— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 15, 2021

DetroitRedWings.com’s Brett McWethy got in on the Robby Fabbri article parade this afternoon, discussing the 25-year-old’s 3-year extension with Detroit:

What’s impressed Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill about Fabbri is that he plays “extraordinarily hard.” It’s an edge that Fabbri quickly regained after fully recovering from his injuries shortly after arriving in Detroit and having a conversation with Blashill about avoiding to play “careful.”

“Everybody in this league plays hard, but he’s, I think, played extraordinarily hard, and I think that’s who he is as a person,” Blashill said. “I think this year especially, from the drop of the puck in training camp, from the first practice, he’s done an excellent job of really, really competing on a day-to-day basis.

“To me, then he gets to use his skillset and he can really shoot the puck in the net, and he’s got good hockey smarts. He can separate himself with that competitiveness, that’s what he’s gotta do.”

abbri had previously inked a deal with the Red Wings, signing a two-year contact in August 2020. Now, the 25-year-old is a long-term piece of the Red Wings’ youthful group that is aiming to send Detroit back to the postseason.

“Not only Bert, Larks, myself; it’s a full team effort in there,” Fabbri said. “Whatever everyone brings every night and every single day in practice is what’s helping us grow, become a little more consistent. We still got room for improvement; we all know that in that room, and what we gotta work on. But it’s fun coming to the rink every day and doing it with these guys.”

Continued