Kukla's Korner

Babcock In A Talkative Mood

Blog: The Malik Report By Paul

05/19/13 at 07:30 PM ET | Comments (5)

from Corey Masisak of NHL.com,

"The growth of Smith and Kindl has been huge for us," Babcock said. "Ericsson has gotten much better. We seem to have people rounded into playing in spots that suit them better.

"I talked about when DeKeyser came, he helped us immensely. Whenever we got confidence or got playing better, we were able to maintain it when he left to a certain level -- we still don't move the puck the same, but I just think we're a better team. We weren't a good team at the start."

Another big move for the Red Wings was the rise of forward Justin Abdelkader. He was one of the kids when Detroit made back-to-back trips to the Cup Final in 2008 and '09, but Abdelkader had seemed to settle in as a bottom-six forward.

That changed when Babcock tried him on a line with Datsyuk, and he's now a critical element of the team's top trio.

"He's been a dominant physical guy for us and made us a better team," Babcock said. "It took us a long time to figure out where everybody fit best. There were lots of changes, new guys that we brought in that didn't fit the way we thought they were, or were better than we thought they were. We've just kind of watched it happen."

much more from Babcock...

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Tortorella- “We Need To Go Win A Game”

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

05/19/13 at 06:47 PM ET | Comments (3)

John Tortorella post-game today after losing to the Boston Bruins 5-2 and going down in the series 0-2.

Tortorella felt the goal early in the 3rd period by Brad Marchand is one they cannot afford to give up.  The goal put the Bruins up 4-2 and can be viewed below...

Continue Reading »

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  Tags: john+tortorella

Team Sweden Wins World Championship Gold

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

05/19/13 at 06:20 PM ET | Comments (3)

from Andrew Podneiks of IIHF.com,

Switzerland scored first, but hosts Sweden dominated the last 55 minutes to become the first home team to win gold since 1986. It is the nation's ninth World Championship gold medal.

For the Swiss, it was their first loss of the tournament after nine straight wins and only their second silver medal ever after finishing runner-up in 1935, their highest finish at any IIHF international hockey event.

"We were able to match their intensity at the start," said Swiss defenceman Philippe Furrer. "We had a lot of chances but couldn't score, and they did."

continued and watch post-game comments from both teams below...

added 6:29pm, Gold game highlights added below too.

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  Tags: team+sweden

Red Wings’ Ken Holland, Henrik Zetterberg weigh in on the art of Kronwalling

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/19/13 at 04:56 PM ET | Comments (11)

TSN posted quite the feature on Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall's status as a cult hero and then some in Detroit, and perhaps as a villain in other cities, and HockeyWebCaster uploaded it to YouTube:

And yes, Kronwall insists that he's trying to keep things as clean as he can while leading the Wings' defense and trying to keep the physical edge to his game while playing anywhere between 22-27 minutes a night.

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The wrong question to ask the wrong coach

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/19/13 at 03:17 PM ET | Comments (10)

The Vancouver Sun's Cam Cole attended Sunday's Red Wings practice, and he reports that a member of the media who may or may not go nameless, depending on what transpires over the next 12-24 hours, asked Wings coach Mike Babcock whether the frustrated and grumpy Jonathan Toews will rebound to lead the Blackhawks in Game 3.

This question was apparently not well-received by the coach of the Detroit Red Wings:

“I’m not here to evaluate whether he’s frustrated or not. I don’t know where you’re going with this, but I’m not going to help you write your story,” Babcock bristled Sunday morning at Joe Louis Arena, where the Wings and Hawks resume their historic rivalry Monday night with the best-of-seven split at a game apiece. “What do you want me to say? Jonathan Toews is a real good player, I’ve coached him, he’s mentally tough, he works hard, he’s an Olympic champion, a Stanley Cup champion, and world junior champion -- I don’t know what else he’s won, but he knows how to play. I would expect that he’s gonna play hard in this series. I didn’t think he didn’t play hard yesterday, though.”

