Recap: Griffins lose sixth in a row to Chicago

The Grand Rapids Griffins are having an incredibly difficult time defeating one of their most frequent opponents in the Chicago Wolves. On Sunday, Grand Rapids dropped its sixth straight game to the Wolves, losing 3-1 (despite a 41-save performance by goaltender Calvin Pickard).

The Griffins’ website posted a recap:

GRAND RAPIDS GRIFFINS 1 at Chicago Wolves 3

Nov. 28, 2021

ROSEMONT, Ill.– The Grand Rapids Griffins failed to get its first win of the season in five tries against the Chicago Wolves, losing 3-1 on Sunday at Allstate Arena. The defeat snapped the Griffins’ six-game road point streak (4-0-1-1).

Grand Rapids is now winless in its past six outings against Chicago, dating back to last season. Despite the loss, Kyle Criscuolo extended his point streak (3-6—9) to four games. Calvin Pickard made his sixth straight start in net for the Griffins and has appeared in 12 out of the 17 games this season.

Continue reading Recap: Griffins lose sixth in a row to Chicago

Press release: Griffins sign Toledo’s Matt Berry to pro try-out contract

The Grand Rapids Griffins battle the Chicago Wolves today at 4 PM EST, and somebody must not be able to play today, because the Griffins have signed Toledo Walleye scorer Matt Berry to a pro try-out contract:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday signed forward Matt Berry to a professional tryout.

Berry comes to Grand Rapids from the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye. The Canton, Mich., native has amassed 24 points (9-15—24) and 22 penalty minutes in 15 games with Toledo this year.His 24 points are tied for second in the ECHL among forwards while his 15 assists and plus-16 rating places first. Berry has logged five multi-point outings this season, including two four-point nights on Nov. 14 and 21.

The sixth-year pro has spent much of his career in the ECHL, logging 189 points (76-113) and 178 penalty minutes in 186 regular-season games. Berry last played in the AHL during the 2018-19 season when he posted 18 points (4-14—18) in 42 contests with the San Diego Gulls. The former Michigan State Spartan has 62 AHL games to his name with 22 scores (7-15—22).

HSJ in the morning: Simon Edvinsson a probable addition to the Red Wings’ stable of NHL-playing prospects next season

The Free Press’s Helene St. James answers a mailbag question this morning, discussing Red Wings prospect Simon Edvinsson as the most likely rookie to join the Wings’ fray next season:

Edvinsson spent part of last season with Frölunda in the Swedish Hockey League, where he was teammates with Raymond. Yzerman billed Edvinsson as a “big, rangy D that can really skate. He’s got good puck skills. We just see his potential to be a left-shot defenseman that can log a lot of minutes and be a defender that can add some offense to the game as well. We like his skating ability, his size and his reach.”

Edvinsson is similar in size to Seider, standing 6 feet 5 and 207 pounds. That’s an advantage, especially for young players, making it less likely opponents try to intimidate them as they adjust to the NHL. Edvinsson is highly skilled, too. He’s enjoying a really good season with Frölunda, with whom he has one goal and 10 assists after 18 games. He has played as much as 25 minutes some nights, and averages about 20 minute of ice time. That’s an impressive pace for an 18-year-old in his first full season in the SHL.

Yzerman has been firm the Wings won’t rush prospects, but Raymond was brought over at 19, and he has looked like he belonged in the NHL from his first game. Defense is a harder position, but Edvinsson has that same poise that allowed Seider to succeed in men’s leagues at an early age.

Continued (paywall)

Khan in the morning: Blashill, Larkin praise energy of LCA crowd

MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a column regarding the Red Wings’ 3-2 overtime victory over the Buffalo Sabres this morning, with Khan noting coach Jeff Blashill and captain Dylan Larkin’s comments regarding the crowd at Little Caesars Arena being utilized as a motivating force:

The Red Wings don’t play in front of regular sellout crowds like they did at Joe Louis Arena during their Stanley Cup championship years, but the fans showing up at Little Caesars Arena are giving the team some “juice,” coach Jeff Blashill said.

“I think they’ve been awesome,” Blashill said. “I know the roads weren’t great today so it’s hard for everybody to get down here, but I thought the crowd was great tonight. The energy in this building has been great. I think that’s a huge reason why we’re 7-2-2. It gives so much momentum to our guys when the crowd is like that.”

The Red Wings (10-9-3) have won three in a row at home for the first time since Dec. 31, 2019 to Jan. 10, 2020. They are 7-2-2 at LCA.

