With two new faces in the lineup tonight, the Detroit Red Wings will look to accomplish a first this season – win their third consecutive game.
The Red Wings (15-23-6) face the Chicago Blackhawks at Little Caesars Arena (7:30, Bally Sports Detroit). The Blackhawks, coming off back-to-back wins in Columbus, are 20-18-5.
Prior to winning back-to-back in Carolina Saturday and Monday, the Red Wings had won consecutive games three previous times but could not gain traction.
Tonight, forwards Jakub Vrana and Richard Panik will make their Red Wings debut following Monday’s trade with Washington that sent Anthony Mantha to the Capitals.
Vrana has 60 goals and 124 points in 190 games the past three seasons with the Capitals.
“He’s a talented player, his points have been really good for a young guy in the league,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “He’s played with some talented players on a team that’s scored a lot of goals. It’s a little bit different here in the sense that you have to be a bigger driver of offense with our group than you do in Washington. Guys like (Alex) Ovechkin and (Evgeny) Kuznetsov control the puck so much you don’t have to drive as much of the offense.”
Vrana will play a significant role five-on-five and on the power play. Panik is a bottom-six forward whose role will be determined as they go.
“He’s a big, strong guy who has ability,” Blashill said. “We talked all year long about having great depth of scoring and being able to use four lines and I think he gives us another guy. That depth is extremely important.”
Adam Erne has a seven-game points streak (five goals, two assists) and leads the club with 11 goals.
The Red Wings’ penalty kill has been sharp in the past six games (16-of-17), including a perfect 12 for 12 against Tampa Bay and Carolina, two of the top power plays in the league.
“We changed our approach a little bit in terms of what we do in our zone,” Blashill said. “It’s not a foolproof system, but our guys have done a good job with it. I also think our PK 1-3 forecheck has been better. We’ve had way better stands at the lines. We forced the puck out of the opponents’ hands and gotten clears. We’ve won face-offs and gotten clears. And when we haven’t, we’ve done a good job structurally making teams beat us and gotten good goaltending when we’ve needed it.”
Here are the Red Wings’ projected lines, based on Wednesday’s practice:
Evgeny Svechnikov-Dylan Larkin-Filip Zadina
Jakub Vrana-Michael Rasmussen-Valtteri Filppula
Richard Panik-Vladislav Namestnikov-Sam Gagner
Darren Helm-Luke Glendening-Adam Erne
On defense:
Dennis Cholowski-Filip Hronek
Marc Staal-Troy Stecher
Danny DeKeyser-Gustav Lindstrom
The power-play units in Wednesday’s practice:
1. Rasmussen (net front), Erne (bumper), Larkin-Zadina (flanks), Hronek (point).
2. Gagner (net front), Svechnikov (bumper), Filppula-Vrana (flanks), Cholowski (point).
No word on who will start in goal, but it likely will be Jonathan Bernier, who is coming off a 36-save performance in a 3-1 victory at Carolina Monday.
More: What Jakub Vrana can bring to Red Wings
The Link LonkApril 15, 2021 at 10:59PM
https://www.mlive.com/redwings/2021/04/red-wings-with-different-look-seek-first-three-game-winning-streak.html
Red Wings, with different look, seek first three-game winning streak - mlive.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=Red&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
No comments:
Post a Comment