To celebrate the All-Star break, I slept in so a little late with this...

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

The Detroit Red Wings played stupid hockey, but Filip Zadina played to win.

Zadina left XCel Energy Center on Wednesday with his first career two-goal game, tallying both markers in the first period, before the Wings caved and collected a 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild. For a team as weary as the Wings – they enter the nine-day NHL All-Star break a league-worst 12-35-4 – witnessing a player vital to the rebuild turn in a such a good performance is a balm.

“He had a great game,” Dylan Larkin said. “He got a good bounce on his first goal. We needed that as a team. He was one of very few bright spots and showed up to play.”...

He works,” Larkin said. “I think as a centerman, he’s a guy you want to play with because he works on the forecheck and when he gets the puck, he’s not looking for the quickest way to get it out of his hands. He’s not holding on to it too long, he’s looking to play give-and-gos and find me and then get to spots and find Bert and get to his spot where he can shoot it.

“He’s a smart player and that’s the one thing playing with him that I enjoy playing with him. That’s going to help our team a lot if he keeps developing.”

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