Welcome back to Red Wings Wednesday Weekly! In this weekly column, we will take a look at the Red Wings’ most-recent week of play, identify any players and/or trends that stood out, and then look ahead and find out what the next week may have in store for the team from Hockeytown. As always, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section down below.
With four games over the last week, and two of them coming against Original Six rivals, this was what you might call a “momentum week” for the Detroit Red Wings. As they continue to hover around .500 in the Eastern Conference, weeks like this one offer an opportunity to build confidence, rack up some points, and make a statement to the rest of the league.
Related: Red Wings Wednesday Weekly: How’s It Going To Be?
Well, out of the eight points that were up for grabs, the Red Wings came away with four. That’s right, Detroit went .500 this week, cementing the fact that this year’s Red Wings team is in that gray area between being a lottery team and a playoff contender.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to purgatory.
Strome’s Hat Trick Propels the Blackhawks
1/26 vs. Chicago Blackhawks, 8-5 loss
This is a game where you can draw positives and negatives. On the negative side, the Red Wings allowed Blackhawks center Dylan Strome, who has been in and out of Chicago’s lineup this season, to do almost anything he wanted on the ice, resulting in a four-point night for the former third overall pick. Red Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic looked out of sorts right from the top, and he was promptly pulled after the first period after allowing four goals on 16 shots.
On the positive end of things, the Red Wings refused to give up in this game. After falling behind 4-0 after 20 minutes, they clawed their way back, with the game sitting at 4-3 after 40 minutes. After the Blackhawks increased their lead to 6-3, the Red Wings added two more goals to pull back within a single goal, but Chicago’s seventh goal proved to be the final dagger – a Chelsea Dagger if you will. The Red Wings’ second line, consisting of Tyler Bertuzzi, Robby Fabbri and former Blackhawk Pius Suter, combined for three goals and five points on the night.
This game was honestly a lot of fun to watch once the Red Wings made a game of it, but an 8-5 loss is an ugly one no matter how you go about explaining it. This is one that will drive any coach up a wall.
Final Grade vs. Chicago: C-
Red Wings Show Penguins How to Fly
1/28 at Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 win (SO)
While the Penguins were playing the second night of a back-to-back, the fact remained that they entered this game as one of, if not the hottest team in the NHL. Their strong run from December through the end of January has them firmly in the top three in the Metropolitan Division, and it looks like they will once again be a Stanley Cup contender coming out of the Eastern Conference. Despite all of that, and with the Red Wings coming off of their loss against the Blackhawks, the Motor City prevailed over the Steel City in this contest.
The Red Wings received contributions from unlikely sources in this game. Givani Smith and Filip Zadina scored the team’s two goals (the latter of which had to merit a huge sigh of relief) and usual third-string goaltender Calvin Pickard got his first NHL win of the season, and his first since Mar. 28, 2021. Rookie defenseman Moritz Seider also deserves a shout-out for his efforts in this game. Despite not registering a point, he was all over the ice, making life quite difficult for Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby in the process. That’s sure to win over more than a couple people in Hockeytown.
Final Grade vs. Pittsburgh: A-
50 Minutes Isn’t Enough to Put Away the Maple Leafs
1/29 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs, 7-4 loss
This game felt similar to the Blackhawks game in that the Red Wings were as much to blame for the loss as the other team. Unlike the Blackhawks game, the Red Wings were the better team for most of this game, with the Detroit holding a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes. Even nine minutes into the third period, the Red Wings still held that lead, but with just over 10 minutes left in the game, things unraveled quickly for the team in red.
Michael Bunting scored two goals 2:30 apart, tying up the game, before defenseman Rasmus Sandin scored his first goal of the season to put the Maple Leafs ahead. Toronto never looked back, adding two more goals before the final buzzer. If there was a lesson to learn from this game, it’s that the Red Wings cannot afford to take their foot off the gas against teams as lethal as the Maple Leafs. When you’ve got an opponent like that on the ropes, you’ve got to go for the knockout punch instead of giving them an opportunity to punch back.
Final Grade vs. Toronto: C-
Seider & Raymond Win Round 2 of Rookie Showdown
1/31 vs. Anaheim Ducks, 2-1 win (OT)
The headline surrounding this game was the second matchup between three of the top rookies in the NHL this season: Seider, Lucas Raymond and Trevor Zegras. Naturally, none of them would show up on the scoresheet (though maybe that’s a reason to give props to Seider) as there was a grand total of just 43 shots on net in this game. In fact, Nedeljkovic’s 14 saves was the fewest amount of saves that he’s made in a winning performance this season.
Dearborn Heights, Michigan native Jordan Oesterle scored the overtime game-winner, notching his first goal as a Red Wing. This game honestly should have made both coaches happy as neither team really gave up a ton of top-tier chances, though the Ducks surely would have liked to have mustered up a bit more offense than just 15 shots. If the Red Wings can win more games in this fashion, they should be set up for success down the road.
