Detroit Red Wings 2008-09 Schedule

[DennisDubay]

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“We don’t know when this chance will come this good again. We have to make sure our preparation is equal to the opportunity, and so that means it’s a great one, let’s get to work.” - Coach Babcock.

October 2008

RW SURVIVOR ROUND ONE

Date Visitor Home Score Dec Time (ET) TV Nat'l Local (A) Local (H) CI (Center ICE)
Thu Oct 9, 2008 Maple Leafs @Red Wings GAME DAY THREAD L 2-3 VIDEO
Sat Oct 11, 2008 Red Wings @Senators GAME DAY THREADW 3-2 VIDEO
Mon Oct 13, 2008 Red Wings @ Hurricanes GAME DAY THREAD W 3-1 VIDEO
Thu Oct 16, 2008 Canucks @ Red Wings GAME DAY THREAD L 3-4 OT VIDEO
Sat Oct 18, 2008 Rangers @ Red Wings GAME DAY THREADW 5-4 OT VIDEO
Wed Oct 22, 2008 Red Wings@ Blues GAME DAY THREAD W 4-3 VIDEO
Fri Oct 24, 2008 Thrashers @ Red Wings GAME DAY THREAD W 5-3 VIDEO
Sat Oct 25, 2008 Red Wings @ Blackhawks 8:30 PM FSN-D WGN (HD) CI-GAME 2 XM 236 GAME DAY THREAD
Mon Oct 27, 2008 Red Wings @ Kings 10:30 PM FSN-D (HD) FSN-W (HD) CI-GAME 6 & 8 XM 209
Wed Oct 29, 2008 Red Wings @ Ducks 10:00 PM FSN-D+ PRIME CI-GAME 5 XM 206
Thu Oct 30, 2008 Red Wings @ Sharks 10:30 PM FSN-D CSN-BA (HD) CI-GAME 4 XM 206

November 2008

Date Visitor Home Score Dec Time (ET) TV Nat'l Local (A) Local (H)

Sun Nov 2, 2008 Red Wings @ Canucks 10:00 PM FSN-D SNET-P
Sat Nov 8, 2008 Devils @ Red Wings 7:00 PM MSG PLUS 2 FSN-D (HD)
Tue Nov 11, 2008 Penguins @ Red Wings 7:00 PM VERSUS (HD),TSN2 VETERANS DAY LAPEL PIN GIVEAWAY
Thu Nov 13, 2008 Red Wings @ Lightning 7:30 PM FSN-D (HD) SUN (HD)
Fri Nov 14, 2008 Red Wings @ Panthers 7:30 PM FSN-D (HD) FSN-F
Mon Nov 17, 2008 Oilers @ Red Wings 7:30 PM SNET-W FSN-D (HD)
Thu Nov 20, 2008 Red Wings @ Oilers 9:00 PM FSN-D PPV
Sat Nov 22, 2008 Red Wings @ Flames 10:00 PM CBC (HD),NHLN-US FSN-D
Mon Nov 24, 2008 Red Wings @ Canucks 10:00 PM FSN-D SNET-P
Wed Nov 26, 2008 Canadiens @ Red Wings 7:30 PM TSN (HD),RDS (HD),NHLN-US FSN-D (HD) National Coney Throwback Program Cover
Fri Nov 28, 2008 Blue Jackets @ Red Wings 7:30 PM FSN-O FSN-D+
Sat Nov 29, 2008 Red Wings @ Bruins 7:00 PM FSN-D (HD) NESN (HD)

December 2008

Date Visitor Home Score Dec Time (ET) TV Nat'l Local (A) Local (H)

Mon Dec 1, 2008 Ducks @ Red Wings 7:30 PM PRIME FSN-D (HD) Detroit Medical Center Scrubs to first 10,000
Thu Dec 4, 2008 Canucks @ Red Wings 7:30 PM PPV FSN-D (HD)
Sat Dec 6, 2008 Blackhawks @ Red Wings 7:00 PM WGN (HD) FSN-D (HD)
Wed Dec 10, 2008 Flames @ Red Wings 7:30 PM TSN (HD),NHLN-US FSN-D (HD)
Fri Dec 12, 2008 Red Wings @ Stars 8:30 PM FSN-D (HD) FSN-SW
Sat Dec 13, 2008 Red Wings @ Coyotes 9:00 PM FSN-D+ FSN-A (HD)
Mon Dec 15, 2008 Avalanche @ Red Wings 7:00 PM VERSUS (HD),RDS (HD)
Thu Dec 18, 2008 Sharks @ Red Wings 7:30 PM CSN-BA FSN-D (HD)
Sat Dec 20, 2008 Kings @ Red Wings 7:00 PM FSN-W FSN-D (HD)
Tue Dec 23, 2008 Blues @ Red Wings 7:30 PM FSN-MW FSN-D+ Holiday Ornaments
Fri Dec 26, 2008 Red Wings @ Predators 8:00 PM FSN-D (HD) FSN-+
Sat Dec 27, 2008 Red Wings @ Avalanche 9:00 PM FSN-D+ ALT (HD)
Tue Dec 30, 2008 Blackhawks @ Red Wings 7:30 PM CSN-CH (HD) FSN-D (HD)

January 2009

Date Visitor Home Score Dec Time (ET) TV Nat'l Local (A) Local (H)

Thu Jan 1, 2009 Red Wings @ Blackhawks (Wrigley Field) 1:00 PM CBC (HD),NBC (HD),RDS (HD)
Sat Jan 3, 2009 Red Wings @ Wild 8:00 PM FSN-D KSTC
Tue Jan 6, 2009 Blue Jackets @ Red Wings 7:30 PM FSN-O FSN-D (HD)
Thu Jan 8, 2009 Stars @ Red Wings 7:30 PM KDFI FSN-D (HD)
Sat Jan 10, 2009 Sabres @ Red Wings 7:00 PM MSG-B FSN-D (HD)
Mon Jan 12, 2009 Red Wings @ Stars 8:00 PM VERSUS (HD),RIS,TSN2
Wed Jan 14, 2009 Red Wings @Ducks 10:00 PM FSN-D (HD) FSN-W
Thu Jan 15, 2009 Red Wings @ Kings 10:30 PM FSN-D (HD) FSN-W (HD)
Sat Jan 17, 2009 Red Wings @ Sharks 10:30 PM FSN-D CSN-BA (HD)
Tue Jan 20, 2009 Red Wings @ Coyotes 9:00 PM FSN-D (HD) FSN-A (HD)
Tue Jan 27, 2009 Red Wings @ Blue Jackets 7:00 PM FSN-D FSN-O
Thu Jan 29, 2009 Stars @Red Wings 7:30 PM FSN-SW FSN-D (HD)
Sat Jan 31, 2009 Red Wings @ Capitals 12:30 PM FSN-D CSN-DC (HD)

February 2009

Date Visitor Home Score Dec Time (ET) TV Nat'l Local (A) Local (H)

Mon Feb 2, 2009 Blues @ Red Wings 7:00 PM TSN,VERSUS (HD),RIS
Wed Feb 4, 2009 Coyotes @ Red Wings 7:30 PM FSN-A FSN-D+
Sat Feb 7, 2009 Oilers @ Red Wings 3:00 PM SNET-W FSN-D (HD)
Sun Feb 8, 2009 Red Wings @ Penguins 3:00 PM RDS,NBC (HD) FSN-D FSN-P (HD)
Tue Feb 10, 2009 Red Wings @ Predators 8:00 PM FSN-D+ FSN-S
Thu Feb 12, 2009 Wild @ Red Wings 7:30 PM FSN-N (HD) FSN-D (HD)
Fri Feb 13, 2009 Red Wings @ Blue Jackets 7:00 PM FSN-D (HD) FSN-O
Sun Feb 15, 2009 Avalanche @ Red Wings 5:00 PM NBC (HD) ALT FSN-D (HD)
Wed Feb 18, 2009 Predators @ Red Wings 7:30 PM FSN-S FSN-D (HD)
Fri Feb 20, 2009 Ducks @Red Wings 7:30 PM PRIME FSN-D (HD)
Sat Feb 21, 2009 Red Wings @ Wild 8:00 PM RDS (HD) FSN-D (HD) FSN-N (HD)
Wed Feb 25, 2009 Sharks @ Red Wings 7:30 PM CSN-BA (HD) FSN-D (HD)
Fri Feb 27, 2009 Kings @ Red Wings 7:30 PM FSN-W FSN-D+
Sat Feb 28, 2009 Red Wings @ Predators 8:00 PM FSN-D (HD)

March 2009

Date Visitor Home Score Dec Time (ET) TV Nat'l Local (A) Local (H)

Tue Mar 3, 2009 Red Wings @ Blues 8:30 PM FSN-D (HD) FSN-MW (HD)
Wed Mar 4, 2009 Red Wings @ Avalanche 9:00 PM FSN-D (HD) ALT (HD)
Sat Mar 7, 2009 Blue Jackets @ Red Wings 7:00 PM FSN-O FSN-D (HD)
Tue Mar 10, 2009 Coyotes @ Red Wings 7:30 PM AZTV FSN-D (HD)
Thu Mar 12, 2009 Flames @ Red Wings 7:00 PM SNET-W FSN-D (HD)
Sat Mar 14, 2009 Red Wings @ Blues 2:00 PM FSN-D (HD) KPLR
Sun Mar 15, 2009 Red Wings @Blue Jackets 5:00 PM NBC (HD) FSN-D (HD) FSN-O
Tue Mar 17, 2009 Flyers @ Red Wings 7:30 PM VERSUS (HD),TSN2
Fri Mar 20, 2009 Red Wings @ Thrashers 7:30 PM FSN-D SPSO (HD)
Mon Mar 23, 2009 Red Wings @ Flames 9:30 PM TSN (HD) FSN-D
Tue Mar 24, 2009 Red Wings @ Oilers 9:30 PM TSN (HD) FSN-D
Fri Mar 27, 2009 Islanders @ Red Wings 7:30 PM RIS MSG PLUS (HD) FSN-D (HD)
Sun Mar 29, 2009 Predators @ Red Wings 5:00 PM FSN-S FSN-D+

April 2009

Date Visitor Home Score Dec Time (ET) TV Nat'l Local (A) Local (H)

Thu Apr 2, 2009 Blues @ Red Wings 7:30 PM FSN-MW (HD) FSN-D (HD)
Sun Apr 5, 2009 Wild @ Red Wings 5:00 PM NBC (HD) FSN-N (HD) FSN-D (HD)
Mon Apr 6, 2009 Red Wings @ Sabres 7:00 PM VERSUS (HD),TSN2
Thu Apr 9, 2009 Predators @ Red Wings 7:30 PM FSN-S FSN-D (HD)
Sat Apr 11, 2009 Blackhawks @ Red Wings 3:00 PM WGN (HD) FSN-D (HD)
Sun Apr 12, 2009 Red Wings @ Blackhawks 5:00 PM NBC (HD) FSN-D CSN-CH (HD)

[DennisDubay]

Banner raising on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ujqoLN6PoU

National Media:

Newest Wings feel bittersweet as banner raised

Maple Leafs spoil Red Wings' banner-raising party

Opening loss a minor hiccup in Red Wings' season

One thing Leafs will be successful at this season? Playing the spoiler role


BOX SCORE GAME 1

[DennisDubay]

Franzen's two goals help sloppy Wings past Ottawa Saturday night.

Alfredsson-less Senators fall to Red Wings

How the Ottawa Senators could have used Daniel Alfredsson Saturday.

Sitting on a one-goal lead in the third period, the Senators fell apart and ended up coughing up a pair of goals en route to suffering a 3-2 loss on home ice to the Detroit Red Wings.

Johan Franzen scored his second goal of the game with 1:17 remaining in regulation to complete the Detroit comeback.

Ottawa goalie Martin Gerber was magnificent — especially in the first period when the Red Wings outshot the Senators 17-6 — and he made 38 saves on the night.

But he couldn't stop Franzen's wrist shot from inside the face-off circle that took a slight deflection off Ottawa defenceman Filip Kuba's stick before trickling over the goal-line.

"We came out flat in the first period but I think we were able to play more of our game over the next two periods," Gerber said, adding he didn't have much of an opportunity on the winning goal.

"It looked like an easy shot but it bounced twice and the second bounce popped over my stick. It's over now though and there's nothing you can do about it."

Saturday marked the first regular season game at Scotiabank Place in Kanata, Ont., with the Senators already playing a "home" game among the two they split last weekend with the Pittsburgh Penguins in Stockholm.

The Swedish trip came with a cost, as Alfredsson aggravated a bone chip injury in his knee. The Ottawa captain underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Friday, and the hope is that he will be out of the lineup for only two weeks.

The Red Wings came out flying from the opening face-off, but then picked up consecutive minor penalties to hand the Senators a two-man advantage.

Alexandre Picard, who joined Ottawa in an off-season trade, scored his first goal in a Senators uniform on the ensuing power-play with a wicked slapshot.

Picard said he was surprised that the club has used him so much on the power play this early in the season.

"Coming in I really didn't know what to expect. The coaching staff gave me the opportunity to play on the power play," Picard told Hockey Night in Canada. "We scored three goals in Sweden against Pittsburgh and another tonight. We just shoot the puck. We have talented guys out there."

Detroit's Valtteri Filppula tied things up five minutes later with a wrist shot that eluded Gerber.
Foligno scores a beauty

The teams appeared to be headed into the second intermission tied 1-1, but Ottawa forward Nick Foligno scored with 1:59 left in the period on a brilliant individual effort, fighting his way between two Detroit defenceman before snapping the puck home from the slot.

"I tried to make a move and luckily it squirted through and I was able to get my stick free," said Foligno.

Ottawa expertly held Detroit at bay, but then committed a horrendous line change that paved the way for Franzen to rush down the wing and fire a quick snap shot past Gerber's glove at 11:16 of the third.

The Red Wings continued to press and were rewarded for their persistence late in the game when Franzen bagged his second goal of the night.

"The first one I was dead tired so I only made it to the circle but I saved enough energy to get a good shot away," Franzen said.

"The second one was a lucky one. It got deflected. I was shooting for the first post but it got deflected to the other post. That was a tough play for him."

The Senators continue their five-game homestand next Friday against Phoenix.

The Red Wings will play against Carolina on Monday and then meet the following day with U.S. President George W. Bush when they will be honoured at the White House for their Stanley Cup victory last season.
With files from Canadian Press

http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/t...spx?id=4184843

Ottawa, ON (Sports Network) - Johan Franzen netted the game-tying and game- winning goals in the third period and the Detroit Red Wings got past the Ottawa Senators, 3-2, at Scotiabank Place. Valtteri Filppula scored the other Detroit goal while Henrik Zetterberg notched two assists for the Red Wings, who dropped a 3-2 decision to Toronto in Thursday's season opener. Chris Osgood turned away 20-of-22 shots to get the win. Alexandre Picard and Nick Foligno tallied for the Senators, who opened their season by splitting a designated home-and-home series with the Pittsburgh Penguins last weekend in Stockholm, Sweden. Martin Gerber was peppered with 41 shots in defeat, and gave up all three goals. Ottawa opened its official home schedule without star forward and captain, Daniel Alfredsson, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Friday. The surgery removed a bone chip in the forward's knee that was dislodged during Sunday's game against Pittsburgh. The ailment could sideline Alfredsson for up to two weeks.

Johan Franzen's offense is now front and center

OTTAWA, Ontario -- Johan Franzen feels like he's back in junior hockey, back when his offense flowed as easily as his defense.
Advertisement

When he joined the Red Wings three seasons ago it was his defense that won rave reviews. Encouraged mightily by the coaching staff and teammates to shoot the puck, too, Franzen's offensive skills came to the forefront more and more, culminating with a dominating performance late last season that lasted into the playoffs.

Saturday night at Scotiabank Place, Franzen was back at it, scoring twice in the third period to rally the Red Wings to a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators. His second goal came with 1:17 left when he took a shot from the blue line that bounced in off Filip Kuba's stick.

"I hit the D's stick and it deflected and changed direction, so it was hard for the goalie," Franzen said.

On his first goal, Franzen fired a wrister from the faceoff circle after taking a long pass from Henrik Zetterberg. Franzen has played since exhibition on a line with Zetterberg and Jiri Hudler.

"I knew I was going to get a good chance to play on the top two lines, and you want to do the best of it," Franzen said of his role. "It feels good to get my first goals early. I'm starting to play more and more like I did when I was younger, when I was around junior age. It's getting back to me more and more."

Franzen tallied 27 goals last season, and then another 13 to help the Wings win the Stanley Cup.

"He proved in the playoffs he can score goals," Marian Hossa said. "He's got that quick shot, especially the second goal -- that was a beautiful shot by him."

At 6-foot-3, 220 pounds Franzen is among the biggest forwards on the team, and the Wings keep at him to use his size.

"I was real happy for him that he was able to snap some," coach Mike Babcock said. "But the Mule has got to understand the reason he's so good is because he's big and physical. So he's got to be big and physical and the rest of the stuff will come.

NOTEBOOK: Dan Cleary opted to put on a visor last season after getting hit near the eye, but over the summer, he decided to continue without one, even though his wife much prefers he wear one. "She just said, 'I wish you would have it on' " Cleary said. "It makes sense to wear one for everyone." That said, Cleary disliked having to constantly clean his visor while on the bench, and he didn't change his mind even after seeing teammate Nicklas Lidstrom decide to wear a visor after taking a puck near the right eye during the preseason. "I'm not as gifted as Nick," Cleary said. "He can just put it on and still be great. It's different for each guy. I found it was really distracting more than anything." ...

Hossa's integration into the Wings is a work in progress, but given Hossa's skill, it'll just be a matter of time before his line with Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom emerges as among the most dangerous in the NHL. "The thing about Hossa, to me I'm not concerned about him because he works so hard and he wants to do the right thing," Babcock said. "He's so talented and so big -- how can he not be a great fit? They'll work it out over time." ... Babcock said Ty Conklin will start in goal Monday at Carolina.

Wings rebound nicely from opening loss

Dave Dye / The Detroit News

OTTAWA, Ontario -- Championship teams bounce back from bad performances

And they also excel at whatever their point of emphasis is entering the next game.

The Red Wings did both Saturday for a 3-2 victory over Ottawa.