Instead, Babcock wanted to praise his own team's captain, Henrik Zetterberg, for registering a pair of assists while shutting down Toews' line...

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NHL releases start time for Game 5 of Red Wings-Blackhawks series

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/19/13 at 02:47 PM ET | Comments (7)

From the NHL:

STARTING TIME SET FOR GAME 5 OF BLACKHAWKS-RED WINGS SERIES

NEW YORK (May 19, 2013) – The National Hockey League today announced that the starting time for Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinal series between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings has been set for 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on Saturday, May 25, in Chicago.

In the U.S., the game will be broadcast nationally on NBC. In Canada, the game will be televised nationally by CBC and RDS.

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Only Ottawa Cheering For Ottawa

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

05/19/13 at 02:36 PM ET | Comments (8)

from Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star,

Senators Nation? Uh-oh Canada.

The Ottawa Senators may be the only franchise of seven from north of the 49th Parallel still alive and kicking — feebly, to be sure — in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Yet they remain very much a parochial, narrowly embraced entity, a team utterly yoked to one city and one city alone. Further, it’s a city that only civil servants and governance geeks could love.

Our national capital is less loathed than smug Toronto and less parodied than slacker Vancouver but also lesser envied than either. Nor does it possess the small-market virtues of Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg. And it made no friends in at least one of our two Canadian solitudes by handily dispatching Montreal in the first round.

This is not a town that will spiritually stitch together the country’s diverse parts through the unifying force of hockey.

continued

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Tis the last day to vote for Pavel Datsyuk in EA Sports’ NHL 14 Cover athlete quarterfinal

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/19/13 at 12:12 PM ET | Comments (0)

Sometimes a Red Wings-related Tweet is in fact worth a stand-alone entry:

Pavel Datsyuk is battling Joffrey Lupul in the quarterfinals of EA Sports' NHL 14 cover athlete voting, so give the magic man a hand if you are able to do so.

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Red Wings Sunday practice post: all’s quiet on the ‘Octopi Hockeytown’ front

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/19/13 at 11:54 AM ET | Comments (17)

Updated 13x at 5:19 PM: It sounds like the Red Wings held a brief practice at Joe Louis Arena to begin preparing for Game 3 against Chicago tomorrow night--arriving ahead of a press corps that appears to have endured the joy that is a 40-minute flight between Chicago and Detroit turned into a three-to-four-hour odyssey thanks to traffic, O'Hare and/or Midway Airport delays and security and hauling butt back to Detroit in the middle of the night (Red Bird III > any other method of air travel), and the Wings appear to have gathered for a brief media availabilty session after said practice.

As I wait for Tweets to come in from the Joe, a few stories popped up overnight and/or didn't quite make the quick take or main recap.

First, ESPN offered a slate of stats related to yesterday's 4-1 Wings win:

Continue Reading »

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Two Eastern Conference Playoff Games On The NHL Schedule Today

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

05/19/13 at 10:59 AM ET | Comments (11)

John Tortorella plans to make some adjustments to the Rangers...

When asked if any significant adjustments were necessary following the Rangers' 3-2 overtime loss in Game 1, he conceded that some changes were needed. But he made an important distinction that piqued curiosity about what those might be.

"To me, it’s not so much on the ice," Tortorella said. "There’s some other adjustments we have to go through. I’m not gonna tell ya, but there are some other adjustments we have to go through and a lot of it really isn’t on the ice." 

When pressed further about the nature of these "adjustments," Tortorella declined to elaborate. 

"Don’t start pushing me on that," he said. "I really don’t want to talk too much about it."

more from Katie Strang of ESPN...

Meanwhile, the Ottawa Senators will have Jason Spezza in the lineup today, his first game back from injury since January 27th.

Will he provide the spark the Senators need to get back in the series or will the Penguins go up 3-0 tonight?

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