Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

Break Up The MLB Line?

10/17/2019 at 8:18am EDT

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

The Detroit Red Wings’ lack of secondary scoring has coach Jeff Blashill contemplating spreading the wealth by breaking up his dominant top line.

Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi have been a roll since the final few weeks of the 2018-19 season and are off to a hot start. They have combined for 11 goals in six games. Problem is, the rest of the team has accounted for only six goals....

The Red Wings need to spark Andreas Athanasiou and Taro Hirose, who have skated with Luke Glendening on the second line. Athanasiou, who missed much of preseason with an injury, has no goals and one assist in four games. Hirose, a Calgary native looking forward to his first NHL game in his hometown, has no goals and two assists in six games.

Blashill moved Hirose to the third line, with Valtteri Filppula and Christoffer Ehn, in Wednesday’s practice in Calgary. Adam Erne did not practice due to an injury that has him listed as question for tonight. Frans Nielsen, who returned from injury in Tuesday’s 5-1 loss at Vancouver, was centering Athanasiou and Glendening.

“We need more out of more lines,” Blashill told media after practice. “Ultimately, we may have to tinker with that top line if we can’t get more going out of more lines, so we’ll see. The (Jacob) de la Rose line (with Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader) has been good.”

read on

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

As the Detroit Red Wings try to gain their footing on a swing through western Canada, one unfavorable option is to tinker with the top line.

The Wings have lost their past two games, stumbling defensively and stalling offensively. Dylan Larkin’s line with Anthony Mantha and Tyler Bertuzzi has carried the workload, and Jacob de la Rose’s line with Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm has been effective at both ends of the ice, but the other lines have been quiet.

Andreas Athanasiou is too skilled to have only one assist in four games. His line with Taro Hirose and Luke Glendening hasn’t created enough offensively. At Wednesday’s practice, Athanasiou was back with Frans Nielsen, a combination that has a history of clicking.

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