After committing an uncharacteristic 19 giveaways in Thursday's opening loss to Toronto, the Wings reduced that total to four against the Senators.

"Our team can skate," coach Mike Babcock said. "We're a real deep team. If we want to work and do it right, we're going to be hard to play against. If we want to turn the puck over and be cute, we're going to hurt ourselves. Tonight, we did a better job of that."

Johan Franzen scored twice in the final 8:44 to help the Wings overcome a 2-1 deficit. Detroit outshot Ottawa 41-22.

The Wings certainly appeared to be much more determined than they were 48 hours earlier.

"The good thing, we come right back and play a good game tonight," center Henrik Zetterberg said. "The most important thing is you bounce back and play good.

"We got our legs going. The first period, we spent a lot of time in their end. All four lines just kept going all the time. When we do that, it's tough to defend."

That's a killer

After that early domination by the Wings, the game took a turn when Ottawa killed a two-man disadvantage for more than a minute in the second period.

"It was a big thing for them," Babcock said. "We had it on Nick's (Nicklas Lidstrom ) stick I don't know how many times for pretty good looks. The goalie, Gerbs (Martin Gerber ), didn't see it a few times and it hit him. That's the way it is.

"We didn't go five-on-three like we normally do. We've got different people now. That's one of the things we're working out. It would be very easy for me to go Z (Zetterberg), Pav (Pavel Datsyuk ) and Homer (Tomas Holmstrom ).

"I think it's important that we stay with the process we're in. I think we'll be a better hockey club long term if we continue to go the way we're going."

Babcock has used his top two regular lines -- Datsyuk, Holmstrom and Marian Hossa , along with Zetterberg, Franzen and Jiri Hudler -- as the power-play units.

The Wings were scoreless in five power-play chances Saturday totaling 6:19. They were 1-for-3 Thursday.

0-for-Hossa

Hossa hasn't scored yet. He led the Wings with six shots Saturday, but it was one that missed the net that he regrets the most.

"I missed that empty-netter on the power play," he said, shaking his head. "I don't know how I missed the rebound there. I'll have to check that out.

"But pucks are coming to me. I just have to be patient. No panic needed."

Coming soon: Conklin

Babcock said Ty Conklin , who was signed as a free agent during the offseason to be Chris Osgood 's backup, will make his Red Wings' debut Monday at Carolina.

BOX SCORE: GAME 2

[DennisDubay]

Red Wings-related odds and ends, and the weekly PA rant

Posted by George James Malik October 12, 2008 08:06AM

The Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch has high hopes for the Red Wings' presidential visit after the Def Leppard incident, which might be asking too much of our linguistically-adventurous commander-in-chief:

October 12, Ottawa Sun: NHL officials were red-faced when Def Leppard's Joe Elliott placed the Stanley Cup upside-down during a concert in the Motor City last week. This week, the Red Wings take the Cup to Washington to visit with U.S. President George W. Bush. He will likely show more respect

It's not my business to pan or praise a politician on this blog, but, regardless of one's opinion of George W. Bush, one must admit that the likelhood of hearing Mr. Bush call the captain "Nick LinDstrom" is highly, highly likely.

Shifting gears, the Sun-Sentinel's Steve Goerten believes that the Red Wings, deep as they may be, have a hard road ahead of them:

October 12, Sun-Sentinel: The Wings were the last team to do so, sweeping the Flyers and Capitals in 1997 and 1998. The Stars came close in 1999 and 2000, and the Devils even closer in 2000 and 2001, losing the final to the Avalanche in seven games. The 2006-07 champ, Anaheim, lost in the first round of the playoffs last season. Both the winner (Carolina) and runner-up (Edmonton) in 2005-06 missed the postseason the following year.

"I gave it a lot of thought because it was such a difficult year for us," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said. "I still don't have an answer. Man, I'd love to try to figure it out again."

The Wings, who have won four Cups the past 11 seasons and have reached the playoffs 17 straight seasons -- the longest current streak in pro sports -- are the steadiest organization in the NHL. And unlike some other teams that have won, their roster the season after looks pretty much the same. But there's always concern of a Stanley Cup hangover.

"When we go places, they're going to be fired up to play us," goalie Chris Osgood told reporters after Thursday's [3-2 loss to Toronto]. "That's what the hangover is. It's not us. Other teams always have their 'A' game against us and play real well."

For the record, the Maple Leafs dropped their home opener to the Montreal Canadiens by a 6-1 tally, and the Carolina Hurricanes, the Red Wings' next opponent, defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in overtime on Saturday.

The Edmonton Journal's Jim Matheson took note of Red Wings coach Mike Babcock's conference call comment about a certain Finnish "consolation prize":

October 12, Edmonton Journal: It would be strange if the Detroit Red Wings, who struck out on signing Swedish free-agent hotshot Fabian Brunnstrom (a healthy scratch for the Dallas Stars in their season opener), turn out to have a better kid in the long run in Finnish left-winger Ville Leino. The rookie might be as good as Valtteri Filppula, another Finn waiting to break out in Detroit.

"Leino is way more puck-oriented than Val, who's more of a skater. Ville has a nose for the net, hangs on to the puck, he's dominant on the cycle, slippery, he spins, makes great passes," raved Red Wings coach Mike Babcock, who sent the 25-year-old to the minors because they're too deep at forward.

The Toronto Sun's Steve Simmons offers up a unique take on the status of Darren Helm:

October 12, Toronto Sun: I wouldn't be such a nice guy if I was Darren Helm. He played 18 playoff games for the Red Wings, looked good doing it and then got sent to the minors because he happened to have the wrong kind of contract

This little ditty may bring a tear to your eye. The Denver Post's Adrian Dater says that Colorado Avalanche defenceman Adam Foote will hit the 1,000-game mark tonight vs. the Edmonton Oilers, and Foote remembers game #1 fondly:

October 12, Denver Post: The Celsius temperature in Quebec City, Quebec, on the night of Oct. 19, 1991, wasn't much higher than the victory total -- one -- of the hometown Nordiques when the puck dropped at Le Colisee against the Detroit Red Wings.

When the game was over, les Nordiques had dropped to 1-5-1 as Steve Yzerman and the Wings prevailed 6-1. While Quebec stars such as Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin and Owen Nolan quietly showered and departed into the night, one rookie who had just played his first NHL game couldn't help but want to keep his uniform on a little longer.

"Wow, was that exciting," said that rookie, Adam Foote. "To have that uniform on with the little NHL logo on it and your name on the back -- I remember just staring at it and thinking it was a dream."
...
"I remember chasing Yzerman around that night. But it was still fun," said Foote, 37. "I remember the night well, but the whole Quebec days -- the four years there -- it's hard to remember all of them. It seems like it never happened, actually. It was a long time ago."

Foote said he should have gotten to 1,000 games sooner, but injuries and the canceled season of 2004-05 didn't help. But 164 career playoff games and two Stanley Cups have more than made up for it.

"I want to add to that playoff game number," Foote said.

You've got to admit that Foote's aged well. He didn't get any uglier...

Finally, the New York Post's Larry Brooks and the Boston Globe's Kevin Dupont are freaking out (again) about the NHLPA's decision to wait to inform the NHL as to whether they'll renew the CBA until Paul Kelly speaks to the majority of his membership, suggesting that under-35 players such as Kyle McLaren, Peter Schaefer, and Bobby Ryan (who's a rookie) were unjustly banished to the AHL because the PA's delay nullified the CBA's allowance for teams to go up to 7.5% over the cap to squeeze in over-35 and entry-level salary bonuses. McLaren and Schaefer are both 31, and their demotions were as much performance-related as cap-related.

Players were sent to the minors to free up cap space over the first three seasons of the salary-capped CBA, and they're still sent to the minors to free up cap space. It's not the PA's "fault" that teams make these decisions.

Elias Says...
ELIAS Sports Bureau

JOHAN FRANZEN SCORES ANOTHER GAME-WINNING GOAL

The Red Wings trailed the Senators, 2-1, with less than nine minutes to play in the third period in Ottawa but Johan Franzen scored a pair of goals 7:27 apart to give Detroit a 3-2 victory. Franzen has been credited with the game-winning goal in 12 of the Red Wings' 40 games since the beginning of March: six times in their final 16 regular-season in 2008, five times in their 22 playoff games en route to the Stanley Cup, and once in two games this season. Before March 1, 2008, Franzen had scored only eight game-winning goals in 229 regular-season and playoff games in the NHL.

Updated: October 11, 2008

[lordstanley]

5 of 7 games against the Eastern Conference to start. OK, but hot-ticket games like against the Leafs would have been a nice break from Columbus-Minnesota-Nashville drudgery later in the season .

[DennisDubay]

Babcock hopes Datsyuk-Zetterberg split will balance special teams

Posted by George James Malik October 13, 2008 05:40AM
Red Wings coach Mike Babcock "went back to the well" in attempting to jump-start the Wings 'power play on Saturday night, putting Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk on the same line, but Babcock tells the Free Press's Helene St. James that he'd prefer to do so as a last resort:

October 13, Detroit Free Press: "We've got different people now," Babcock said after the 3-2 victory Saturday at Ottawa. "That's one of the things we're working out. I think it's important we stay with the process we're in. I think we'll be a better hockey club long-term if we continue to go the way we're going."
Aside from the short reappearance of last year's top power-play unit midway through the third period Saturday, the Wings are hoping to stick with two new forward groups: Datsyuk with his regular wingers, Marian Hossa and Holmstrom, and Zetterberg with his regular wingers, Johan Franzen and Jiri Hudler. Rafalski and Lidstrom will continue to man the points together with one group, and Niklas Kronwall and Mikael Samuelsson will substitute.

The units are still feeling each other out. Against Toronto last Thursday, the Wings went 1-for-3 on power plays; against Ottawa, 0-for-5, including 1:07 with a two-man advantage.

"There's no question that the talent is there; we just have to get our things together and work hard," Kronwall said. "A lot of times the easy play, the simple play, is the better one, so we just have to get back to basics. With the way the game is played nowadays, there's a lot of power plays every game, and if you have a good power play, you can win a lot of games on that alone. So special teams, both power play and penalty kill, are going to be key."


Chris Osgood tells St. James that part of getting both units working involves close monitoring of shift times:

"I think it's important for us to go 45 seconds hard on and off, to give both groups an opportunity to do something. That's what our success is, when we're not just relying on one or two guys -- we don't have to have Pav or Hank or Hoss be extraordinary; they just have to be themselves, because we have so many guys who are capable of scoring. I think as the season gets on, our power play is definitely going to be a weapon for us. When it gets hot, it's going to win us a lot of games. But in order to get power plays, you have to play in the other team's end a lot, so we have to make sure we get pucks deep and cycle it."
That's the key to winning any hockey game--sustaining possession and control in the opposition zone, which generates scoring chances by tiring out the opposition's defence, forcing them to overcommit personnel to taking out a puck carrier. Add in some lateral passes, puck retrieval, and a nose for the net (and maybe a Mule), and you get shots, rebound opportunities, and goals.

Babcock prefers balanced 84-game slate to kamikaze preseason

Posted by George James Malik October 13, 2008 02:59AM

The NHL's exhibition season drew serious criticism from pundits around the league as its highly-condensed, six-to-nine-game schedule, played out over less than two weeks, resulted in dozens of preseason injuries, some of them severe. Red Wings coach Mike Babcock tells the Detroit News's Dave Dye that he'd rather see the regular season increased in duration than play chicken with the injury gods:

October 13, Detroit News: The NHL took steps to balance the schedule this season with the number of games against division foes reduced from eight to six.
But Babcock would like the league to go one step further.

"I wish it was an 84-game schedule (instead of 82) and you played everyone (in the opposite conference) home-and-home, and you played a lot less exhibition games," Babcock said. "But they didn't ask me."

The Wings played a ridiculous nine exhibitions in 12 days, forcing Babcock to split the team into two groups to rotate the lineup each game.


The fact that the Wings escaped the pre-season slate with only one serious injury (Chris Chelios's broken leg) absolutely stunned me. We (being Red Wings fans) got real lucky.

I'm not sure where the hell I'm supposed to place this quote, but Babcock also summarized the Red Wings' pre-Hossa roster-building philosophy in three sentences:

Babcock, on the Wings' ability to retain their players after winning the Cup: "I think most teams that win a championship, they walk in the locker room the next year and they look around and they go, 'We're not as good. He's gone, he's gone, he's gone.' That never happened here."

Wings keep shooting


They pepper Senators goalie all night, find back of the net twice in final nine minutes to cap rally.

Dave Dye / The Detroit News

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Shoot it enough and good things happen.

The Red Wings kept shooting Saturday night in Ottawa. It took a while for good things to happen, but they finally did.

"In the long run, the puck will go in if you put it there," center Henrik Zetterberg said.

Zetterberg assisted on both of Johan Franzen's goals in the final nine minutes to lead the Wings to a 3-2 victory in the first of back-to-back road games.

The Wings play tonight against the Hurricanes, which rallied from a three-goal deficit Saturday to defeat the Lightning, 4-3, in overtime.

The Wings fired 41 shots at Senators goalie Martin Gerber, including 17 in the first period.

"The goalies are too good," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "You can't score on the first shot. If you don't shoot the puck, how do you get a second chance?

"To me, that's the whole thing. The way teams all play, everyone collapses to the net, everyone's in on the inside. If you don't shoot the puck, they're just face-up on you with their stick. "You've got to wire it. When you put it past them, now they've got to decide, do they box you out or do they turn around? To me, it's very important you shoot."

Road warriors

The Wings have won eight of their last 10 road games, seven of those coming in the playoffs last season.

This road-warrior stretch started in Game 6 against the Predators in the first round. The Wings went 2-0 in Colorado, 2-1 in Dallas and 2-1 in Pittsburgh.

They clinched all four playoff series on the road, including winning the Stanley Cup in Game 6 at Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, the Wings have lost their last two games at Joe Louis Arena: Game 5 of the Stanley Cup and their season opener.

More games

The NHL took steps to balance the schedule this season with the number of games against division foes reduced from eight to six.

But Babcock would like the league to go one step further.

"I wish it was an 84-game schedule (instead of 82) and you played everyone (in the opposite conference) home-and-home, and you played a lot less exhibition games," Babcock said. "But they didn't ask me."

The Wings played a ridiculous nine exhibitions in 12 days, forcing Babcock to split the team into two groups to rotate the lineup each game.

Quotable

Babcock, on the Wings' ability to retain their players after winning the Cup: "I think most teams that win a championship, they walk in the locker room the next year and they look around and they go, 'We're not as good. He's gone, he's gone, he's gone.' That never happened here."

You can reach Dave Dye at dave.dye@detnews.com.

Zetterberg, Datsyuk will lead new power-play units

BY HELENE ST. JAMES • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • October 13, 2008

Late in their last game, when they were trailing by a goal, five Red Wings very familiar with one another's tendencies took the ice together.

With Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski on the back end and Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom up front, the five formed the power-play unit that had a great deal of success last season. It is not, however, one coach Mike Babcock wants together this season.

As the Wings prepare to play at Carolina tonight (they took Sunday off), the focus is on getting the new very elite power-play units jelling.

"We've got different people now," Babcock said after the 3-2 victory Saturday at Ottawa. "That's one of the things we're working out. I think it's important we stay with the process we're in. I think we'll be a better hockey club long-term if we continue to go the way we're going."

Aside from the short reappearance of last year's top power-play unit midway through the third period Saturday, the Wings are hoping to stick with two new forward groups: Datsyuk with his regular wingers, Marian Hossa and Holmstrom, and Zetterberg with his regular wingers, Johan Franzen and Jiri Hudler. Rafalski and Lidstrom will continue to man the points together with one group, and Niklas Kronwall and Mikael Samuelsson will substitute.

The units are still feeling each other out. Against Toronto last Thursday, the Wings went 1-for-3 on power plays; against Ottawa, 0-for-5, including 1:07 with a two-man advantage.

"There's no question that the talent is there; we just have to get our things together and work hard," Kronwall said. "A lot of times the easy play, the simple play, is the better one, so we just have to get back to basics. With the way the game is played nowadays, there's a lot of power plays every game, and if you have a good power play, you can win a lot of games on that alone. So special teams, both power play and penalty kill, are going to be key."

The Wings have so much talent that Dan Cleary and Valtteri Filppula stand ready to take over spots. Both saw power-play time regularly last season.

"We have to find a happy medium to make sure everyone is getting their fair share of power-play time," Chris Osgood said.

"I think it's important for us to go 45 seconds hard on and off, to give both groups an opportunity to do something. That's what our success is, when we're not just relying on one or two guys -- we don't have to have Pav or Hank or Hoss be extraordinary; they just have to be themselves, because we have so many guys who are capable of scoring.

"I think as the season gets on, our power play is definitely going to be a weapon for us. When it gets hot, it's going to win us a lot of games. But in order to get power plays, you have to play in the other team's end a lot, so we have to make sure we get pucks deep and cycle it."

The Hurricanes are 9-for-13 on the penalty kill through two games.

Contact HELENE ST. JAMES at 313-222-2295 or hstjames@freepress.com. Check out her Red Wings blog at www.freep.com/sports.

[DennisDubay]

Red Wings use power play to ride out Hurricanes

Nicklas Lidstrom and Tomas Holmstrom scored power play goals and Henrik Zetterberg added an empty-net tally to lead the Red Wings over the Hurricanes, 3-1, tonight in Raleigh, North Carolina.



Lidstrom's goal was in the first period, but was answered by Joseph Corvo in the first minute of the second period.


Nearly six minutes later, Holmstrom scored with the man-advantage. Marian Hossa and Brian Rafalski assisted on Holmstrom’s go-ahead goal, helping the Red Wings win their second road game in as many tries this season.


Ty Conklin made 27 saves for the Red Wings, who improved to 3-1-0 this season.


Cam Ward made 35 saves for Carolina.

Conklin wins his Red Wings debut

Dave Dye / The Detroit News

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Backup goalie Ty Conklin wasn't overworked by any means, but he was severely tested at times.

And he passed the test in his Red Wings debut.

Conklin made 27 saves Monday night to lead the Wings to a 3-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at the RBC Center.

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"There's always more nerves than usual that first game with a new team," said Conklin, who was signed as a free agent after playing last season with the Pittsburgh Penguins. "You always want to impress, too.