Final Grade vs. Anaheim: A
3 Takeaways from the Week
1. Nedeljkovic Needs Support
As my colleague Patrick Brown alluded to in last week’s Weekly, Nedeljkovic is in uncharted territory as he has now played in the most games of his young career. Since November, “Ned” has been the go-to guy in the crease, starting in all but nine games since Nov. 1, with Thomas Greiss taking the bulk of the remaining starts. Though Nedeljkovic is just 26 years old, that’s a heavy workload for any goaltender, and while he’s mostly been up to the task, this week’s games against the Blackhawks and the Maple Leafs sure seemed to show that maybe he could use a break. Facing just 15 shots against the Ducks was surely a needed easy night for him.
Greiss, Nedeljkovic’s backup, has recently been fighting COVID, so you can’t entirely blame him for Ned’s lack of rest. Despite Pickard’s success against the Penguins, he has had minimal success in the NHL and is widely considered an American Hockey League starter at this point in his career. If Greiss can’t return to form, the Red Wings will run the risk of burning out their starter. One thing is for certain: the backup position will be one to watch during the 2022 offseason.
2. Second Line Change has Worked
While the Red Wings’ top line of Bertuzzi, Raymond and Dylan Larkin had been the talk of the town through the first two-fifths of the season, the newly formed “Guelph Storm line” of Bertuzzi, Fabbri and Suter has been quite effective since they were brought together. The trio played together with the Storm in the Ontario Hockey League during their junior days, and their chemistry together with the Red Wings has been undeniable.
With this trio on the second line and Larkin and Raymond doing their thing on the top line, the Red Wings now have a potent and balanced top six. If they can get Zadina going on the team’s third line, Detroit could find themselves with three scoring lines, something that most contenders in the NHL have as well.
3. Zadina Streak Incoming?
Three games isn’t much to go off of. However, when you’ve been struggling as much as Zadina has been this season, two points in three games feels like the dam has broken. The 22-year-old scored a dirty goal against the Penguins by simply going to the net – something that head coach Jeff Blashill recently stressed that the young winger needs to do more. Then, against the Ducks, Zadina assisted on the Red Wings’ lone goal in regulation.
Related: The Grind Line: Addressing the Filip Zadina Situation
Zadina now has 50 points through 130 games in his career. For offensive players like him, confidence is everything. Producing two points in three games is not a sure sign that more offense is to come, but it does spark some hope and, hopefully, it should get the good vibes going for him. Points tend to come in bunches, and if that’s what we’re about to see in this case, the Red Wings’ secondary scoring is about to receive a big time boost.
Upcoming Games
vs. Los Angeles Kings (2/2, 7:30 PM ET)
Statistical Leaders (46 Games):
Goals – Adrian Kempe (18)
Points – Anze Kopitar (41)
Wins – Jonathan Quick, Cal Petersen (11)
Save-Percentage – Quick (.913)
The Red Wings’ only game between now and next week comes against the Kings, a team that completely dominated Detroit during their last meeting. In that game on Jan. 8, the Kings exited the first period with a 27-2 lead in shots, and finished the night with a 4-0 win. Surely that game will be on the Red Wings’ minds as they look to make amends for their poor performance on that night.
The Kings are in the final stages of their rebuild as players like Quinton Byfield and Arthur Kaliyev are starting to make an impact for Los Angeles. Meanwhile, they’re still getting quality production from long-time franchise cornerstones such as Kopitar and defenseman Drew Doughty. The Kings are in the thick of the playoff race in the Pacific Division, and getting the “W” in this game will be paramount for the team in black and white.
Players to Watch
Byfield has only appeared in six games this season, but he does already have a goal. The second pick of the 2020 draft is a 6-foot-5 centerman that has all the intangibles you could want in a hockey player, and his skill level is not to be overlooked. This will be the first time that Byfield and Raymond face off against each other in the NHL; surely that narrative will go completely unnoticed during the broadcast….
If Zadina is going to come back to life this season, feeding off his two points in three games is a good way to do it. While he’s averaging under 15 minutes in ice-time this season, he is creating chances, as he has been all season. A game against a good but flawed Kings team could be exactly what the doctor ordered.
Red Wings Head Into the All-Star Break
After the game against the Kings, the Red Wings will not play another game until next Wednesday when they head to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers. This gap in games is because Larkin and the rest of the NHL’s all-stars will be heading to Las Vegas to participate in All-Star Weekend. So while there isn’t a ton of Red Wings action coming up, that doesn’t mean there won’t be any hockey content to consume.
Will Larkin defeat Connor McDavid and others in the fastest skater competition? How will he fare in the actual game? Be sure to tune-in this weekend and cheer Larkin on from the comfort of your couch/favorite chair.
