The Detroit Red Wings have nearly everybody out of COVID-19 protocol; now they’re hoping their weeklong streak of negative tests affords a chance to build something.
They take on the Boston Bruins in a Sunday matinee at Little Caesars Arena, a chance to start off 2022 with a victory over a division rival. The Wings (15-14-3) dropped their New Year’s Eve game against the Washington Capitals, 3-1, shaking off rust after a two-week pandemic-induced layoff. It was a 1-1 game until three minutes left, and overall the Wings were encouraged that, with everyone but defenseman Nick Leddy out of quarantine (he won’t be available Sunday either), the lineup was close to what they had at the start of the season.
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“Hopefully, knock on wood, we can keep this group together for a bit here and barring illness or injury, we can get kind of that chemistry, kind of get in a groove with this group,” coach Jeff Blashill said Saturday. “It’ll certainly be good to have Leds back as well, but you’re not going to have a full lineup all year. And obviously we’ve been missing one guy all season in (Jakub) Vrana. But it was good to get the group back together.”
The group included Joe Veleno — who seems to have established he belongs in Detroit, not the minors — but Givani Smith was a healthy scratch, indicating his struggle to become a regular contributor.
Part of Saturday’s practice was used to stress discipline. Rookie defenseman Moritz Seider had a phenomenal shift midway through the third period when he dropped Garnet Hathaway and, when Nic Dowd came for a retaliatory hit, Seider dropped him, too. But the Capitals ganging up on him in a melee led to officials calling an offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Seider, and Blashill said he would rather have seen Seider skate to the bench than engage in the donnybrook.
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Similarly, Robby Fabbri was called for an interference penalty at 15:10 of the third period, putting the Capitals on a power play. Alex Ovechkin scored on a one-timer just as the penalty expired, leading to considerable confusion. The scoreboard clock read 17:10, but the scoring crew at LCA marked it as a power play goal. The NHL and the Capitals immediately tweeted about how Ovechkin had become the league’s all-time leader in power play goals, with 275. But then the scoring crew changed the goal to an even-strength tally. Even later, the time of the goal was officially changed to 17:09, following a postgame timing review requested by the Capitals.
For the Wings, though, it was just bad timing.
“There’s a balance of playing with emotion and that high, high compete — without letting it get over the edge,” Blashill said. “I thought the game was emotional in the third, the crowd was going, and we have to make sure we keep our emotions in check and you don’t cross that line. We lost Moritz for two minutes that we didn’t need to, and he’s one of our more valuable players, and then they scored a power play goal on a late penalty. It’s something we’ll keep working at.”
The Wings are emerging from a turbulent stretch that saw them shut down three days before the holiday break (wit two games postponed) and then had their first two games after the break also postponed. But the layoff meant extra practice time, and while Friday’s result disappointed, the Wings showed improvement in managing the puck.
“I’ll take that game over and over and over again,” Blashill said. “We had the chances almost exactly equal. They’ve got one of the better records in the league, they’re a team that is considered to be a team that’s going to contend for the Stanley Cup. We just have to keep playing good hockey and the more you’re in those spots, the more position you’re in to win.”
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.