"It's nice to contribute. And it's nice to play two or three games into the season as opposed to seven or eight or 10 games into the season."

Nicklas Lidstrom and Tomas Holmstrom scored power-play goals for the Wings. Henrik Zetterberg added an empty-net goal. Defenseman Joseph Corvo (Western Michigan) scored for the Hurricanes.

Since losing their opener at home, the Wings are 2-0 on the road, including a 3-2 victory Saturday at Ottawa. They're also 9-2 on the road going back to the final game against the Nashville Predators in the first round of last season's playoffs.

The Wings flew to Washington D.C. after the game and are scheduled to visit with President Bush this afternoon at the White House. Their next game is Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks at Joe Louis Arena.

Ideally, Babcock plans to play Conklin every third game in relief of starter Chris Osgood.

"My play will dictate if that holds up," Conklin said. "If I'm not playing well, he's not going to play me."

Babcock said: "If one guy's on fire and one guy can't stop a beach ball, things change."

For now, the plan is to give Conklin more than 25 starts.

Babcock decided it would be extremely beneficial in Conklin's case to give him a game early in the season.

"It was more about getting the weight of the world off him," Babcock said. "Now, next time he plays, he'll feel real good. In my opinion, the job he did in Pittsburgh last year, he's not a backup goalie. He's just a good goalie."

With Holmstrom being as disruptive as ever in front of net on a power play, Lidstrom drove a hard slap shot into the corner past goalie Cam Ward for a 1-0 lead after the Hurricanes had failed to clear the puck.

Lidstrom also was at his Norris Trophy-winning best late in the first period to help kill a 5-on-3 disadvantage. He even drew a penalty in the process to negate the Hurricanes' power play.

The Hurricanes tied the score in the first minute of the second period when Ray Whitney dug the puck out of the corner on a 4-on-4 and set up Corvo coming down the middle.

A couple minutes later, the goal light went on, the siren went off and Hurricanes fans roared. They thought their team had taken the lead.

It was all quite an amusing reaction to a brilliant save by Conklin on Brandon Sutter to stop a nice 2-on-1 break.

The inadvertent goal light triggered all the commotion, but play continued thanks to Conklin, who wasn't concerned about the hoopla.

"I felt the puck hit my pad pretty hard," he said. "And I saw it in the corner."

The Wings later regained the lead, 2-1, with a passing clinic on the power play. The last part of it found defenseman Brian Rafalski putting the puck on Marian Hossa's stick low on the faceoff circle. Hossa then quickly moved it to the slot for Holmstrom, who scored his third goal in three games.

"That was great," Hossa said. "It was a nice tic-tac-toe."

Said Babcock: "I really thought our power play (2-for-6) was good. We had a four-minute power play and we didn't score on it, but the first half of it we had so many chances it wasn't even funny."

Carolina (2-1) picked up some momentum by killing off that four-minute disadvantage. Conklin made another great save, this time with the glove, when Brandon Sutter broke loose shorthanded on a 2-on-1.

Dan Cleary may join the Henrik Zetterberg line

BY HELENE ST. JAMES • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • October 14, 2008

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Henrik Zetterberg could have a new winger when the Red Wings play on Thursday.

Monday night, in the 3-1 victory over Carolina at the RBC Center, Zetterberg started the game with Johan Franzen and Jiri Hudler. But midway through, coach Mike Babcock moved Mikael Samuelsson onto the line and put Hudler with Dan Cleary and Valtteri Filppula on the third line. Babcock said afterward he might try Cleary on the Zetterberg line.

"I've got something to work on tomorrow morning," Babcock said.

The Wings won't practice today because they're due at the White House, where the Stanley Cup champions will be honored by President George W. Bush.

Though the Zetterberg line might be reworked, it's clear that three games into the season, the Tomas Holmstrom-Pavel Datsyuk-Marian Hossa line is going to be lethal. The line played only one game together in the preseason because of injuries. Though Datsyuk and Holmstrom have logged plenty of minutes together, Hossa is fast learning how to jell with them.

"You can see that he's just getting better and better at finding players," Nicklas Lidstrom said, "because he's so nifty and so quick with his hands that he can find the open passes. Once they play more and more together, he's going to be able to find more openings, too."

Hossa already has set up two goals by Holmstrom.

QUINCEY A KING: Defenseman Kyle Quincey found out Monday that Los Angeles had claimed him off waivers.

"I looked at it as a win-win," Quincey said. "If I didn't get picked up, I got to stay here. But I did, and it's a good opportunity, so I'm just going to make the best of it."

Quincey, 23, has played only 26 NHL games in his career, 13 of which came during the 2007 playoffs, which is why trading him proved difficult. However, his youth and $525,000 salary-cap hit made it highly improbable he would clear waivers.

"We'd talked to five, six teams the last week that had some interest," general manager Ken Holland said. "I thought we were close on one front on a deal that fell through. In the end, we really decided to put him on waivers because we wanted to have flexibility with the cap. I'm happy for Kyle. He has been patient. Obviously, with us acquiring Brad Stuart, and the development of Brett Lebda and the development of Jonathan Ericsson, and we like Derek Meech -- we can't keep everybody."

The move makes it possible to activate Darren McCarty once he is ready to come off short-term injured reserve. He has been dealing with a groin injury, but he skated Monday and said he felt better.

WHITE HOUSE WANDERERS: Neither Hossa nor Ty Conklin was with the Wings when they won the Stanley Cup, but a trip to the White House is too good to pass up. So the two plan to accompany their teammates on this afternoon's visit, save when the champions will be honored by President Bush. "We'll go to visit and then wait for the guys after the ceremony and just look around," Hossa said. "I've only driven by the White House and kind of looked over, so when you have a chance like this ... We'll just walk around."

Contact HELENE ST. JAMES at hstjames@freepress.com or 313-222-2295. Check out her Red Wings blog at www.freep.com/sports.

BOX SCORE: GAME 3

[lordstanley]

Good thread, Dennis, it will be a good reference point.

[DennisDubay]

Originally Posted by lordstanley

Good thread, Dennis, it will be a good reference point.

Thanks Lord,

Hopefully it'll be of some use to someone!

[DennisDubay]

Thanks to NHLNumbers.com

[DennisDubay]

Red Wings lose Quincey, get salary cap relief

by Ansar Khan

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Detroit Red Wings gained some salary cap relief Monday, when defenseman Kyle Quincey was claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Kings.

They still must deal with some cap issues, however, when Chris Chelios comes off injured reserve in a few weeks.

But for now, the move frees up a salary slot in case the Red Wings must recall a goaltender from Grand Rapids, in the event of a short-term injury or illness to Chris Osgood or Ty Conklin. It also gives Quincey, a young player who had little chance of cracking their lineup anytime soon, an opportunity to launch his NHL career elsewhere.

"I'm happy for Kyle, he's been patient," Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. "With us acquiring Brad Stuart, the development of Brett Lebda, Jonathan Ericsson, Derek Meech, we can't keep everybody."

Quincey, a decent-sized (6-foot-2, 215 pounds), stay-at-home defender, lost the battle for the final spot on defense to Meech, who has more skills. The club tried to trade Quincey last week but was unable to get a draft pick for him, Holland said, mainly due to his lack of NHL experience (13 regular-season games and 13 playoff games).

"We had talked to five, six teams that had some interest, thought we were close on one front to a deal that fell through," Holland said. "The biggest thing is, Kyle wasn't established as an NHL player. At this stage of the season, everybody likes their kids, everybody thinks they're good."

The Kings needed to acquire a defenseman after Jack Johnson hurt his arm Sunday. He is expected to be out for three months.

Quincey, 23, will be reunited with Kings forward Patrick O'Sullivan, his summer workout buddy and former junior teammate in Mississauga.

"I had two days to think about it. I packed thinking I was going to get picked up, but I looked at it as a win-win," Quincey said. "If I didn't get picked up, I got to stay here. But I did, and it's a good opportunity and I'm going to make the best of it. (The Kings) took a chance on me. Hopefully, they like me enough to put me in the lineup."

The Red Wings, in all likelihood, will place Darren McCarty on waivers once he is healthy enough to be activated from injured reserve (groin strain), which might not be for another week or so. Unlike Quincey, odds are McCarty would not be claimed.

The Red Wings have 21 players on their active roster, at a cap number of $55.723 million. McCarty and Jimmy Howard, on short-term injured reserve, also count against the $56.7 million cap, but only a small portion of their salaries counts, based on the number of days they spent on the NHL roster last season.

Chelios (fractured tibia) is on long-term IR and doesn't count against the cap or take up a roster spot. Holland estimated he would return around Nov. 8.

McCarty skating again

McCarty skated Monday for the first time in 10 days but said it's difficult to put a time frame on groin injuries.

"You can still feet it, it's something there, but progress is being made," McCarty said. "It's not like a broken bone, where it's a set time to heal. With these (injuries), you have a window and then it becomes more day-to-day. It was a matter of not overly pushing it, not try to get everything back in one day."

White House trip

Darren Helm and Aaron Downey, assigned to Grand Rapids last week, and Chelios will meet the team today in Washington, as the Red Wings will be honored by President George W. Bush at The White House at 2:45 p.m.

"I kind of forgot that was something that went with winning (the Stanley Cup)," said Brett Lebda, one of three American-born players who appeared in the Cup finals for the Red Wings. "Getting to meet the President, that's a pretty special thing. You should enjoy it."

Lebda said his parents lean toward the Democratic side, but added, "I like to vote for the person rather than the party."

Holmstrom being more careful around the crease

by Ansar Khan

OTTAWA -- Tomas Holmstrom hears the same warning from referees every game.

"Pretty much every power play they say, 'Watch out for the crease, Tomas,' '' Holmstrom said. "They know I'm out there.''

The Detroit Red Wings had several goals disallowed last season and in the playoffs when officials ruled Holmstrom interfered with the goaltender, had a skate in the crease or had his rear end hanging over the crease.

Holmstrom and the club believed some of the calls were unwarranted. This season, Holmstrom plans on being more mindful of his positioning around the net.

"We know what the rule is, but we don't know if they know what the rule is, because you can be outside the crease but have your butt in the crease (and be called for a penalty),'' Holmstrom said before Saturday's game in Ottawa. "I just try to make sure I'm a little further out so they can't make that call. Just make a little bit adjustment so they can't call that goal back.''

A player can have his skate in the crease as long as he doesn't initiate contact with the goaltender or impede his ability to move freely within his crease. It is largely a judgment call by the referee.

"You see goals scored when (a player) is in the crease, it's not like (a few) years ago when (there was zero tolerance),'' Holmstrom said. "But they can call goalie interference if you're in the crease and the goalie comes out and bumps you. If he's backing off, they don't care then. If the goalie wants to come out and he can't and you're in the crease it seems like they're going to call it.''

Holmstrom, feeling as good as he has in some time, scored both of his team's goals in its season-opening 3-2 loss to Toronto.

He missed 13 games in March with a sports hernia, which hampered him throughout the playoffs and required surgery on June 11. He also was bothered by a sore knee during the preseason and was hit by a shot in the ankle during the final exhibition game.

"It was a mess (in the playoffs). I'm lucky we went all the way because it's nothing you want to go through again,'' Holmstrom said. "Everything seems to be holding up. Today was the best I felt the whole year. My knee felt good, ankle felt good.''

No visor for Cleary
Dan Cleary knows he should be wearing a visor, but even Nicklas Lidstrom's close call in the preseason couldn't persuade Cleary to put one on.

"I tried it in the summer and didn't feel as comfortable as I wanted to feel,'' Cleary said. "It's a distraction when you're on the bench, you're always cleaning it, moving it.''

Cleary had planned on wearing a visor this season after missing 19 games last season with a broken jaw. He was hit in the face by a slap shot from teammate Mikael Samuelsson. But even his wife can't talk him into it.

"She said, 'I wish you would have one on,''' Cleary said. "It makes sense to wear one for everybody. But I'm not as gifted as Nick. He can just put it on and still be great. I'd be smart to put it on. If you can get used to it, it's a good advantage. It seems like you're out of place if you don't have one on.''

Lidstrom said he will wear a visor for the rest the season, perhaps permanently, after a deflected puck broke his nose and nearly hit him in the eye during a preseason game.

Ty Conklin solid in debut

BY HELENE ST. JAMES • FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER • October 14, 2008

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Coach Mike Babcock figured it made sense to get Ty Conklin into a game early in the season and let him get his Red Wings debut out of the way.

Conklin responded with the sort of performance that breeds confidence in new teammates. He made save after big save Monday night at the RBC Center to help the Wings past the Hurricanes, 3-1, finishing with 27 saves after making 13 alone in the third period.

"We didn't want to wait because he's new to our program," Babcock said. "It was more just about this guy getting the weight of the world off early. Now next time he plays he'll feel real good, and that puts us in a good situation. He did a good job for us. He made a great save on a two-on-one, and he made another really good save late in the game when the puck bounced and their guy walked in. I was impressed with him. He gave us a chance, and that's all you can ask of a goaltender."

Conklin came to the Wings this summer as a free agent, signed to back up Chris Osgood.

"There's always more nerves than usual, I think, the first game with a new team," Conklin said, "and you always want to impress, too. You try to not do too much and not play outside of yourself more than you have to. It's nice to contribute. It was nice to get in there early in the season, too."

Conklin is likely to be seen often in net, as Babcock is hoping to play Osgood and Conklin in a two-to-one ratio.

Nicklas Lidstrom and Tomas Holmstrom scored on power plays and Henrik Zetterberg added an empty-net goal with 15.5 seconds left.

Conklin nearly got into trouble early when he left the net to play the puck only to see it take a fluky bounce and redirect right in front of Detroit's very empty net. But the Hurricanes failed to capitalize, and Conklin got to play with a lead when, during the Wings' first power play, Lidstrom wound up and blasted a shot from the left point that sank into the net at 6:55 of the first period.

Conklin made back-to-back stops on Ray Whitney and Eric Staal near the end of the first period. Less than a minute into the second period, with each team at four skaters, Whitney sent the puck out front to Joe Corvo, who had no one defending him as he took a shot that whipped by Conklin. The Wings responded with a power-play goal straight out of a textbook: Brian Rafalski fed the puck to Marian Hossa in the bottom of the left faceoff circle, and Hossa smacked it straight to the crease, where Holmstrom was waiting to tap it by Cam Ward for a 2-1 lead at 5:04 of the second period.

"That was great first pass by Rafalski to me," Hossa said. "I just tried to look before and Tommy was open, and he made sure he got a good shot and the puck went in. That was a nice tic-tac-toe."

Conklin absorbed former Spartan Rod Brind'Amour's redirection attempt early in the third period and followed immediately with a quick glove save on Frantisek Kaberle to stymie the Hurricanes.

It's been a wild ride for Wings' Abdelkader

By Mike G. Morreale - NHL.com Staff Writer


Less than a year after scoring the biggest goal of his career to help lead Michigan State to its third national championship, there was Justin Abdelkader preparing to hit the ice at Joe Louis Arena after exchanging his collegiate jersey for the red and white of the Detroit Red Wings.

Abdelkader kept his cool, despite the fact his stall was stationed right beside veteran goalies Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek, guys he marveled at on television in previous seasons.

"It was surreal and unbelievable at the same time," Abdelkader said. "I grew up in (Muskegon) Michigan and followed guys like (Nicklas) Lidstrom and (Kris) Draper and all the guys on those Cup-winning teams. Now here I am, a 20-year-old kid who just finished his junior year in college, getting the opportunity to wear a Wings jersey and skate on the ice in that arena with the NHL team. I skated before in 'The Joe' with Michigan State, but this was a totally different experience."

Abdelkader would hold his own that evening, earning 16 shifts and totaling 11:20 of ice time with three hits in a 3-2 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets as Detroit secured the sixth Presidents' Trophy in team history.

"Putting that jersey on just gave me the chills," he said. "This was the goal in my life, to play for the Red Wings one day, and to get this opportunity is something special."

A lot has happened to Abdelkader in a very short period of time, but the 21-year-old left wing has taken it all in stride. He forfeited his college eligibility and attended Wings training camp this fall, but intends to "chip away"' at his degree with just 26 credits remaining. His storybook career includes earning "Mr. Hockey" in 2005 as the top scholastic player in Michigan at Mona Shores High School.

"I give my high school coach (Shawn Zimmerman) a lot of credit for developing me into the player I am," Abdelkader said. "We had a good team in high school and I played on an unbelievable line. When I was up for Mr. Hockey, I really didn't think I was going to get it, but when I did it was quite an honor and that's when everything started fast-tracking. It was a whirlwind for sure."

The year he won Mr. Hockey, Abdelkader was drafted by the Red Wings in the second round (No. 42). In 2007, he would score the decisive goal with 18.9 seconds left in the NCAA Frozen Four championship game against Boston College. It's a goal Abdelkader can still recall frame by frame.

"There was under one minute left and we came down on a 3-on-1 break and I remember shooting and hitting the right post, so I felt like I had just blew my only chance to score since you normally only get one good opportunity at that point in a game," Abdelkader said. "But we regrouped and our defense pinched down and I cycled up and took a spot. Winger (Tim) Kennedy won a battle behind the net, made a quick turn and hit me with a pass right on the tape coming through the slot and I kind of just bang it home. From that point on, I just kind of blanked out because guys were jumping all over the place."

On April 4, 2008, Abdelkader signed an entry-level contract with the Wings.

"My season had just ended at Michigan State (in 2008) after our loss to Colorado College in the regional finals and I had no idea Detroit was going to sign me so fast, but I got the phone call from my agent saying that the Wings would like to sign me and possibly play me on Thursday (against Columbus)," Abdelkader said. "I got into two games, which was an awesome experience for me and I think that really helped me entering training camp this year. Having the opportunity to practice with the Wings during the playoff run and getting to know some of the guys in the locker room will only be to my benefit down the road."

Could the next chapter in the life of Abdelkader get any better? For starters, it'll be interesting to see how long it takes before the 6-foot-1, 215-pound grinder becomes a regular in the Red Wings lineup. After holding his own at the eight-team Traverse City prospects tournament in September and subsequent Wings training camp, Abdelkader was reassigned to Detroit's American Hockey League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, on Oct. 6.

