Good Morning Hockeytown! The Red Wings take on the Maple Leafs this evening in their first away game of the season, gametime is at 7:30pm et and can be seen on FSD. The Red Wings had the better of the Leafs last season with a 3-0-1 record against the renewed division rivals. Unfortunately the OT win the Leafs had was in the Winter Classic. The Leafs have a 2-2-0 record so far this season and both losses have come at home, they are coming off a 3-2 OT win against the Avalanche on Tuesday. The Wings, of course, are heading into Toronto after a couple of tough games having lost in the final seconds on Saturday due to a controversial non-call and Wednesdays shoot-out that required Jim Howard to be in top form to secure the point. These teams play again tomorrow at the Joe with game time at 7pm and can be seen on FSD, HNIC and NHL Network in the US. Top Headlines: *Despite Team Record Jim Howard Off to a Good Start *Luke Glendening Stepping Up *Lineup Notes *Todays Nationally Broadcast Games ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Jim Howard Off to a Good Start Despite Team Record The Wings are 1-1-1 so far in the season but despite that record Jim Howard has been one of the brighter spots after a decidedly sub-par last season. Wednesdays shoot-out loss was Howards best game so far, he made 37 saves and without him the Wings would not have earned the point in the game. He played shut out hockey through the third and OT making 15 saves, the Wings could only get 19 shots on Tuukka Rask all game. So far this season Howard has a 1.95 GAA with a .927 save %, last season he was 21-19-11 with a 2.66 GAA and .913 save %. His numbers in this season so far are closer to those of his excellent first three seasons in the NHL. Howards teammates sang his praises to mlive after Wednesdays game, here is some of what they had to say: Gus Nyquist: He was phenomenal. He was the one that kept us in the game and saved a point for us there. Obviously, the last minute there, minute and a half there, made some real nice stops. And all the way throughout the game he was our best player I thought. He played a real nice game. All over the ice, he made some huge stops. Thats why we got a point tonight, I thought. Tomas Tatar: Howie was outstanding. Its kind of hard in a shootout. Its 50-50 and they scored. He was great for us. He made lots of unreal saves. We can be really happy for the one point because he was holding us (up) most of the game. Just a good job from him. Nik Kronwall: Howie won us a point tonight. A performance like that you feel bad for not getting two points. Howie came up huge and kept us in the game after two periods, gave us a chance. And again in the third he saved us a couple of times, if not more, so we owe this point to Howie. Coach Babcock: We felt we got ripped off the other night, but Howie stole one back for us tonight. He really trained hard in the summer. He feels good about himself. I think thats a big part of feeling good about yourself mentally as well, when you feel sluggish each and every day you get to the rink its hard to feel good mentally. So obviously he takes a lot of pride in being a good player. We need him to be great. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Luke Glendening Proving His Worth Luke Glendenings hockey career arc has taken him from a walk-on at UofM, where he eventually became captain, through the ECHL, AHL and finally to the Red Wings. It is a path that Glendening never really thought he would follow. Glendening is not on the Wings roster for his scoring prowess, it took him 52 games in his rookie season to tally his first goal. Though he is doing a little better in his second NHL campaign by collecting a goal in the second game. Glendenings forte is as a gritty, grinding checker who can draw penalties and get the other team off their game. Glendening isnt the most skilled player but he is likely the most determined on the Wings roster and has a willingness to do whatever is asked of him. He never quits on a play, skates from whistle to whistle and is ready to do whatever Coach Babcock asks him to do. Despite his limited skill set his determination and work ethic has earned him praise from his coach and he was rewarded last season with a three year contract extension. Incidentally he signed the extension the morning of the game in which he made that first goal. Glendening never really thought he would make it to the NHL, here is what he had to say about the subject to freep: “It’s been a bit of a whirlwind. It’s been a pure joy to be on this journey. When I was in college, I’d probably have laughed if you’d told me I’d be playing in the NHL one day.” He also told freep what it was like to get a goal early in the season after setting a new rookie record for going the longest without a goal last season: “It does weigh on your mind. Last year, game after game after game — to get one already, that’s good. But if I have another 50 games without one, it’s going to look the same at the end of the year. I’m not going to score every night, but I just want to contribute as much as I can.” Coach Babcock had this to say about Glendening to freep: “He drives the opposition crazy. He’s a great penalty killer, shot blocker, ultracompetitive, does it right every night, every shift.” Ken Holland also offered some thoughts on Glendening to freep: “Everybody needs to have one skill that’s better than most. One of his skills is his will and determination to compete.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Line-up Updates There were no major changes to the line up in practice since Wednesdays game, the only one being that Justin Abdelkader was not at practice for a maintenance day. Stephan Weiss joined the third line with Darren Helm and Andrej Nestrasil in Abdelkaders place. According to reports Abdelkader is expected to be in the lineup this evening but Coach Babcock made some comments that were less than certain about it. Pavel Datsyuk took part in practice but there is still no word on when he could return to the lineup. Also in practice in a grey sweater was Dan Cleary indicating he is again likely to be a healthy scratch. Jim Howard will be starting in net this evening but Jonas Gustavsson will get his first start of the season tomorrow when the Leafs visit the Joe. Forwards: Gustav Nyquist-Henrik Zetterberg-Johan Franzen Tomas Tatar-Riley Sheahan-Tomas Jurco Stephan Weiss*-Darren Helm-Andrej Nestrasil Joakim Andersson-Luke Glendening-Drew Miller Defenceman: Niklas Kronwall-Jonathan Ericsson Danny DeKeyser-Brendan Smith Kyle Quincey-Jakub Kindl Brian Lashoff Netminders: Jimmy Howard (starting) Jonas Gustavsson *Skated in Justin Abdelkaders spot but is likely to be scratched for the game. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ *Todays Nationally Broadcast Games: ~Lake Superior State @ Notre Dame, 7:30pm et on NBCSports in the US (college) ~Predators @ Jets, 8pm et on TSN3 in Canada ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Information from mlive and freep was used in compiling this post. BELEIVE! ~~Red
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 11:00:00 +0000
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