“We play well here,” Larkin said. “The fans have been showing up, the atmosphere’s been great. We’re just get excited to be here. It was a long year without fans. We missed them a ton. To have them back and to play in this building, some of the loudest moments that I’ve heard here since it’s been open have happened this year. We got to keep going to make sure there’s louder moments and we’re right there in a playoff spot, where we want to be.”

Continued

Roughly translated: Lucas Raymond speaks to Aftonbladet and Expressen after his overtime goal

Lucas Raymond has hit the big time in a different category: Now he’s giving post-game interviews to the Swedish media after his big moments:

Here’s a rough translation what Raymond had to say to Aftonbladet’s Per Bjurman after his overtime goal in the Red Wings’ 3-2 victory over Buffalo on Saturday:

Continue reading Roughly translated: Lucas Raymond speaks to Aftonbladet and Expressen after his overtime goal

Prospect Round-up, North America: Cotton scores in WHL, Draper 2+1 in BCHL

Of Red Wings prospect-related note from North America on Saturday night:

In the QMJHL, Jan Bednar stopped 26 of 30 shots in the Acadie-Bathurst Titan’s 4-3 loss to Quebec;

In the OHL, Pasquale Zito finished at -1 with 1 shot and a 6-for-10 faceoff record in the Windsor Spitfires’ 6-5 OT loss to Saginaw;

In the WHL, Alex Cotton finished with a goal on 4 shots, finishing even in the Vancouver Giants’ 3-1 win over Spokane;

In the BCHL, Kienan Draper finally broke out, posting 2 goals and an assist, finishing even in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ 7-2 win over Coquitlam;

And in NCAA Hockey, Sam Stange finished even in the University of Wisconsin Badgers’ 3-0 loss to Clarkson;

Cooper Moore finished at +1 with 4 shots in the University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks’ 3-2 win over Minnesota;

Red Savage scored a goal, finishing at +1 with 1 shot and a 7-and-5 faceoff record in the Miami of Ohio Redhawks’ 4-1 win over Long Island;

Carter Gylander stopped 8 of 9 shots in mop-up duty during the Colgate Raiders’ 6-1 loss to the UConn Huskies. Chase Bradley had an assist, finishing at +1 with 3 shots for UConn;

Robert Mastrosimone finished even with 5 shots, and Chase Bradley did not play in the Boston University Terriers’ 6-4 loss to Cornell.

Red Wings-Sabres wrap-up: Wings pull victory from the jaws of defeat

The Red Wings’ 3-2 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night was exactly the kind of game that last year’s Red Wings team would have lost.

The Red Wings gave up the game’s first goal; they were able to generate a pair of goals in 1:19, but never did pull away from Buffalo, instead, surrendering the game-tying goal with only 1:37 remaining in regulation, and the Wings headed to overtime…

Where this happened:

The 2021-2022 season Red Wings stand at 10-9-and-3 going into a busy week (back-to-back games in Boston on Tuesday, at home vs. Seattle on Wednesday, and home vs. Long Island [maybe???] a week from Saturday) in no small part because they’ve won a couple of close games that almost certainly would have been disappointingly close losses a year ago.

Now there are still a lot of ways in which the Red Wings can improve–winning a game like this without needing to resort to overtime is a big way in which they could take significant steps forward–but earning a “by any means necessary” win on Saturday counts toward the Red Wings’ long-term growth as well as their short-term success.

Our friends from Buffalo had been playing their 2nd game in 2 nights and their 3rd in 5 overall, so the Sabres did feel “somewhat fortunate to earn a point” (as they say), but they wanted more than one, as they told the Buffalo News’s Mike Harrington:

Continue reading Red Wings-Sabres wrap-up: Wings pull victory from the jaws of defeat

Red Wings-Sabres quick take: BANG BANG, Raymond Frei!

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to build a 2-game winning streak at the expense of the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

The Wings sort of rope-a-doped their way to a 3-2 overtime victory. Detroit surrendered the first goal, a Dylan Cozens goal 5:05 into the 2nd, but the Wings exploded at the game’s halfway point, with Carter Rowney and Pius Suter scoring 2 goals in 1:14, and, after the Sabres scored the game-tying goal with only 1:37 remaining, Lucas Raymond made amends for the point stolen by Buffalo goalie Dustin Tokarski, skating into the Sabres end and scoring himself all of 26 seconds into overtime.

It wasn’t the most entertaining game, but Detroit won 3-2 because of three massive goals for, and the Wings are now off until Tuesday and Wednesday, when they head into Boston and then host Seattle, respectively.

Continue reading Red Wings-Sabres quick take: BANG BANG, Raymond Frei!