"If he plays well, he could force his way on at some point," Wings General Manager Ken Holland said. "If he's going to make us better, he'll be on our team, but our history has been that it's hard for young players to make our team. We like players with a professional foundation, but that said, Darren Helm played just seven regular-season games with us last year and then played a nice role for us during our playoff run."

At the end of the 2007-08 season, Helm was called up from Grand Rapids. He played a vital role as Detroit's fourth-line center in 18 postseason games, posting 2 goals and 2 assists.

"We've got 12 NHL forwards on one-way contracts and many of the younger guys end up fighting for those final spots," Holland said. "But Justin's a local right up the road from Muskegon and we drafted him because we liked what we saw when he played in the USHL (for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders)."

Abdelkader scored 27 goals and 25 assists in 60 games with Cedar Rapids before stepping on the campus at Michigan State as a freshman in 2005-06. In 124 collegiate games, Abdelkader scored 44 goals, 95 points and 281 penalty minutes.

"We like his size and strength and we like that he plays hard," Holland said. "He can play center and left wing, be a good checker and chip in with the odd goal every now and again; that's what we envisioned when we draft him."

While earning a roster spot is Abdelkader's ultimate goal, he realizes it may take some time.

"Whatever happens, it's an opportunity of a lifetime," Abdelkader said. "I just plan to go out there, play my best, and then hope for the best."

Contact Mike Morreale at mmorreale@nhl.com.

[DennisDubay]

Team Page

Active Roster

Daniel Cleary
Ty Conklin
Pavel Datsyuk
Kris Draper
Valtteri Filppula
Johan Franzen
Tomas Holmstrom
Marian Hossa
Jiri Hudler
Tomas Kopecky
Niklas Kronwall
Brett Lebda
Nicklas Lidstrom
Kirk Maltby
Darren McCarty
Derek Meech
Chris Osgood
Brian Rafalski
Mikael Samuelsson
Brad Stuart
Henrik Zetterberg

Injured

Chris Chelios
Andreas Lilja

[DennisDubay]

White House visit leaves Wings star-struck

Posted by George James Malik October 14, 2008 20:11PM

Professional athletes tend not to "get the jitters" on many occasions, but several members of the Detroit Red Wings, including captain Nicklas Lidstrom, were moved by their reception at the White House today. The Vancouver Province's Tony Gallagher says that even Chris Chelios suffered from a case of nerves when he met President Bush for the second time today:

October 14, Vancouver Province: "You think you won't be nervous at something like this, but when he comes and shakes your hand, you think about it," says Chris Chelios, who was one of several Wings players singled out for being a 46-year-old still playing in the NHL and encouraged to go to 52 by Bush. "It's a great day and I know a lot of players in the league would really like to have this kind of experience. Bush is kind of our good luck president, he's been here for a couple of Cups now."

Bush recounted the Darren McCarty story of how McCarty's drinking problem had him down and out and how he didn't quit or give up on the sport, but made it back to win this past Cup. And the former part owner of the Texas Rangers also got all over Kris Draper for being "the only player in Cup history to score a goal with his teeth," as he did in Game 6.

"He asked me to smile and commented on my teeth when he came to shake my hand," said Draper, who is from Toronto but was clearly enjoying the moment by flashing a huge, pearly grin. "I told him it wasn't all that bad because I still have all my own teeth and he seemed surprised. But he was relaxed and seemed to really be enjoying himself."

Brian Rafalski, Ty Conklin, and a few other Red Wings took the Cup to Walter Reid hospital to visit injured veterans, but Nicklas Lidstrom admitted that he honoured a previous commitment:

"We didn't go to Walter Reid," he confessed. "Two days after we won the Cup the Swedish embassy called (public relations director) John Hahn and asked if we could come when we came to Washington and for us, it was quite an invitation. We got to see Sweden House and the whole complex. It was an experience for us. Going to the hospital would have been something too."

Just as the players were leaving, Chelios, the Chicagoan and great crusader for U.S. hockey over the years, was asked which Red Wing would make the best president.

"That's easy, Nick would by far," he said of Lidstrom. "He's always calm, never panics and is always in control. The worst would be Holmer (Tomas Holmstrom). He can never make up his mind about anything and he has ADD."

I don't know about that...Holmstrom tends to hold his own while jockeying for position at the lip of the crease, constantly checking his position in relation to both the crease and his teammates while positioning his stick to tip pucks and absorbing enough punishment from goaltenders and defencemen to make the average player retaliate repeatedly. He seems to do a good job being the butt of his teammates' jokes, too...

Draper discussed toothsome reputation, and the recognition thereof, with NHL.com's Shawn P. Roarke:

October 14, NHL.com: Draper still was enjoying the unexpected spotlight the president had directed his way, telling reporters all about the shot from teammate Dallas Drake that banged off three of Draper's bottom teeth before going past Dallas goalie Marty Turco in the Western Conference Finals.

"I'm sure my dentist is proud of it," Draper said of the most famous teeth in hockey. "When he mentioned my name, I absolutely froze - just hearing the president of the United States saying my full name, Kris Draper, and I wasn't sure where he was headed and then he's talking about my teeth scoring a goal and then he's asking me to give him a smile. That was fun and just a huge honor to be in that situation and those circumstances where the president has mentioned my name. It's something I'll never forget."

After honoring American-born defenseman Chris Chelios for his longevity and the fact that, at 46, he was the second-oldest player ever to appear in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Bush moved on to the main message he hoped the crowd would take from this speech, using fourth-liner Darren McCarty as the delivery vehicle. McCarty was one of the feel-good stories of the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs, after he persevered in his battle with alcoholism to restart his hockey career after a year away from the game and make it back to the Red Wings in time for the 2008 playoffs. McCarty played in 17 postseason games, scoring a goal and adding an assist during a spring that delivered him his fourth Stanley Cup, all with Detroit.

"Darren played 11 seasons with the Red Wings between 1994 and 2004," Bush said. "Then he had a problem - he drank too much - and it brought his career to an early end. But Darren McCarty did not give up; Darren McCarty decided to do something about it."

McCarty appreciated the sentiments, and then some:

"I got choked up," said McCarty, who hopes Bush's telling of his tale of addiction and recovery helps others move forward in the face of their own problems. "To be a part of this day, to be at the White House and to be called out by the president, it sort of reiterates that the path I am on is the right one. As a human being, you look for reassurance, some sort of pat on the back, and when the president of the United States gives you one, it can't get much better than that."

Lidstrom told Roarke that the President did more than deliver a speech; he spoke to the Red Wings before the ceremony:

"He asked a little bit about our personal lives and it was just neat to have a little one-on-one with the guys that were in the room," Lidstrom said.

Quincey was odd man out in Detroit

Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Kyle Quincey knew his days in Detroit were numbered. Thanks to the Detroit Red Wings' depth and his $525,000 US salary-cap hit, he was a prime candidate to be picked up on waivers by the Los Angeles Kings.

"I looked at it as a win-win," Quincey, who was claimed on Monday, told the Detroit Free Press. "If I didn't get picked up, I got to stay here. But I did, and it's a good opportunity, so I'm just going to make the best of it."

The 23-year-old played 13 games during the Wings' Stanley Cup run last spring.

"We'd talked to five, six teams the last week that had some interest," general manager Ken Holland told the newspaper.

"I thought we were close on one front on a deal that fell through. In the end, we really decided to put him on waivers because we wanted to have flexibility with the cap. I'm happy for Kyle. He has been patient. Obviously, with us acquiring Brad Stuart, and the development of Brett Lebda and the development of Jonathan Ericsson, and we like Derek Meech -- we can't keep everybody."

First-week power rankings prove that first impressions count

Posted by George James Malik October 14, 2008 23:49PM

The NHL's second-week power rankings hit the wires yesterday and today, and they tell as much about the "rater" as they do team success over the first week of NHL play. The New York Rangers top most lists as they're "5-and-0," but therein lies the rub with so many of these rankings--some teams play more games than others early on, and those that opened their schedule in Europe (Pittsburgh, Ottawa, New York, and Tampa Bay) have completed a much larger portion of their schedule:

Sportsline's Wes Goldstein hesitates to remove the Red Wings from the top spot...

October 13, Sportsline: 1 Red Wings

Detroit Red Wings: Their banner raising home opener was a dud, but the Red Wings snapped back to attention in Ottawa by limiting the Senators to just 22 shots and turning over the puck only four times.

While Sportsnet's Mike Brophy places the Wings behind the Sharks (#1) and Rangers (#2):

October 14, Sportsnet: 3. Let's give the Wings a mulligan in their season opener. Since the loss to Toronto the Wings have looked more like a champion.

Fox Sports' Robert Picarello rates the Red Wings thirteenth, but he bases his rankings on games played before Monday:

October 14, Fox Sports: 13. Red Wings (.500) Banner-raising night was not a banner evening for the Red Wings as the defending Cup champions lost their opener 3-2 to Toronto. Detroit bounced back by closing out the week with a road victory over the Ottawa Senators.

Yahoo Sports' Ross McKeon says that the Red Wings are the league's fourth-best team, behind the Rangers, San Jose Sharks, and Montreal Canadiens:

October 14, Yahoo Sports: 4. Detroit Red Wings- Just for starters, the Wings scored twice in the final period at Ottawa to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 victory on Saturday during a game in which they outshot the hosts by a wide margin (41-22).

The Wings remain atop Ryan Dixon's power rankings list on the Hockey News's website:

October 14, The Hockey News: 1. Detroit Red Wings: Opening night stumble, but champs showed their mettle with late road win over Ottawa.

The Detroit News's Dave Dye also lists the Red Wings first...

October 14, Detroit News: 1. Detroit: Better on road than at home?

The Sporting News's Craig Custance, however, says that Todd McLellan's Sharks are the league's best team at 3-and-0:

October 14, The Sporting News: 1. San Jose Sharks. Does a new No. 1 mean we don't think the Red Wings will win the Stanley Cup? Nope, but if the two teams played tonight, I'd take the Sharks. They showed a physical edge against Anaheim and got a shutout from Brian Boucher on Sunday--that's when you know things are clicking.

2. Detroit Red Wings. The good news: Detroit helped Versus set a opening-night ratings record in the opener. The bad news: The Red Wings lost to a Toronto team that was later blown out by Montreal.

Time for me to weigh in: The schedule for the 26 teams that opened their seasons in North America has yet to reach the 1-week mark. Ask me in November...

[DennisDubay]

Canucks-Red Wings Preview

After spending a day off at the White House, the Detroit Red Wings can re-focus on defending the Stanley Cup championship that earned them that visit.

The Red Wings look for their third straight victory when they host the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night in the teams' first meeting of the season.

Detroit (2-1-0) was honored by President Bush on Tuesday for winning its fifth Stanley Cup in 12 seasons in 2007-08, and the Wings brought two straight wins into their White House visit as they look to win back-to-back titles for the second time in that span. Detroit's first two championships during this run came in 1997 and '98.

``You guys may be back next year, but not me,'' Bush said.

Since dropping their season opener at home Oct. 9, the Wings have won consecutive road games, defeating Carolina 3-1 on Monday. Tomas Holmstrom scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, his third goal of the season, and Ty Conklin finished with 27 saves in his Red Wings debut.

Conklin, signed as a free agent in July to give Detroit depth in net, sat the first two games behind Chris Osgood before turning in the solid performance Monday.

``We wanted to get him in early,'' coach Mike Babcock said. ``We didn't want to wait because he's the new guy here to our program.''

Nicklas Lidstrom had a first-period goal for Detroit, and Henrik Zetterberg added an empty-net score in the final seconds. The Wings, who led the Western Conference with 257 goals in 2007-08, have just eight this season.

Detroit signed star forward Marian Hossa in the offseason in a bid to further upgrade the offense, but he has yet to record a goal this season. Hossa hasn't been overly productive against Vancouver in his career, with three goals and two assists in 12 games.

One player who has been, however, is Osgood, who's expected to return to the net Thursday. The veteran is 15-4-4 with a 2.40 goals-against average and one shutout versus the Canucks, making 29 saves to win 3-2 on Oct. 28 in his most recent matchup with them.

The Wings will be taking on a Canucks club that failed to win its third straight to open the season Monday, falling 5-1 at Washington. Despite holding Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin without a point, Vancouver (2-1-0) was dominated throughout, getting outshot 35-10 en route to the lopsided loss.

``It's tough to play when they're on offense the whole time,'' Vancouver center Henrik Sedin said. ``You have to defend, defend, defend.''

Mike Green scored on the Canucks' first shot on goal - but that power-play tally came 16:11 into the game. Vancouver was outshot 10-2 in the first period and 15-1 in the second, and Canucks coach Alain Vigneault pulled Roberto Luongo before the start of the final period after he allowed five goals on 25 shots.

``I don't have any answers for what happened tonight,'' said Luongo, who has a 2.39 GAA in 14 games against Detroit and is likely to return to the net Thursday.

Vancouver will be playing the third game on a six-game road trip.

The Red Wings won the 2007-08 season series with the Canucks 3-1-0, taking both games at Joe Louis Arena. All three wins came by a score of 3-2.

Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg iffy for Thursday game

Posted: October 15, 2008
Sporting News staff report

Detroit Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg left practice Wednesday with a slight groin strain, the Detroit Free Press reports. Zetterberg might not be able to play Thursday's home game against the Vancouver Canucks.

Zetterberg was winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs. He has a goal and two assists this season.

Whether he will play Thursday will be determined at Thursday's morning skate.

"He told me he shot the puck and felt like he jammed himself," Babcock told the Free Press. "Then he felt some tightness and came off right away. We'll see more tomorrow."

In a lighter moment, Babcock told reporters: "That's what happens when the coach gives them a day off. It won't happen again this year."

If necessary, the Red Wings will call up a forward from AHL Grand Rapids.

The Wings plan a line change for Zetterberg's unit. Mikael Samuelsson moves up to replace Jiri Hudler, with Johan Franzen on the other wing. Hudler will play with Dan Cleary and Valtteri Filppula, the Windsor Star reports.

"One of the things is when Huds plays with those guys (Zetterberg, Johan Franzen), all Huds does is pass them the puck," Babcock told reporters. "He's always deferring to Z and Franzen.

"He's a real good offensive player and I want him to shoot the puck. If he plays with Fil and Cleary, he'll shoot the puck."

Hudler has no points and three shots on goal.

If you're going to Thursday's Wings-Nucks game, get there early

Posted by George James Malik October 15, 2008

The Detroit Red Wings' PR department sent out a press release urging fans who wish to attend "Alex Delvecchio night" on Thursday head to the Joe early as Delvecchio will be honoured in a pre-game ceremony before the Wings' 7:30 game against the Vancouver Canucks:

The Detroit Red Wings will honor esteemed alumnus Alex Delvecchio Thursday, October 16th with Alex Delvecchio Night at Joe Louis Arena. To commemorate Delvecchio's outstanding hockey career, the Wings will unveil an original statue commissioned by artist Omri Amrany on the Joe Louis Arena concourse. The statue will be debuted in a private dedication prior to doors opening at 6:00 p.m.

Fans are asked to arrive early for a special on-ice presentation prior to the puck drop as the Wings take on the Vancouver Canucks at 7:30 p.m. Delvecchio will be presented with an original artwork commissioned by artist David Arrigo. All fans in attendance on Thursday's Legends Night will receive an 11x17 canvas replica of the Delvecchio artwork, sponsored by AT&T.

Alex Delvecchio spent his entire NHL career as a member of the Red Wings from 1950/51 to 1973/74, serving as team captain for 12 full seasons, surpassed in Wings history only by Steve Yzerman. Well-know for his work on "Production Line II", Delvecchio took the place of Sid Abel, playing on a line with "Mr. Hockey" Gordie Howe and "Terrible" Ted Lindsay. The three gifted forwards led the Red Wings to three straight Stanley Cup Championships including back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships in 1954 and 1955.

Known as one of the true gentleman of the game, Delvecchio was the recipient of the three Lady Byng Trophies for combining good sportsmanship with excellence on the ice. Delvecchio, a three-time Stanley Cup Champion was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1977. His number ten was retired by the Red Wings in 1991. Delvecchio currently resides in metro Detroit and is an honored member of the Detroit Red Wings Alumni Association.

Delvecchio's statue was commissioned by Chicago-based artist Omri Amrany, the same artist who created the Gordie Howe statue unveiled at Joe Louis Arena in April 2007. Amrany also crafted the six stainless steel Detroit Tigers Hall of Fame Players on display at Comerica Park in 2000. Well-know for his Michael Jordan statue outside the United Center, Amrany crafted the 7 ½ ft. Delvecchio statue using new metal alloys combined with white bronze and glass. For more information on Amrany's works, visit www.amranyrotblatt.com.

David Arrigo, artist of the Delvecchio canvas artwork, has done numerous works for a variety of sports organizations, including the NFL, NHL, MLB and NASCAR. Known best for Live Mural Experiences, Arrigo has been commissioned to complete unique works across the globe. To learn more about Arrigo's pieces, visit www.davidarrigo.com.

The Red Wings will unveil a statue honouring Ted Lindsay before Saturday's game against the New York Rangers (which takes place at 7 PM, so you'll have to arrive even earlier if you're going down to the game on Saturday), and Lindsay tells the Detroit News's Ted Kulfan that he's a little gob-smacked about the honour:

October 16, Detroit News: "You went into these other big cities and you see statues there of these famous people, and you wonder to yourself, 'Boy, they must be important and must have done something important,'" Lindsay said. "Maybe in a simple way, this says I left something important to hockey."

Said Delvecchio: "I'm overwhelmed, this still is so unbelievable. It really says something about the Ilitch family, and the way they run this organization. I can't thank them enough."

[DennisDubay]

Burrows buries the Wings

Vancouver rebounds from Washington stinker to prevail in Motor City mayhem
Iain MacIntyre, Vancouver Sun

Published: Friday, October 17, 2008

VANCOUVER 4 DETROIT 3

DETROIT - Now we know why election pollsters call Michigan a battleground state. The only rebound bigger than the overtime ricochet to Alex Burrows was the one his team made leading up to it, as the Vancouver Canucks rallied to beat the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings 4-3 Thursday, three nights after a dreadful 5-1 loss in Washington.

Only four games into the National Hockey League season, the Canucks revealed a lot about their resiliency and professionalism here, even before Burrows weaved the length of the ice like Yvan Cournoyer before swatting the end-board rebound from his own shot past Red Wing goalie Chris Osgood 27 seconds into overtime.

It was a magnificent night for the Canucks' "checking line," as Burrows, Ryan Kesler and Jannik Hansen each scored. But more than that, it was a heartening night for the Canuck group, who overcame a third-period deficit on the road against the team every reasonable person considers the best in hockey.

Canuck goalie Roberto Luongo is still groping for his A-game, but made key saves in the third period. Vancouver's first line was blanked, but went head-to-head most of the night against Detroit's top unit and kept Pavel Datsyuk, Marian Hossa and Tomas Holmstrom goal-less at even strength.

The Canucks found a way to win because they took care of the puck when they had it, competed for it when they didn't and scored when chances came to them.

As they flew post-game to Buffalo for a contest today against the Sabres, the Canucks were 3-1, their confidence restored. They may have -- probably will have -- other games this season like the one in Washington. But at least we know the Canucks have the strength and will to bounce back.

Their give-a-darn meter is high.

"We weren't going to sit back and get pummeled again," the rookie Hansen said after his first NHL goal. "It shows a lot of character on the team, that we can pull out a win, and not an easy win -- coming back from 3-2 against the Stanley Cup champions."

"Sometimes bad games happen," Luongo, the Canuck captain, said after finishing with 32 saves.

"It's how you bounce back [that matters]. You never want to lose two in a row. Tonight, the guys went back to what we need to do and we got a great result."

It was the second time in three games the Canucks trailed after two periods but rallied to win. Last season, that didn't happen until February.

"Down one goal going into the third, a lot of people probably doubted us," Burrows said. "But we focussed; we knew we could do it and we did. We worked hard. We wanted to bounce back and we knew we were playing against one of the top teams in the league. We wanted to play hard, compete hard."

They did. So too, as always, did the Red Wings.

It was a terrific game, full of speed and passing and intensity.

It soared back and forth like the Dow Jones average.

The Canucks led, then were tied. They led again, 2-1, then trailed. Then Mason Raymond, the sophomore so concerned about not scoring he looked like he might burst into tears after failing to convert a second-period breakaway, used his jets to follow up a 3-on-1 rush and bang in a rebound at 2:23 of the third period. Free at last.

Then Burrows, who has made his career out of working the boards -- just not for scoring purposes -- darted 160 feet in overtime, fired wide, muscled past defenceman Bret Lebda and whacked the returning puck into the top corner.

"We talked about the live boards, that's for sure," Burrows said, a sudden co-leader in team scoring with five points. "Sometimes you make the right play, but the puck bounces and doesn't go your way. Tonight, two bounces come off the boards [on goals by Burrows and Hansen] ... and Kes tips the other one in. Some nights, those don't go your way."

But Burrows' line seems to be making its own luck.

The trio has been the steadiest Canuck line so far. Scoring by Kesler and Burrows, who thrive in checking assignments, used to be considered a bonus, almost quaint. Now, through their evolution as players and the addition to their line of Hansen, the checking unit looks dangerous nightly.

With last change, Detroit coach Mike Babcock was able to keep the Datsyuk-Hossa combination away from Burrows and Kesler. Vancouver's checking line made the difference anyway.

Canuck first liners Daniel and Henrik Sedin went pointless. It didn't matter. And you couldn't have said that many nights last season.

imacintyre@png.canwest.com

Stuart suffers...injury?

Posted by George James Malik October 17, 2008 07:22AM

Brad Stuart left the Red Wings-Canucks game late in the third period, but the team's information as to what, if any, injury he suffered when he took a shot off the inside of his left knee remained murky. The Associated Press's recap states the following:

October 16, Associated Press: Detroit D Brad Stuart was helped off the ice with a little bit more than 7 minutes left in the third period after taking a shot by Vancouver's Sami Salo off his left knee. He'll be re-evaluated on Friday.
Ditto for the Detroit News's Dave Dye:

October 17, Detroit News: Another key player went down late in Thursday's 4-3 overtime loss.
Defenseman Brad Stuart left the game with about seven minutes remaining after getting hit inside his left knee with a shot. His status will be updated today at practice.


The Detroit Free Press's George Sipple received Babcock's official report:

October 17, Detroit Free Press: Wings defenseman Brad Stuart left the ice with about 7 1/2 minutes left in the game and did not return. Babcock said he was hit in the knee where there's no padding but "no one told me anything was really damaged, but I haven't talked to anybody."
Update: Bruce MacLeod says the news isn't good:

October 16, RedWingsCorner: Worse than the outcome is what happened to Brad Stuart. The Detroit defenseman was hit in the left knee (where there's little padding) by a Sami Salo shot. We'll find out Friday what Stuart's injury prognosis is, but he left Joe Louis Arena, Thursday night, on crutches. He didn't look like someone who would be playing in Saturday's game.
Cross your fingers, folks, because the Wings' defence collapsed sans Stuart.

[DennisDubay]

Burrows’ OT goal gives Canucks 4-3 win


DETROIT (AP)—The Vancouver Canucks knew they needed to play their best game against the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.

Alex Burrows scored 27 seconds into overtime to give the Canucks a 4-3 victory over the Red Wings on Thursday night.

Burrows also had an assist and Jannik Hansen, Ryan Kesler and Mason Raymond also scored for Vancouver. Willie Mitchell had two assists and Roberto Luongo made 32 saves.

“We know how many good players and how much talent Detroit has,” said Burrows. “So we knew we had to work hard all night.”

Tomas Holmstrom, Brian Rafalski and Dan Cleary had Detroit’s goals. Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom each had two assists and Chris Osgood stopped 25 shots.

“We just kept turning the puck over and that’s the reason things went the way they did,” Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall said.

Detroit had 13 giveaways and the Canucks only three.

“Bottom line, we were not nearly as good as we should have been,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “We spent too much time in our zone.”

Burrows knocked in his own rebound off the backboards from the bottom of the left circle for his third goal.

“I just wanted to get off a shot on net and it went wide,” he said. “And I just went after it and I got through the defenseman (Brett Lebda) and I just wanted to get a quick shot off. I think I surprised Chris Osgood, I think it went under his arm.”

Raymond tied the score at 3 at 2:23 of the third period when put in a rebound.

“I think everybody was excited to be playing against the Stanley Cup champs,” Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. “Even though they were down by a goal after two, I though we were outplaying them.”

Detroit scored twice in the second period to take a 3-2 lead. Rafalski’s power-play goal at 3:42 tied it. He beat Luongo with a one-time shot from the right circle.

Cleary gave the Red Wings the lead with 8:53 left in the middle period when he scored on the rebound after Luongo stopped him on a breakaway. Cleary, who had just stepped out of the penalty box, took a pass from Datsyuk.

Hansen opened the scoring for the Canucks when he put in Burrows’ carom off the backboards 5:08 into the game. Holmstrom’s power-play goal tied it at 6:55. His tip-in wasn’t ruled a goal until Rafalski got an interference penalty 8 seconds later. Replays showed that Holmstrom deflected Datsyuk’s shot off the middle back post of the net and not the crossbar for his fourth goal.

Kesler’s second goal restored the Canucks’ lead. He tipped in a shot from the point with 9:23 left in the opening period.

Notes

Detroit C Henrik Zetterberg didn’t play because of a sore groin. Darren Helm was recalled from the Red Wings’ AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids to replace him. G Jimmy Howard was removed from the injured list and assigned to Grand Rapids. … Kesler is from the Detroit suburb of Livonia. … Detroit D Brad Stuart was helped off the ice with a little bit more than 7 minutes left in the third period after taking a shot by Vancouver’s Sami Salo off his left knee. He’ll be re-evaluated on Friday.

Box Score

[DennisDubay]

Hossa’s OT goal gives Wings 5-4 win over Rangers


DETROIT (AP)—Marian Hossa made his first goal with the Detroit Red Wings quite memorable.

The high-scoring forward found the net 23 seconds into overtime to give the defending Stanley Cup champions a 5-4 comeback win over the New York Rangers on Saturday night.

Mikael Samuelsson had a goal and two assists for Detroit, and Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom and Jiri Hudler scored the other Red Wings goals. Valtteri Filppula added two assists, and Chris Osgood made 28 saves for Detroit (3-1-1), which trailed 4-3 in the third period and won at home for the first time this season.

“I knew I was getting chances. I tried to stay calm on the ice, and off, too. there was no panic,” Hossa said. “I knew the goals would come, and tonight I got the first one. Hopefully, now we can roll.”

Aaron Voros scored twice in the third period for New York, and Ryan Callahan and Nigel Dawes added goals for the Rangers (6-1-1). Scott Gomez and Brandon Dubinsky each had two assists and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 40 shots.

“It was disappointing. It felt like we had it,” Lundqvist said. “Even with their chances, it felt like we outplayed them.”

Hossa fired in a one-timed shot from the bottom of the right circle off a pass from Pavel Datsyuk. It was the 300th career NHL goal for Hossa, who eliminated the Rangers in the second round of last season’s playoffs when he scored in overtime of Game 5 while with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” Hossa said. “The 300th, the first goal as a Red Wing and the game winner in overtime.”

Lundqvist stopped Hossa a little over seven minutes into the third as he came down the slot while Detroit was short-handed.

Hossa left the Eastern Conference champion Penguins in July, signing a one-year, $7.45 contract with the Red Wings.

Hudler’s goal, scored off a rebound during a power play following a questionable too many men on the ice penalty against the Rangers, tied the game at 4 with 3:39 left in the third period and forced overtime.

“He (Nicklas Kronwall) took a one-timer, it came right back to me,” Hudler said. “I thought Lundqvist had it at first.”

Voros’ second goal broke a 3-3 tie 3:59 into the third when he banked in a shot off Osgood from the side of the net for his fifth of the season. He had tied it at 1:45 by tipping in Michal Rozsival’s shot from the point.

Detroit coach Mike Babcock called a timeout after Voros’ second goal.

“I just asked them who this team was. Where was the team that was playing the whole game until that last little bit?” he said. “People don’t understand. We won the Stanley Cup, but this is a new year. You have to earn things. People say we’re going to be fine, but the only way we’ll be fine is if we earn the right to be fine.”

Holmstrom’s fifth goal gave the Red Wings a 3-1 lead with 9:03 left in the second. He deflected in a shot by Nicklas Lidstrom off the skate of Rangers defenseman Wade Redden.

Dawes closed the gap to 3-2 with 6:37 left in the second period with his first goal when he scored from the bottom of the right circle.

“We got a point out of it,” Rangers center Scott Gomez said. “And the way the league is now, that point might go a long way.”

Detroit scored twice in the first 3:44 of the game.

Samuelsson opened the scoring just 28 seconds in when he tipped in Derek Meech’s shot from the point. Franzen got his third goal, on a rebound, to make it 2-0, 3:16 later.

Callahan put New York on the board 7:32 in when he beat Osgood from the left circle.

Notes

Detroit vice president Steve Yzerman was named the executive director of Canada’s Olympic Team for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. Yzerman announced that Red Wings general manager Ken Holland will be an associate director along with Kevin Lowe, the Edmonton Oilers’ president of hockey operations. Lowe was a playing member of the Rangers when they won the Stanley Cup in 1994. … Red Wings C Henrik Zetterberg missed his second game due to a sore groin. Detroit D Brad Stuart didn’t play because of a knee injury. Meech took Stuart’s place in the lineup. … Scratched for New York were LW Patrick Rismiller, RW Petr Prucha and C Dan Fritsche.



Box Score

[DennisDubay]

McCarty Waived

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/...2-ae1b21a5e863

Citizen News Services
Published: Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Detroit Red Wings placed 36-year-old right-winger Darren McCarty on waivers yesterday. McCarty had been on the injured reserve list since the start of the season with a sore groin and he'll learn by noon today whether he has been claimed by another NHL club. "We're against the cap," general manager Ken Holland said. "We're going to decide (today) what we're going to do, once he clears or not." What happens seems largely tied to Henrik Zetterberg's health. If Zetterberg isn't ready for tomorrow's game in St. Louis, Darren Helm will remain in the lineup and McCarty stays. If Zetterberg plays, the Red Wings will have to decide whether to send Helm or McCarty to Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League.

Red Wings look to tighten up their defense

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index....hten_up_t.html

by Ansar Khan
Tuesday October 21, 2008, 12:15 AM

DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings are satisfied with their record, but they're not pleased with how they've attained it.

After wrapping up what he called a good day of practice Monday, coach Mike Babcock pointed at the standings board in the dressing room. It showed his team ranks in the middle of the pack in the NHL with a 2.79 goals-against average.

"Collectively, as a group, we got to be better," Babcock said. "We're 3-1-1, which isn't terrible, but it's always the way you play. You want to feel good about how you're playing. Hopefully we can take a step defensively, because we're giving up way too much."

Chris Osgood has not been at his best (3.25 goals-against average, .884 save percentage), but the team has been too sloppy at times in front of him in the three home games. So the emphasis in practice was to sort out on-ice responsibilities and tighten up defensive-zone coverage.

"The key to success is just doing your own job," Babcock said. "But normally when you're not playing good, you end up doing more and you get less done. So we'll do less and get more done."

That means players must stop skating around trying to cover for their teammates.

"Guys are maybe trying to do a little too much in our own zone instead of being patient," Brad Stuart said. "A lot of times things will work out if you hold on for an extra second. You got guys maybe a little too anxious to do somebody else's job and that leaves opportunities for the other team."

Detroit has been outscored 12-10 at even strength.

"When you start getting scored on five-on-five, you overwork and get yourself in trouble by not trusting who you're out there with," Kris Draper said. "So we got back to the basics today of trusting one another, knowing exactly what our system is. Settle down, realize the guys are going to get the job done."

Captain Nicklas Lidstrom said it appeared as if players had "their heads on a swivel" at times during their 5-4 overtime victory Saturday against the New York Rangers.

"We can't just be looking at the puck, we got to know where the other players are as well," Lidstrom said. "When we (commit) a turnover at their blue line, we don't get the back-checking as hard as we want. It's tough for the forwards to get going the other way. If you turn the puck over deep in their end, you usually have a forward coming back and putting pressure on the puck-carrier."

McCarty on waivers
Right wing Darren McCarty, on injured reserve since Oct. 9 (groin strain), was placed on waivers Monday. If he clears by noon today, the club would have the option to assign him to Grand Rapids (AHL).

"He's ready to come off IR," general manager Ken Holland said. "We wanted to have flexibility on our roster because we're against the (salary) cap."

If Henrik Zetterberg is able to play Wednesday in St. Louis, the team could opt to send Darren Helm back to Grand Rapids and keep McCarty as the 13th forward, if he clears. If Helm remains in the lineup (he will not be kept around as a spare), there would be no cap space for McCarty.

The Red Wings must be able to send a player down right away -- without waiting for him to clear waivers -- in case they need to recall a goaltender in the event of a short-term injury to Osgood or Ty Conklin.

Zetterberg, Stuart updates
Zetterberg, who has missed two games with a sore groin, skated for about 40 minutes but remains questionable for Wednesday's game in St. Louis.

"Hopefully I can go full-out (today) and then make the decision," Zetterberg said. "I didn't do any starts and stops, didn't do any real battling, but skating normal was good."

Stuart, who sat out the last game with a bruised left knee, made it through the whole practice and expects to play Wednesday.

Rafalski eyes mark
Brian Rafalski needs one point Wednesday to tie the franchise record for the longest points streak by a defenseman at the start of a season. The record of six games is shared by Lidstrom (2006-07) and Larry Murphy (1999-2000). Zetterberg owns the club record for the longest points streak at the start of a season (17 games in 2007-08).

Committing to simplicity

http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2008...implicity.html

Posted by George James Malik October 21, 2008 06:35AM

The Toronto Maple Leafs exposed weaknesses in the Red Wings' backchecking system during Detroit's home opener, and the Red Wings have different explanations as to why they're giving up odd-man rushes, and are allowing opponents to set up cycling plays in the defensive zone:

October 21, Detroit News: The Red Wings realize something isn't right with their full-strength play. So Monday's practice at Joe Louis Arena was dedicated to address the issue, with a lot of emphasis on five-on-five situations.

"When you're getting scored on, in a five-on-five situation, I think you overwork and you kind of get yourself in trouble," center Kris Draper said. "It's not trusting, you're basically out there, trying to do too much."

Coach Mike Babcock said he's seeing signs his team is working things out during recent games. But having two days to practice at home doesn't hurt. Babcock also told his team to attack the net more consistently.


The Windsor Star's Dave Waddell says that Detroit has given up 12 of its 14 goals against at even strength, and Babcock agrees with Draper that simplicity holds the key to turning the team's defensive game around:

October 22, Windsor Star: After trying to explain the aim of Monday's practice, Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock banged on a statistical board hanging in the looker room to summarize his point. "This is the problem right here," said Babcock pointing out the Wings 13th-ranked goals against average of 2.79 as he walked past. ... "That's (not trusting a teammate) what happens when you start doing each other's jobs," Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "The key to success is just doing your own job. Normally when you're not doing good, you end up doing more and getting messed up. We're going to do less and try to get organized."

The Wings spent a good chunk of Monday's practice working on their five-on-five and four-on-four play. Defenceman Brad Stuart said even a veteran team, with virtually everybody back from last year's successful playoff run, has to go through the process of learning to walk before they run.

"Its guys trying to do too much in their own zone rather being a little patient," Stuart said. "A lot of times things will work out in your favour if you kind of hold on for a second. Guys are a little too anxious to do someone else's job and that leaves opportunities for the other team."


When players "try to do too much," they overcommit, "cheating" toward the blueline in anticipation of offensive breakouts, skating slowly through the neutral zone, allowing trapping teams to exploit the lack of a gap between forwards and defenders to generate odd-man rushes, and once the Wings arrive in their own end, their tendency to crowd puck carriers instead of playing what is essentially the hockey version of a man-on-man defence (as opposed to a trap) yields cycling plays and passes to uncovered players in the slot. In other words, they play a messy game, and as Waddell notes, that results in turnovers galore.

Nicklas Lidstrom believes that the Wings' lack of speed and over-willingness to hang onto the puck at the opposition blueline has disrupted their offensive flow:

"We're forcing it too much especially at the blue-line," said Lidstrom, who is a plus-four. "Sometimes the play is not there. You can't make a play; you have to get it in and get a good forecheck or chip it in and get it yourself." ... "If we have too many turnovers, you're forced to go the other way," Lidstrom said. "That kind of breaks the momentum when you don't have the puck. You spend more time in your own end. You get tired doing it too. If we cut down on the turnovers, we'll have the puck more in the offensive end. We can still shoot the puck more too. We've been looking to make the extra pass, especially at home. If you take the shot, you're going to get a rebound."
As Babcock tells MLive.com's own Ansar Khan, the Red Wings haven't played "terrible" hockey, but a team whose game builds itself upon taking control of the puck in the defensive zone, utilizing breakout passes and its puck-carrying defencemen to speedily transition through the neutral zone, and sustain possession and control of the puck in the offensive zone as both a source of offence and a sort of "prevent" defence simply cannot shoot itself in the foot by turning the puck over and committing too many players to chasing that one puck down.

Again, to put it simply, when the Wings' possess the puck, no one can outmatch their skill level, and when they don't possess the puck, all that skill turns into sloppy vulnerability.

[DennisDubay]

NHL POWER RANKINGS:

ESPN: (10-16-08) #3
SPORTSLINE: (10-20-08) #4
FOX SPORTS:
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED:(10-21-08) #6
TSN: (10-20-08) #3

Red Wings' Lilja shelved by appendectomy

Detroit Red Wings defenceman Andreas Lilja underwent an appendectomy Tuesday morning, but he could return to the lineup as soon as Friday.

Lilja, 33, had the surgical procedure performed at the Detroit Medical Center.

The Swedish veteran has yet to register a point in five games this season, his fourth with the Red Wings.

Lilja has totalled 12 goals and 47 assists for 59 points with 433 penalty minutes in 403 games over eight NHL seasons with the Los Angeles Kings, Florida Panthers and Red Wings.

He was drafted in the second round (54th overall) by Los Angeles in 2000.

Detroit welcomes the Atlanta Thrashers to Joe Louis Arena on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET).

Wings' McCarty clears waivers

Wednesday, October 22, 2008 6:09 AM EDT
By Bruce MacLeod, Journal Register News Service

DETROIT — No other NHL team wanted Darren McCarty. Tonight, the Detroit Red Wings might need him.

The 36-year-old veteran cleared waivers at noon yesterday, meaning none of the 29 other NHL clubs opted to add him to their roster without compensation. But as McCarty took his equipment off after Tuesday's practice at Joe Louis Arena, he joked with reporters that he was hoping they'd be able to tell him if his immediate future was in Detroit or Grand Rapids.

He found out moments later that he would remain a Red Wing when general manager Ken Holland shipped Darren Helm to the Griffins. McCarty went from the practice ice along with his teammates to the team plane, heading for St. Louis for tonight's game (8:30 p.m., FSN).

McCarty started the season on the injured reserve with a groin strain, but with Helm gone, he'll be back in the lineup tonight if Henrik Zetterberg isn't able to make his return from a groin strain. The Red Wings have 13 forwards with them in St. Louis and will dress 12.

"Obviously I want to be part of this team, this organization," said McCarty. "If it's playing here, supporting here, playing in Grand Rapids ... whatever needs to be done, I'll do it. That's been my attitude since Day 1 -- being part of this organization, first and foremost."

McCarty being put on waivers was a way to expedite the process in the future should the Red Wings have to make an emergency roster move. This is the same roster maneuver that the Red Wings did last season with Aaron Downey and tried to do this season with Kyle Quincey before losing the defenseman to Los Angeles on waivers.

McCarty is now waiver-exempt for one month and Detroit doesn't have to wait the 24-hour waiver period to make a move (48 hours on weekends).

Helm was demoted because either Zetterberg or McCarty will be able to play tonight. Holland doesn't want Helm in Detroit as a non-dressed 13th forward.

That also means that McCarty will stick with Detroit until another player needs to be added to the active roster — such as Chris Chelios (leg) coming off injured reserve. By that time, perhaps McCarty will be sent to Grand Rapids or perhaps he'll stay to fill in for another injured forward. For now, McCarty is the 13th forward.

Zetterberg practiced for the second consecutive day, Tuesday. Unlike Monday, Zetterberg didn't hold anything back, yesterday. He said after practice that if the Wings' next game was Thursday, he'd definitely back in the lineup.

"First full skate and I went through everything," said Zetterberg. "We'll just have to see again, see how I respond tomorrow and make the decision then."

Zetterberg will participate in this morning's skate at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis after which his status for tonight's game will be determined.

The Red Wings practiced, Tuesday, as though Zetterberg would be available tonight, having the Swede center Detroit's second line with Johan Franzen and Mikael Samuelsson on his wings.

Lilja surprise surgery

Andreas Lilja had an appendectomy Tuesday and won't be with the team in St. Louis. The defenseman could return to the lineup as early as Friday, according to coach Mike Babcock for what would be a very speedy recovery.

"Now I could be wrong,'' said Babcock. "I'm just telling you what they told me. He's had some stomach pains. They found some calcification of a build-up in his appendix. That was creating some problems for him. They say there should be no issue for him whatsoever.''

Brad Stuart (bruised knee) said that he's definitely back in the lineup tonight after missing one game. He'll be back partnered with Niklas Kronwall. Derek Meech will remain in the lineup and partner with his former Grand Rapids teammate Brett Lebda as the third defense pairing.

This and that

Ty Conklin will make his second start of the season in net tonight. … There was a report in the Toronto Globe & Mail, Tuesday, that several NHL governors like the idea of putting a second NHL team in Toronto (through expansion or moving a franchise). Does Toronto native Kris Draper think that Canada's largest city could support two teams? "Absolutely they could," said Draper. "People there absolutely love the sport of hockey. There's probably 10,000 people on the waiting list for Leafs' season tickets. There's your season ticket list right there." … According to Bloomberg News, former Red Wing Slava Fetisov was named chairman of Russia's Kontinental Hockey League. His former Red Wing teammate Igor Larionov is on the KHL's board of directors.

Read Bruce MacLeod's Red Wings blog at www.dailytribune.com. Send comments to bruce.macleod@macombdaily.com.

Beware the Blues?

Posted by George James Malik October 22, 2008 08:21AM
The Red Wings suggest that tonight's oppponent, the St. Louis Blues, have special teams to be reckoned with, as the Windsor Star's Dave Waddell notes:

October 22, Windsor Star: The Detroit Red Wings best protection from the St. Louis Blues' league-leading power play will be to just stay out of the penalty box.
The Blues top the NHL with a 40.9 per cent conversion rate having scored nine power-play goals on 22 chances.

"They're moving the puck around real well," Wings captain Nick Lidstrom said. "They're shooting it, finding open players. You have to be on your toes. You have to be aggressive when you can, but you can't lose the guy up ice because they're lethal on the power play."

Detroit ranks eighth in penalty killing (88.2 per cent) and takes the fewest penalty minutes per game in the NHL with an average of 7.5 minutes per game.


The Detroit Free Press's Helene St. James provides a few more surprising stats about tonight's match-up (8:30 PM EDT, FSN/WXYT):

October 22, Detroit Free Press: Despite losing star defenseman Erik Johnson, the Blues are off to a great start, including 3-0 at home. They've also got the No. 1 power play in the NHL with a 40.9% success rate, and a 90% penalty kill.
Paul Kariya leads the team with eight assists and nine points, and Keith Tkachuk has six goals.


The Blues last played on Saturday, when they defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-3 in a shootout, and the Belleville News-Democrat's Norm Sanders says that Wing-killer Lee Stempniak may return to the Blues' lineup tonight:

October 22, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Winger Lee Stempniak (leg) and defensemen Jeff Woywitka (cracked bone in his foot) and Jonas Junland all participated in a full practice Tuesday.
Stempniak could be ready to play tonight, but Murray said the defensemen may not be ready until the weekend.

"(Stempniak) feels pretty good; I would move him into the probably category," Murray said.


The Blues plucked scrapper David Koci off the waiver wire to replace D.J. King, whose dislocated shoulder requires surgery, and Sanders says that the Blues plan on bringing out ye olde measuring stick for tonight's game:

October 22, Belleville News-Democrat: The Blues split eight games with Hockeytown's team, which knocked off the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals. Meanwhile, the Blues missed the playoffs for the third straight season.
Now the Red Wings (3-1-1) are back at Scottrade Center tonight, looking up at the first-place Blues (4-1) in the Central Division standings. Game time is 7:30 p.m.

"They're the best team in the league," said Blues goalie Manny Legace, a former Red Wing. "If you don't bring your A-game they're going to bury you. You've got to be prepared. They're the favorites to win the Cup again. They've got four strong lines and six strong defensemen and good goaltending. There's no weakness."

That's why it's such an appealing matchup to Blues coach Andy Murray.

"It's a great gauge to play the Red Wings," Murray said of a team with four championships in the last 11 years. "You're playing the team that won the Stanley Cup. We just came off playing a game against an arch-rival (Chicago) and I think the Blues fans enjoy seeing us playing against the Red Wings as much as any team."


The Blues also talked about the fact that Marian Hossa turned down several big-money deals to join the Red Wings:

"You have to respect his desire to go to what he felt was the best team out there," Murray said of Hossa, who had 29 goals last season with Atlanta and Pittsburgh. "In this league you don't have to chase the money. If you're playing good, the money finds you. I like the fact that he took on this mindset. They're a good team and he certainly makes them stronger."
And the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Jeremy Rutherford picks up the conversation...

October 22, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: A free agent after his Pittsburgh Penguins fell to Detroit in the finals last June, Hossa turned down an eight-year, $70 million-$80 million contract from Edmonton and a seven-year, $49 million deal in Pittsburgh to take a one-year, $7.4 million offer from the Red Wings.
"That's a lot of $1 bills on the table," Blues right winger David Backes said. "Well, uh, I guess it's a noble act on his part."

"Could I have done it? If I was him?" Blues goalie Manny Legace asked. "How old is he?"

Hossa is 29.

"To win a Cup, I'd do it," Legace said. "He's going to take one shot at it, going to the right organization, the right team ... next year it could be more money. If he wins the Cup and he's the MVP, it could be more money. Even if he has a terrible year, scores one goal the rest of the year, somebody is still going to offer him $9 million next year for five or six years."


Of course, Blues owner Dave Checketts has to mention that the Blues would have targeted Hossa had he remained on the open market, though not signing a player like Hossa strikes Checketts as the right move (oy, vey):

"(But) I don't think Marian Hossa was going to come to us," Checketts said. "And I'm not sure that would have been a wise move in light of trying to develop our kids. If you have a team that has won, and is ready to win again, it might be wise to throw $7 million at Hossa for one year. But with us, I want to see these kids developed and build an internal chemistry."
The Wings will start Ty Conklin against Legace, and Derek Meech will slide down to the third pair with Brett Lebda as Andreas Lilja recovers from an appendectomy. Henrik Zetterberg may or may not return from his groin injury, depending on how he holds up at the morning skate today.

---

[DennisDubay]

[DennisDubay]

Wings-Blues wrap-up

http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2008..._wrapup_2.html

Posted by George James Malik October 23, 2008 09:16AM

The St. Louis Blues rallied from deficits of 3-0 and 4-2 to give the Detroit Red Wings a big scare, outshooting the Wings 14-8 in the third scoring a goal with just over a minute left, leading to a furious finish (which ended when David Backes decided to punch Brad Stuart instead of scraping for a loose puck), but the Blues fell to Detroit by a 4-3 tally. Manny Legace lamented the Blues' slow start, as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Jeremy Rutherford noted:

October 23, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "You can't do it ... you got to come out at the beginning," Legace said. "We stood around and watched them. ... We just got star-struck watching them for two periods."
Blues coach Andy Murray took exception to the term "star-struck," but he couldn't explain why the Blues are falling behind early.

"I don't think we came out in awe of these guys," Murray said. "We've maybe got a few guys that it was the first time they played against (Detroit), but a majority of these guys played against them eight times last year and beat them (four). So that's an excuse that's unacceptable as far as I'm concerned. We don't play good enough (at the start). The other team plays better, takes advantage of their chances, scores on their chances. We don't score or make an extra save. We need to be better."


Johan Franzen scored the goal that would stand up as the game-winner after Blues forward David Backes lost the blade of his stick while passing the puck back to his defencemen, but the fact that Franzen took the puck away and skated into the Blues zone didn't excuse the fact that defencemen Eric Brewer Steve Wagner let Franzen walk into the slot and roof the puck over Legace...

"I didn't see the shot," Legace said. "I don't know who our defenseman was ... I was screened."
Eric Brewer was the Blues' defenseman, and Murray said he could have done a better job defending the shot.

"We've got a defenseman that's got to close the gap and get his stick on that puck," Murray said. "(But) we've got to be ready for the shot, too."


Murray summarized his take on the game in speaking to the Associated Press:

October 23, Associated Press: "[The Red Wings]'ve got a tremendous amount of talent and skill," Murray said. "Our game wasn't up to our standards tonight."
The Wings' strong start, combined with superb goaltending from Conklin, allowed them to take the two points and head back home with a 3-and-0 road record:

"We've been a pretty good road team," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "To be a championship level team, you have to be good in both places."
Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom and Johan Franzen also scored for Detroit. Keith Tkachuk, Brad Boyes and T.J. Oshie scored for the Blues. Lidstrom said he knows Holmstrom will get his goals.

"Holmstrom is good at finding an open spot," Lidstrom said." He doesn't need much to put the puck in the net."

Zetterberg, back in the lineup after missing two games because of a strained groin, opened the scoring midway through the first period.

Holmstrom made it 2-0 on a power play early in the second, one-timing Marian Hossa's pass past goalie Manny Legace. Detroit has scored at least one power-play goal in its last four games. The Red Wings added a power-play goal late in the period, with Lidstrom whistling a slap shot past the screened Legace for a 3-0 lead.


Before the game, Rutherford noted that the Wings had nothing but good things to say about the Blues' start...

October 23, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "They're doing a good job of stockpiling young players there who are coming into their own, they seem to be organized," Detroit coach Mike Babcock told reporters. "Good goaltending, they're scoring a ton of goals, they got the best power play in the league, penalty killing is solid ... they were tough for us last year, they'll be no different this year."
The Blues were 4-4 against the Red Wings last season.

"St. Louis has been playing real well," Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom said. "They're off to a good start. We know we're playing a good team and they're playing with a lot of confidence, too."

Lidstrom was especially impressed with the Blues' power play, which ranked No. 1 in the NHL (40.9 percent).

"They're shooting it and finding the open players, so you got to be on your toes," he said. "You got to be aggressive when you can. You can't lose the guy up ice because they're so lethal on the power play.''


The scored their 3-1 and 4-2 goals on the power play, which went 2-for-5, but the Wings' power play posted two goals on three chances and 2:23 of ice time. Babcock gave the Wings full marks for their strong start, as he told the Detroit Free Press's George Sipple:

October 23, Detroit Free Press: "I thought we actually played pretty good," said Wings coach Mike Babcock. "We got good goaltending. We held them to 24 shots. Any time you hold a team to 24 shots in their own building, you're taking a step. We haven't been as good defensively as we wanted. I thought we tightened up better tonight."
This was the first home loss of the season for the Blues.

"It's not a statement game, but it's a team that's playing real well early," Babcock said.


Franzen acknowledged that he couldn't thank Backes' stick alone for the play that led to his goal:

"I was lucky there," Franzen said. "His stick break, and I got the puck and their (defensemen) were standing still. I got a good shot away. Surprised myself there, and the goalie, hopefully. I pulled it back to get the goalie to move a little bit. Usually when you do that, you don't get all of it. But I got a good shot away."
Franzen beat former Wings goalie Manny Legace to put the Wings ahead, 4-2.

T.J. Oshie's first career NHL goal deflected in during a 6-on-4 power play at 18:36 of the third period, giving the Blues a chance to tie, and the Ty Conklin had to endure a flurry of shots in the final minute to preserve the victory; he finished with 21 saves.


The Wings' defensive gaffes resulted in a closer result than Detroit preferred to take home, but Babcock told the Detroit News's Dave Dye that Detroit's third one-goal win worked for him:

October 23, Detroit News: "That's great," Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "That's the NHL now. Every night you see it. Shootouts every night. It's very important you get prepared and you get started." ... Detroit has now won 10 of its last 12 road games dating to last season's playoffs, including three straight to open this season.
"It's hard winning on the road," Lidstrom said. "You have to have your road mentality almost. You know teams are going to come after you, the crowd's going to get into it. You have to play well in the last 20 minutes. I think we have that mentality."

The Red Wings (4-1-1) reclaimed first place in the Central Division over St. Louis (4-2). The Wings are home Friday against Atlanta before starting a five-game trip Saturday in Chicago. The other stops include Los Angeles, Anaheim, San Jose and Vancouver.


As Dye notes, the Wings' first two goals resulted from passes to the lip of the crease, where Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom buried redirection shots past Legace, and Brian Rafalski broke Nicklas Lidstrom and Larry Murphy's club record for consecutive points by a defenceman to start the season with his sixth assist and seventh point of the season:

"I'm surprised I did it since everyone was mentioning it this morning," Rafalski said, smiling. "It's a good start. I'm trying to contribute where I can. I'm sure some day it will be broken by somebody else."
Conklin summarized the end of the game with some serious understatements...

"The last 2 1/2 minutes were pretty hectic," Conklin said. "It was pretty much all we could handle there at the end."
And Nicklas Lidstrom told Expressen's Gunnar Nordstrom that the Wings have improved overall:

October 23, Expressen (roughly translated): [It was] good to beat St. Louis [on the road] when they came into the game as leaders in our division," said Nicklas Lidström to HockeyExpressen.se. ... "We [are playing] a little better as team now than we did in the opening games in the fall. Moreover, our power play works," says Lidas. ... The Blues reduced their lead to one goal, but the team's third goal was [scored] with only 1:24 remaining.
"It was a little nervous towards the end, they sent lots of pucks on goal and got pressure on us. They had good speed on their skates and hunted us down.


The Macomb Daily's Bruce MacLeod wrote a very solid sans quotes recap, and he notes that the Wings received two significant roster reinforcements on Wednesday:

October 23, Macomb Daily: Center Henrik Zetterberg made his return, last night, after missing two games with a groin strain. Zetterberg was back centering Johan Franzen and Mikael Samuelsson. That bumped Valtteri Filppula down to third-line center between Jiri Hudler and Dan Cleary and Kris Draper down to fourth-line center between Tomas Kopecky and Kirk Maltby.
Defenseman Brad Stuart made his return from a one-game absence due to a knee bruise. Derek Meech, who replaced Stuart last Saturday, remained in the lineup last night because Andreas Lilja was home recovering from an appendectomy.


Zetterberg struggled in the faceoff circle in his return, going 3-and-8, but he played 17:51 and registered 3 shots, 2 hits, a takeaway, and a blocked shot; Stuart played 22:29, had 4 shots, blocked a shot, and registered a team-high five hits.

MacLeod also noted that the Datsyuk line faced heavy checking...

October 22, RedWingsCorner: The Blues often chose to put the Patrik Berglund line on the ice against the Pavel Datsyuk line early in this game. With Berglund being a rookie, David Perron a second-year player and Paul Kariya a defensive liability, you wouldn't think that would be a prime matchup for Coach Andy Murray. But the threesome did quite well against Datsyuk, Marian Hossa and Tomas Holmstrom. Murray changed his forward lines in the second period and the matchup ended, but it worked for a short while.
And the Windsor Star's Dave Waddell can confirm that this observation is true:

Tomas Holmstrom is playing as well as he ever has. Such a difference from last year's goals-being-waved-off start. Is Homer playing ever so slightly further out from the crease than before?
DetroitRedWings.com's Michael Caples notes that Holmstrom registered a classic "no-point assist" as well:

October 22, DetroitRedWings.com: Who was the star of the game?
Holmstrom gets the nod tonight, because he's not going to show up on the score sheet as much as he should. He scored the second goal of the game on a beautiful passing play with his linemates Pavel Datsyuk and Marian Hossa, but he also should get credit for the next Detroit tally. On a Red Wings' power play, he was screening goaltender Manny Legace so well that he didn't even see Lidstrom unleash a rocket from the point. Without Homer in front, Legace would make a routine save on a shot from the blue line, and the Wings wouldn't have a commanding 3-0 lead.

[DennisDubay]

Wings GM Holland has Stanley in his sights -- again

http://www.torontosun.com/sports/hoc...72426-sun.html

By GARY LOEWEN


Ten years ago, the Detroit Red Wings repeated as Stanley Cup champions. Ken Holland's target is to do it again.

The salary cap and league parity seem to conspire against NHL teams from becoming dominant for years on end, but Holland, the Red Wings general manager, won't let that stop him from trying to build a dynasty.

"We were the last team to defend (as Cup champions) in 1997-98," Holland said in a telephone interview. "It's hard to win, a large part of winning is good fortune with injuries and matchups. That doesn't mean it's impossible (to repeat). We're going to try."

Holland sits atop a management structure in Detroit that is the envy of the league, surrounded by solid hockey minds such as Jimmy Devellano, Jim Nill, Steve Yzerman and, until this past off-season, Scott Bowman. The Leafs have said they plan to use the Wings model as a blueprint for their own management structure (don't you wish).

The Wings have captured four Stanley Cups in 11 years, including this past spring against the Pittsburgh Penguins. That's not exactly a dynasty but it is as close as you'll get since the Edmonton Oilers' string of five Cups in seven years, 1984-90.

Perhaps the sensation of winning the Cup last spring will motivate the Wings to do it again. "Winning one championship is difficult," Holland said. "Winning twice is twice as difficult."

One of the drawbacks for the defending champs is that they played six or eight weeks longer into the spring that most of the other NHL teams. There is less time to recover from the bruises and the surgeries, less time to rekindle the fire. You get the sense that Holland would be the last guy, though, to roll out the excuses of a Cup hangover and a short summer, should the Wings not get back to the final.

"Energy and emotion are important ingredients and sometimes there is only so much energy and emotion in the tank," Holland said. "The disappointment of losing in the third round in '07 kept the team hungry."

At this point of the season, you don't worry about the end result, you worry about the process, said Holland, a one-time draft pick of the Leafs, who has been the Wings GM since July 1997.

Holland views dynasties as being good for sports, mentioning the New York Yankees, Montreal Canadiens and New England Patriots.

"Tiger Woods has been a dynasty. From a fan's standpoint, having a team (or a golfer) that everyone wants to beat is a good thing."

The Red Wings are a good thing. They've come a long way from being Dead Things.

[DennisDubay]

Atlanta (2-2-2) at Detroit (4-1-1)

By MATT BEARDMORE, STATS Writer

Oct 23, 3:15 pm EDT

The road has been very good to the Detroit Red Wings.

They’re hoping similar success Friday at Joe Louis Arena, where they’ll face an Atlanta Thrashers team that has won only once since opening night.

The Red Wings (4-1-1) improved to 3-0 on the road Wednesday with a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues, who were previously unbeaten on their home ice.

“We’ve been a pretty good road team,” said Detroit coach Mike Babcock, whose team opens a five-game trip Saturday at Chicago. “To be a championship level team, you have to be good in both places.”

The defending Stanley Cup champions have scored power-play goal in four straight games and have converted 32 percent (8-of-25) of their chances with the man advantage this season, including a 2-for-3 effort against the Blues. Tomas Holmstrom’s tally in the second period extended his goal-scoring streak to four games, and increased his team-high total to six goals in the season.

“Holmstrom is good at finding an open spot,” said Nicklas Lidstrom, who had the other power-play goal. “He doesn’t need much to put the puck in the net.”

Pavel Datsyuk helped on both power-play goals, recording at least one assist in his fourth straight game. Datsyuk leads Detroit with seven assists.

Henrik Zetterberg returned from a two-game absence due to a strained groin to score his second goal of the season.

Marian Hossa, who notched his fifth assist in the win, faces his former team Friday. Before moving to Pittsburgh in a trade deadline deal last February, Hossa had 26 goals and 30 assists in 60 games with the Thrashers.

Hossa also posted a career-high 100 points (43 goals, 57 assists) with Atlanta in 2006-07. The veteran right wing, who spent his first seven seasons with Ottawa before joining the Thrashers in 2005-06, has 13 goals and seven assists in 19 career games versus Atlanta, including a career-best four-goal effort Jan. 2, 2003.

With only eight goals in its last five games, Atlanta seems to miss Hossa’s scoring punch. Since a season-opening 7-4 win against Washington on Oct. 10, the Thrashers (2-2-2) have scored two goals or fewer four times in five contests, with the lone exception a 3-2 shootout victory over Buffalo on Saturday.

It took Atlanta nearly 47 minutes to score in Tuesday’s 3-2 overtime loss at Tampa Bay, but Colby Armstrong notched his first goal in five games and Todd White deflected in a shot with 35.5 seconds left as the Thrashers erased a two-goal deficit to salvage a point.

“When you look at it, is the cup half-empty or half-full?” Atlanta coach John Anderson said. “I’m glad we got a point. Very fortunate. Our comeback was excellent. But I guess the reality set in that we really only played one period. We didn’t compete the first two.”

Kari Lehtonen is helping the Thrashers stay afloat despite the anemic offense, with a 1.95 goals-against average in his last three games. He made 35 saves against the Lightning, including 17 during an 18-shot first period. In his only game against Detroit, Lehtonen made a career-high 46 saves in a 5-1 Thrashers victory Jan. 15 last season at Joe Louis Arena.

Atlanta has won the past two meetings in the series following seven consecutive Detroit victories.

[DennisDubay]

An easy choice

http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2008...sy_choice.html

Posted by George James Malik October 24, 2008 05:06AM

Amidst worries that the salary cap might fall if the U.S. and Canadian economies remain in the penalty box, Fox Sports' Spector looked at ten teams that would have to make difficult decisions in terms of retaining players due to their salary commitments for the 09-10 season. The Red Wings' situation simply doesn't require a lot of thought:

October 23, Fox Sports: Detroit Red Wings
Estimated cap hit: $41.2 million committed to 14 players. A lowered salary cap could force the defending Stanley Cup champion Wings into making a difficult choice between re-signing superstar forward Henrik Zetterberg and their other key free agents, including forwards Mikael Samuelsson, Johan Franzen and Jiri Hudler. It's rumored Zetterberg , the 2008 playoff MVP, could seek more than $8 million per season. Even if he agreed to a "hometown discount" similar to Nicklas Lidstrom's current team high of $7.45 million, it would mean parting with Franzen and/or Samuelsson. It would also rule out any possibility of the Red Wings re-signing winger Marian Hossa.


Zetterberg first, Franzen second, Hossa third, everybody else (Samuelsson, Kopecky, Hudler, etc.) later.

Also: As noted by Kukla's Korner's Alanah McGinley, the Canadian dollar is vacillating wildly in value (like everything else these days), and its fluctuations fuel the most substantive concerns regarding a potential drop in the salary cap.

[DennisDubay]

On team toughness and the Wings' true enforcer

Posted by George James Malik October 24, 2008 06:52AM

Given the recent discussion of the Red Wings' team toughness, or the lack thereof, the Hockey News's Ryan Dixon receives bonus points for timeliness

October 22, The Hockey News: What any good GM in the league must have to foster any hope of success is vision and fortitude. There are multiple paths to glory and it's the GM's job to identify the one he feels best suits his team and execute moves that consistently keep with the game plan.
GMs operate under a heap of pressure, be it from ownership, fans and media or simply the high standards they all hold themselves to. Theirs is a job that requires enough backbone to overcome a lot of influences, including self-doubt and league trends, in order to stay the given course.

What if Detroit GM Ken Holland believed the hype about his best players simply not being tough enough to win a title? Don't forget, the logic du jour after the Fighty Ducks won the '07 Cup was the championship equation requires a hearty dose of intimidation.

Holland wasn't buying. He stuck with Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, and now hordes of people believe a puck-possession game is the pony to ride.


The Windsor Star's Dave Waddell spoke to Holland about the team's philosophy as it applies to "tough guys" on Wednesday, and Holland made a surprising revelation about a move not made under Scotty Bowman's tenure. Holland says that he could have reacquired Bob Probert, but Bowman told Holland that Probert wouldn't see any ice time:

October 24, Windsor Star: "He told me I could acquire him, but he'd just sit on the end of the bench because he wouldn't play him," Holland recalled. "It would've been a waste because I couldn't tell Scotty who to play."
Waddell notes that Holland kept Darren McCarty and Aaron Downey in the organizational fold to ensure that the Wings have "deterrents," but coach Mike Babcock, who reluctantly employed Downey last season and Jeff Norton during the 06-07 season, isn't a fan of pure "tough guys":

"I don't know how you measure that," said Babcock when asked if he felt his team was gritty enough. "Sure nobody is taking advantage of us physically. We don't have any fighting majors, but there's been no fights in our games. To me, it (grittiness) is you just keep playing. We hear every year we're not gritty enough, not tough enough. Yet, that hasn't been an issue in my time here."
Detroit assistant general manager Jim Nill has also listened for years to the criticism the Wings aren't tough enough and he's downright dismissive of the notion. Nill wonders just how many Stanley Cup championships it's going to take before the Wings' critics understand what toughness in the NHL really looks like?

"Do you think you could intimidate Steve Yzerman when he played or Nick Lidstrom or Pavel Datsyuk?" Nill said. "Toughness isn't fighting. To me, toughness is whether a guy will go into the corner knowing he's going to get hit and still come out with the puck. It's going to the dirty areas of the ice and paying the price to score a goal. No one watching our team could say our players were afraid to do those things."


I can't top this. Babcock says that he wouldn't mind adding a tough player, as long as he fit within the Wings' talent-based system of play...

"I like good hockey players," Babcock said. "If we have someone with that dimension (irritating) I'd probably like that. We like the make up of our team. But we're always looking to add and fix it, yet it's a salary cap world."
When pressed further about carrying more of an annoying agitator than an enforcer, perhaps in the mold of Dallas's Steve Ott, Babcock volunteered the Wings already had one.

"Some people will say I'm very annoying actually," Babcock joked. "My wife would be one of them."

[DennisDubay]

Odds and ends about Schneider, Wings' status as oldest/shortest/lightest team, Lilja updates, and a breast cancer awareness night reminder

http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2008...schneider.html

Posted by George James Malik October 24, 2008 07:05AM

The Detroit Red Wings will face off against the Atlanta Thrashers tonight, and the Thrashers had a "fun" scrimmage on Thursday to break up a little monotony.

The Thrashers last played Tuesday, dropping a 4-3 OT decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Mike Knobler continued the "fun" theory by posting a few interesting facts about the Thrashers and Red Wings. Former Red Wing Mathieu Schneider plans on keeping on keeping on:

October 23, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Average player age: 28.0, almost half a year younger than the average Thrashers player. The Thrashers have the league's ninth oldest roster, and their oldest player, Mathieu Schneider, 39, is the league's seventh oldest player. "I want to be the oldest in the league," said Schneider, who is inspired by Chelios.
"He trains like a mad man year-round," Schneider said. "I don't think I've met anyone who loves the game and loves to be around the rink as much as Chris does. He's the first one at the rink every morning. He loves the game of hockey, and it's contagious."


The team stats related to the Red Wings follow:

Oldest team: Detroit, 31.8. ... Shortest team: Detroit, barely over 6-0, about a quarter-inch shorter than the third shortest team, Atlanta. ... Lightest team: Detroit, 198.2, four pounds lighter than the Thrashers, the 13th lightest team. ... Not Windsor's team: Detroit has the fewest Canadians, at seven, three fewer than the Thrashers.
The Detroit Free Press's George Sipple provides some "less fun" notes about the Red Wings, after noting that Mathieu Schneider is officially "on the schneid":

October 24, Detroit Free Press: Former Wings defenseman Mathieu Schneider leads the Thrashers with 24 shots but hasn't scored a goal. He has two assists and is minus-three in six games. The Thrashers are 0-0-2 on the road.
Slava Kozlov and Jason Williams say, "Hello" to their former teammates tonight, and the Thrashers should Kari Lehtonen in the net.

As for the Red Wings, Sipple notes that Andreas Lilja plans on returning to the ice today:

[Red Wings assistant GM Jim] Nill said defenseman Andreas Lilja (appendix) left the hospital Thursday. Nill said Lilja would skate today "and see how it feels. No rush to play him tomorrow, and we'll play it by ear." ... Nill said he has seen the Grand Rapids Griffins play twice so far and will be at their home opener this weekend. Aaron Downey apparently has adjusted well after being disappointed to be sent down.
"Once you're down there, you're with a bunch of young, energetic kids," Nill said. "Aaron's a character guy. You're going to do the best you can. That's why you're successful.".


The Wings embark upon an extended road trip after tonight's game, and Wings coach Mike Babcock tells the Detroit News's Dave Dye that his team should have a better gauge of its progress as its schedule hits "grind" level:

October 24, Detroit News: The Wings begin a stretch of five games in seven days tonight when Atlanta comes to town.
The Wings then play Saturday at Chicago, Monday at Los Angeles, Wednesday at Anaheim and Thursday at San Jose. The five-game stretch ends Nov. 2 in Vancouver.

"It's going to be a real good test for our team," Babcock said. "We're excited about that."

The Wings are 3-0 on the road and have won 10 of their last 12 away, dating back to last season's playoffs.


Dye also estimates that Lilja should return approximately a week after his appendectomy:

Defenseman Andreas Lilja , who had his appendix removed Tuesday, is expected to return next week for the Kings or Sharks game.
The Macomb Daily's Bruce MacLeod agrees with that assessment...

October 24, Macomb Daily: Defenseman Andreas Lilja (appendectomy) won't return to the Red Wings' lineup for either tonight's game against Atlanta (7:30 p.m., FSN) or Saturday's game in Chicago, according to general manager Ken Holland. Lilja is likely to return during next week's western trip.
And he notes that the Red Wings hold their Breast Cancer awareness night tonight as part of October's designation as Hockey Fights Cancer month:

The Red Wings will host the team's second Breast Cancer Awareness Night, tonight, when the team takes on the Atlanta Thrashers at Joe Louis Arena. The game is part of the National Hockey League's Hockey Fights Cancer (HFC) month when all NHL players wear special HFC decals on the back of their helmets to signify the NHL's collective effort to raise cancer awareness. Last year's Red Wings Breast Cancer Awareness initiative raised more than $30,000 for local families battling breast cancer.
Fans attending Friday's game are reminded to don their best pink attire for a chance to win autographed Red Wings memorabilia. The fan with the best pink outfit will win an autographed Chris Chelios jersey.


The Red Wings are scheduled to tape their sticks with pink hockey tape during the warmups, and fans might get a pretty good gauge of their players' senses of security in their masculinity if any of the players actually use pink tape during the game. On Thursday night, New York Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro used a pink-taped stick during the Islanders' 5-3 loss to the Dallas Stars.

[DennisDubay]

[DennisDubay]

Wings-Thrashers post-game wrap-up

Posted by George James Malik October 25, 2008 07:18AM


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Mike Knobler says that the Thrashers saw several positives in their 5-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings...

October 25, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: The Thrashers scored three goals for the first time since the season-opener. Brett Sterling scored a goal in his season debut. And the power play finally snapped an 0-for-27 streak.

But the Thrashers also saw quite a bit of Marian Hossa, to the tune of two goals (one of the "I think we broke the highlight reel" variety) and an assist, and Atlanta's reunion with its former superstar left the Thrashers frustrated:

"He showed he's one of the best players of the game," Thrashers goalie Kari Lehtonen said. "For sure, it was easier before when he was on my side."

Hossa's first goal was a brilliant piece of hockey, from the moment he took the puck from Zach Bogosian at the blue line, through the time his deke left Mathieu Schneider and Lehtonen flat-footed to the moment he skated around both of them and tucked the puck behind them at the far side of the net. His second goal was the first of two Red Wings scores within 1:12.

"Every time he got the puck in our zone, he seemed to create something toward the net," Thrashers defenseman Ron Hainsey said.

The Thrashers had bad "puck luck," too:

Just like Tuesday night at Tampa Bay, the Thrashers rallied in the third period. They took advantage of a 5-on-3, with Hainsey's slap shot from the point making the score 4-2, and they almost scored another power-play goal when Ilya Kovalchuk hit the puck off the post a minute later.

"If that goes in maybe the game is changed, and maybe we do tie it up. But could've, would've, should've," [coach John] Anderson said.

Hossa admitted to the Associated Press that his level of familiarity with the Thrashers contributed to his dominant performance:

October 24, Associated Press: The last time the two teams met was Jan. 15, and Hossa - playing for the Thrashers - had a hat trick in Atlanta's 5-1 win at Joe Louis Arena.

"Playing your former team and knowing a lot of guys on the team, you play with a little more jump," he said. "Today, I felt good and we created a lot of chances. We played well until the end."

As for his goal...

Hossa gave Detroit a 2-1 lead for good with his first goal. He picked up a loose puck just inside the Atlanta blue line, cut in off the left wing, used a fake and a toe drag while cutting across the slot on defenseman Mathieu Schneider, a former Red Wing, and goalie Kari Lehtonen and put the puck into the empty net. ... "I tried to take a shot and the defenseman bit on it," he said. "I was surprised that Kari went out of the net a little far. I saw the open net."

Hossa's third goal of the season made it 3-1, 5:29 into the second period on a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle after a give-and-go with defenseman Niklas Kronwall.

"We used to see that with him, so it's good to see him doing it for us," Zetterberg said. "He's had a lot of games where he's scored more than one goal. We're sure glad to have him with us."

Hossa deflected much of the credit for his first goal to linemate Tomas Holmstrom, as the Detroit Free Press's Helene St. James notes:

October 25, Detroit Free Press: "It was nice backchecking by Tommy Holmstrom, and he put the pressure on their D and they lose the puck," Hossa said. "I just grabbed it, had a little bit of speed, and it was a one-on-one situation and I tried to fake the shot, the goalie came out, and I went around the D and had an open net."

Kari Lehtonen conceded the beauty of the goal, saying of Hossa that, "he made us look very bad on that play."

Hossa played for the Thrashers from 2005-06 through February.

"I had a great time there," Hossa said. "It was a good organization, a great group of guys. I have good memories from playing there."

In the second period Hossa carried the puck up the right side before dishing to Niklas Kronwall and then continuing to drive to the net, where Kronwall found him again.

"Definitely this is the most comfortable I feel," Hossa said. "It's always special against a former team, it's a kind of bonus I got two goals, which helped my confidence even more."

Wings coach Mike Babcock raved about Hossa (who most certainly had a little Red Wings fan-bonding going on as he stared into the crowd, almost awestruck, after his first goal), as the Windsor Star's Dave Waddell noted:

October 25, Windsor Star: "He (Hossa) was absolutely fantastic," Wing coach Mike Babcock said. "He put on a show."

Babcock praised the Wings' other two-goal scorer on the night, as the Macomb Daily's Chuck Pleiness duly noted:

October 25, Macomb Daily: "I thought Hossa was absolutely fantastic," said Wings coach Mike Babcock, whose team finished with a season-high 46 shots on goal. "He had a little motivation and obviously he put on a show. I thought (Zetterberg) was good as well. I thought we had a lot of good players."

Zetterberg opened the scoring, and Pleiness points out that Zetterberg has found his goal-scoring touch since returning from a groin injury (and, arguably, gaining some familiarity with a slightly off-kilter [for Friday, anyway] Johan Franzen and Mikael Samuelsson):

Zetterberg got things going for Detroit, scoring on the power play just 2:12 into the game after taking a feed from Jiri Hudler in the slot. No one challenged the Wings' winger and he snapped a shot over Lehtonen' right shoulder.

"If you get the chances you want to score," said Zetterberg, who has three goals in two games since returning from a groin injury.

At the same time, the Wings were none too pleased with the fact that they blew another 3-goal lead, surrendering two goals and taking four penalties. The Wings gave up consecutive five-on-three opportunities, but Osgood's early-season leakiness--and he did look leaky on the first and third goals, which basically bounced through him--patched itself up when the game was on the line, and Zetterberg put in some dominant penalty-killing minutes.

Zetterberg didn't dig the third period...

"We probably made it too interesting in the end," Zetterberg said. "We should be able to put them away."

Babcock agreed:

Atlanta had a golden opportunity to climb back in the game with a pair of 5-on-3 power plays early in the third period. [Ron] Hainsey scored with one second left on the first 5-on-3, but the Wings were able to kill off the next two-man advantage, which came just 27 seconds after Franzen was sent off for hooking to cause the first 5-on-3. That last 5-on-3 lasted 1:33.

"I thought we did a pretty good job defensively, but we took some careless penalties," said Babcock, whose team has scored at least one power-play goal in five straight games. "The 5-on-3 hurt us. It got the game tighter than it needed to be. But it's one of those things. You have to play 60 minutes."

While Babcock gave Hossa the ultimate compliment for a Red Wings forward, as the Free Press's Helene St. James noted, it was Hossa who lamented the Wings' lapses of concentration:

October 25, Detroit Free Press: "He's just a big, strong guy," coach Mike Babcock said of Hossa. "He's dynamic defensively and offensively. He's like Z and Pav, and Mule -- they're all good with and without the puck, and it makes them so usable."

The only downside to the game was the third period. The Wings led, 4-1, coming in, but it was 4-2 after Ron Hainsey scored during a two-man power play. Brett Sterling made it 4-3 after scoring during a battle at the net at 16:11.

"We've had two or three games where for whatever reason in the last seven minutes we always get into trouble," Hossa said. "We have to help our goalie more, especially in front of the net."

Dan Cleary added an empty-netter, set up by Hossa, with 35.4 seconds left. Brian Rafalski added two assists.

Rafalski has points in seven games, which carves new territory in the season-starting consecutive points list for Detroit defencemen, and St. James makes sure to point out that the game's first goal involved Zetterberg using his hands in more ways than one:

Some slick work by Zetterberg on a power play yielded a 1-0 lead soon after the game began. He snatched the puck out of the air at the blue line and passed it back into Atlanta's zone, then strode toward the net, wheeled around in the left circle and slid over to the slot, where he got the puck from Jiri Hudler. Left alone, Zetterberg got a good handle on the puck and fired it past defenseman Niclas Havelid and into the net.

Zetterberg rejoined Hossa's chorus regarding the Wings' finish, however, as the Detroit News's Dave Dye noted...

October 25, Detroit News: "We got a few goals and then we let up," Zetterberg said.

Jim Slater (Michigan State), Ron Hainsey and Brett Sterling scored for Atlanta, which was outshot 46-33.

Goalie Chris Osgood was sharp early. Babcock said backup Ty Conklin will be in net against the Blackhawks, who were 4-3-1 against Detroit last season.

"Last year, the first four times we played them, we were half asleep," Babcock said. "This year, we won't be."

And Dye sums up the state of the Red Wings' collective game heading into Chicago:

October 24, Detroit News: [I]t's pretty clear this group has an extra edge on the road. It's a challenge to them out there whereas they tend to relax a little more right now at home.

Bottom line: They're a championship team that isn't always playing like one right now, but they can still turn it on when they need it to find a way to win.

DetroitRedWings.com's Michael Caples adds two more notes, one offensive...

October 24, DetroitRedWings.com: What did tonight's game show about the Red Wings' offense?

Simply put, the Red Wings' forwards are clicking. The important thing was that both of the top two lines were contributing in the same game. Lines 1A and 1B both put up gaudy statistics, with Zetterberg and Hossa leading the way with two goals apiece. The Wings' third line of Cleary, Valtteri Filppula and Jiri Hudler weren't slouches, either; Cleary had the last goal, Hudler picked up an assist on the first goal, and the line generated a lot of scoring chances. Now that the lines are getting settled in, scoring should start coming easier and easier for the high-powered Detroit offense.

And one defensive...

What was the turning point of the game?

The Wings won Friday night's game not because of the goals in the first two periods, but how they hung tight defensively in the third, most notably on the penalty kill. After Atlanta defenseman Ron Hainsey made the game 4-2 early in the third, the Wings were faced with two more penalties to kill off, including a partial 5-3. They killed both, with Henrik Zetterberg getting possibly the best scoring chance during the time frame. Atlanta scored another to make it close late, but Hossa made yet another spectacular play, digging out the puck at the Detroit blue line to dish it over to Dan Cleary, who put in the final goal for the Wings to close it out.

Watching Zetterberg get a scoring chance on a five-on-three had me laughing in my seat. I'm not sure how much of a creative license I get as I attended the game courtesy of some seriously slick lower-bowl "lawyer seats," but I can tell you this much--the Red Wings' short attention span has nothing to do with a "Stanley Cup hangover" or "getting back to regular-season action after playoff excitement." The Wings don't seem to get their offensive games together until the end of their first West Coast swing, and that's the case this year as well.

Osgood's slightly leaky, Filppula has yet to assert himself offensively, and both "Nicks" have some obvious issues--Kronwall's finding his timing, and Lidstrom's still adjusting to his new skates/stick/gloves/visor, but each player made gorgeous plays contributed significantly to the Wings' win. Brad Stuart put on a clinic, and the only real criticism I have at this point is that Derek Meech looks shakier with Kronwall than he does with Lebda, and, for some reason, Brad McCrimmon kept Meech with Kronwall instead of going for the "power pair" of Stuart and Kronwall for the first fifty minutes.

Otherwise, Zetterberg's developing chemistry with his linemates, Hossa's finding his groove, Hudler and Cleary sniffed out the net more regularly, I can't tell you how many subtle digs and jabs Maltby gets in that don't make TV, but obviously annoy the hell out of the opposition, and in that vein, the Wings stood up to some seriously stiff and sometimes dirty checks by Colby Armstrong, Garnet Exelby, and what I deem some very, very shady refereeing in the third (Samuelsson's pick was a pick, and Stuart shot the puck out of play, but the Thrashers found a way to get sticks under their arms and hold them there, thus the three consecutive hooking calls).

Tonight, the Wings play a Blackhawks team so geared up for the game that the hype has its own charter bus to the game, and the best defence against youthful enthusiasm is veteran composure. I hope we'll see that, because this back-to-back slate equals a self-measuring stick of the significant variety.

[DennisDubay]

Wings-Hawks pre-game hype

http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2008...game_hype.html

Posted by George James Malik October 25, 2008 08:52AM

The Detroit Red Wings flew into Chicago just after midnight and head into Saturday's tilt against the Blackhawks (8:30 PM EDT, FSN/WXYT) in a hype-filled atmosphere, with both bragging rights and a measuring stick of the Hawks' youthful core's progress in the offing.

Nikolai Khabibulin and Ty Conklin will tend the Blackhawks' and Red Wings' creases, respectively, and one can only hope that Hawks coach Joel Quennville's bad luck against Detroit, as pointed out by the Windsor Star's Bob Duff, continues:

October 24, Windsor Star: The Chicago Blackhawks have signed Riverside's Joel Quenneville to a three-year contract as coach that runs through the 2010-11 season, but perhaps the Blackhawks, who play host to the Detroit Red Wings Saturday, should have studied Quenneville's career mark against the Wings before bringing him back into the Central Division.

Overall, Quenneville is 19-47-10 against the Wings and was 0-8 last season. At Joe Louis Arena overall he is 8-28-4.

The Wings have beaten his teams in the playoffs four times and won the Cup each season (St. Louis - 1997, 1998, 2002; Colorado - 2008). With St. Louis, Quenneville was 11-22-10 during the regular season against Detroit and 5-12 in the playoffs. As bench boss of the Colorado Avalanche, he was 3-9-0 in the regular season and 0-4 in the playoffs in meetings with Detroit.

The Blackhawks are coming off consecutive wins (a 3-0 shutout over the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday, and a 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks last Sunday, with both wins coming at home), and while Quennville has struggled against the Wings, the Chicago Tribune's Chris Kuc says that Nikolai Khabibulin gets the nod over Cristobal Huet thanks to his superb record against Detroit:

October 24, Chicago Tribune: Nikolai Khabibulin will get the call in goal for the Hawks against the Wings. It will be the second straight start for the veteran, who is fifth in the NHL with a 1.92 goals-against average. Khabibulin was 5-2 against Detroit last season.

"He had some real good success against them last year," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "He's playing well right now. It's not necessarily going to be a rotation [with Cristobal Huet]. Sometimes we'll look at the matchup and that will make the decision for us."

Kuc notes that the Blackhawks have a 2.29 goals against average as a team (the Wings have given up 2.83 goals per game), and the Hawks' penalty-killing unit runs at over 93%. Kuc also notes that the Hawks are technically unbeaten under Quennville (they've posted a 2-0-and-1 record), and ye olde measuring sticke comes out in earnest for Wings-Hawks game #698:

October 25, Chicago Tribune: The Hawks should get a pretty good idea of how far they've come when the Detroit Red Wings visit the United Center on Saturday night. The defending Stanley Cup champions have again started strong and lead the Central Division.

"Everybody should be excited when they play Detroit knowing it's a good measuring stick," Quenneville said. "They have great skills and great patience with the puck."

The Hawks had success against Detroit last season with five wins in eight games.

"You want to respect them in a certain way, but you don't want to have too much respect for them where you don't want the puck or make the simple plays or sometimes even challenging plays," Quenneville said. "It would be nice for us to challenge them."

One-timer: Nikolai Khabibulin, who was 5-2 against the Wings last season, will get his second straight start in goal. "He had some real good success against them last year [and] he's playing well now," Quenneville said.

The Chicago Daily Herald's Tim Sassone says that Quennville believes that Chicago will push the Wings for the Central Division title:

October 25, Daily Herald: "Overall, they're a team where everyone would love to narrow that gap," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "In the division, whoever is going to push them, certainly we feel that would be a great opportunity for us knowing you'd be in a good spot in the division and the conference and playoff race. That's something we should be shooting for.

"We feel we have a chance, I don't want to say to rekindle the rivalry because I still think it's in place, but it would be nice for us to challenge them not only in games. Let's start challenging them in the division."
...
So far the Red Wings have been ready for the challenge with three wins in their first three road games. But Saturday's game against the Hawks at the United Center might be their biggest early season test. Not only will the Red Wings be coming off a game on Friday at home against Atlanta, but the spunky Hawks beat them five times last season in eight meetings.

"It's one of those things where we had confidence playing against them last year," Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said. "But I think Detroit plays the same way every game regardless of who they play against. We just have to have the same attitude we did last year and step our game up to the next level. Everybody does that, and they're going to expect that from us."

Toews and Kane play with Kris Versteeg up front, and Duncan Keith says that the Hawks' forwards and defence alike plan on taking the game to the Wings by taking control of the puck:

"You definitely have to be real smart against them with the puck because they have the guys that can turn it around pretty quickly and put it in the back of the net before you have time to wonder what happened out there," Duncan Keith said.

"We need good energy and we have to be aware that when we do have the puck we've got to manage it as best we can," Quenneville said. "Let's play responsible and stay out of the penalty box."

Keith struck a complimentary note in discussing his appreciation for Nicklas Lidstrom's play...

October 25, Daily Herald: "I watch him on TV, but when you're playing against him even though it's in the middle of a game you can still watch him and realize how great he is and what makes him so good," Keith said. "I think a lot of that is being real simple in the way he plays the game. He just plays within himself and is real smart."

Keith was teammates with Lidstrom at last year's All-Star Game, but he never got into a deep conversation with him.

"I didn't really know him that well so I didn't want to pick his brain," Keith said. "He's kind of a quiet guy and seems so calm off the ice. I think that's why he's calm on the ice."

Lidstrom has won the last three Norris Trophies and has collected six in his 17-year career. Only Hall of Famers Bobby Orr (with 8) and Doug Harvey (7) have won more. A lot of what the Red Wings do on the ice starts with Lidstrom.

Quennville couldn't resist butting in, of course:

"They have maybe three, four or five in the highest skill level of the league, but Nick is as good as we've seen in a long time," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "He controls the tempo, controls the pace and the power play as well.

"But he's one of many. We have to make sure we make it a challenge for them and not let them have simple and easy plays all night."

Bleh. Here's hoping that Quennville's face matches the Blackhawks' red-and-black home jerseys as he protests a perceived slight in frustration as the game winds down tonight.

The Free Press's Helene St. James reports that Canton's James Wisniewski won't play as he has a knee injury, and she reminds us that the "Winter Classic II" jerseys will be unveiled during the first intermission...

And, in case you're wondering whether O'Halloran and VanMassenhoven are heading down I-94 to stack a few third-period power plays against the Wings, the refs for tonight's game will be Gord Dwyer and Mike Hasenfratz. All 30 NHL teams play on Saturday, so no games take place on Sunday.

[DennisDubay]

The nexus of intestinal fortitude and stupidity

http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2008...al_fortit.html

Posted by George James Malik October 25, 2008 09:09AM

Red Wings defenceman Andreas Lilja told the Macomb Daily's Chuck Pleiness that he tried to "gut out" his intestinal pains last week...

October 25, Macomb Daily: "I just had really bad cramping and thought it was a bad stomach flu," Lilja said. "I tried to ride it out, but I couldn't take it any longer."

Lilja wound up having to have his appendix removed.

"I didn't sleep for like four days and I couldn't eat," Lilja said. "After six days I couldn't take it anymore. I had to get in to make sure."

Normal recovery time after surgery is two to three weeks. However, if the surgery is done with a laparoscope, recovery time is faster. Lilja participated in Friday morning's skate at Joe Louis Arena prior to the Wings' game against the Atlanta Thrashers. He left the hospital the day before after spending two days there.

"Everyone's saying I look (thinner)," Lilja said. "But not really, I've been lying in bed for two and a half days just eating."

Lilja hopes to return for Monday's game against Los Angeles, the Detroit News's Dave Dye notes that Lilja was unable to delay his surgical procedure:

October 25, Detroit News: Lilja said he asked to delay the operation until the Wings have a five-day break following their upcoming Western swing.

"He (the doctor) said it wouldn't be smart, it would be better to take it out right away," Lilja said. "How I understand it, they found something in the appendix like a stone or something. They just opened it up (his stomach) and stitched it up. I was out (general anesthesia), thank God."

Lilja told the Detroit Free Press's Helene St. James that his abdomen felt fine after his on-ice spin:

October 25, Detroit Free Press: The only pain he felt Friday was some tightness where he was opened up. "Doctors are good nowadays," he said. "They just opened me up and stitched me up. I felt pretty good on the ice today."

[DennisDubay]

I'm going to continue to cover the Wings, over on my twitter: @RedWingTwit It's easier to update it over there, with RSS feeds.