The Malik Report
Red Wings-Blackhawks Friday practice post and/or travel day news: Hawks look on the bright side
by George Malik on 05/24/13 at 03:08 PM ET
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Updated 9x at 4:38 PM: While the Red Wings flew to Chicago on Friday afternoon, the Blackhawks practiced while trying to rebound from Detroit's 2-0 win on Thursday night, hoping to stave off elimination in Game 5 on Saturday night (8 PM, NBC/CBC/97.1 FM, post-game on FSD) while the Wings hope to advance to the Western Conference Final.
The Hawks' practice was sparsely-attended (and you'll have to excuse the Twitter roll call)...
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Red Wings-Blackhawks Game 4 tailings: Wings still respect Hawks despite authoring improbable upset
by George Malik on 05/24/13 at 01:08 PM ET
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Updated with one more audio interview at 1:43 PM: Prior to the Red Wings' 2-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, both the speculatory-minded and measured thinkers in the Detroit media corps suggested that, "Whoever wins Game 4 will win the series."
Wings fans might agree with that assessment, but the Score's Cam Charron suggests that no one should write the Blackhawks off heading into Game 5 on Saturday...
And that's just fine with the Red Wings. As the Globe and Mail's Eric Duhatschek points out in his weekly notebook, Wings coach Mike Babcock readily admits that his team's playoff run seems highly improbable...
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Red Wings raised over $15,000 for fallen firefighter’s family
by George Malik on 05/24/13 at 12:24 PM ET
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From the Red Wings' community relations department:
RED WINGS RAISE $15,029 FOR BRIAN WOEHLKE FAMILY FUND
… Fans Donate $11,529 at Game 4 and Zetterberg Contributes $3,500 …
Detroit, MI… The sellout crowd of 20,066 at Joe Louis Arena opened up their hearts and wallets on Thursday night prior to Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals against Chicago to support the family of fallen Westland firefighter Brian Woehlke, who passed away while battling a Westland fire on May 8.
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Sovetsky Sport reports that Pavel Datsyuk’s made up his mind regarding future with Red Wings
by George Malik on 05/24/13 at 11:52 AM ET
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Updated 2x with Greenstin's comments to Khan and Duff at 3:06 PM: Ugh. Not what I wanted to wake up to:
Sovetsky Sport's Artury Enikeew suggested that Pavel Datsyuk has signed a tentative agreement to play for Ak Bars Kazan for 3 seasons beginning in 2014, and that the contract will be announced after the NHL season ends...
But Yahoo Sports' Dmitry Chesnokov reports that that's inaccurate:
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Red Wings forward Joakim Andersson’s playing understatedly superb 2-way hockey
by George Malik on 05/24/13 at 07:30 AM ET
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There's no doubt in my mind that the Red Wings' "x-factor" through their playoff run has been the performance of their third line, and while the Gustav Nyquist-Joakim Andersson-Damien Brunner line didn't factor in the scoring in the Red Wings' 2-0 win over Chicago last night, Nyquist deked and dazzled his way past and through Blackhawks defenders, registering 2 shots and 2 takeaways in only 10:26 of ice time, Brunner took 2 shots, attempted 3 more and probably (frustratingly) passed up half a dozen more, and Andersson had 1 takeaway, had 2:23 of PK time and went 5-and-1 in the faceoff circle...
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Grand Rapids Griffins to battle Oklahoma City Barons in AHL WCF, stand with Oklahoma City tonight
by George Malik on 05/24/13 at 04:57 AM ET
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As noted on Thursday, the Grand Rapids Griffins have been a step ahead of the Red Wings in terms of their 2012-2013 schedule, and they're a step ahead of the Red Wings in terms of their playoff push.
The Griffins will face off against the Oklahoma City Barons in the AHL's Western Conference Finals tonight, hosting the Edmonton Oilers' affiliate for back-to-back games at Van Andel Arena before heading to OKC for 3 games.
The Griffins have posted an incredibly thorough, if not exhaustive series preview, the Detroit News's Ted Kulfan and the Grand Rapids Press's Peter J. Wallner both spoke to Griffins alums (Gustav Nyquist and Joakim Andersson) and the Griffins' coach, respectively, Wallner also posted the series schedule and a recap of the Griffins' regular season tilts against the Barons, and...
Well, the Barons' practice facility is located half a mile from the path of the tornado that tore through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, and several of the team's players, their equipment manager and coach told the Edmonton Sun's Terry Jones that they saw the tornado forming over their houses. Former Baron and current Griffins defenseman Triston Grant told Wallner that he had to check in on his friends in OKC, and Waller notes that the Griffins are very specifically holding a charitable drive to benefit the victims of the tornado at tonight's home game:
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The Red Wings’ coaching factory?
by George Malik on 05/24/13 at 04:22 AM ET
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My fondest memory of the Red Wings' 2008 Stanley Cup parade has little to do* with begging Todd McLellan to remain with the Red Wings, but I should note that on my way to getting sunburned and dehydrated on a 98-degree day, I at least attempted to start a, "Please Stay Todd!" chant in front of the Fox Theatre during the parade.
McLellan's now coaching the Sharks, and Babcock's other assistant during the 08 Cup run has pushed the Ottawa Senators far past their expectations during both the 2013 season and playoffs, and McLellan duly noted that Detroit's bench may have become something of a coaching factory while speaking with the Calgary Sun's Wes Gilbertson...
"My time with Babs and Mac was a really good opportunity for three guys to share a lot of ideas, for three individuals to challenge each other," McLellan recalled. "We had very good teams there so we could experiment a little bit with things. We were all able to contribute to the success of that team, but also the failures, and we learned a lot in those situations, as well.
"Obviously, Babs, his career is well-documented with his successes and what they're doing now. And Paul has done a heck of a job. You don't get nominated for that award at the end of the year without doing a good job, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him take it home. So it was an excellent staff, a really, really good staff. Fun to be around and a great opportunity for us to share ideas."
But McLellan pointed out that he's no longer coaching a Red Wings-style team...
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Red Wings-Blackhawks Game 4 wrap-up: hard work, puck luck and Jimmy Howard are cracking the Hawks
by George Malik on 05/24/13 at 04:05 AM ET
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After dropping a 2-0 decision to the Detroit Red Wings, the Chicago Blackhawks, who now trail the teams' second round series 3 games to 1, headed back to Chicago to prepare for Saturday's game, but not before sounding downright Red Wing-like in terms of their post-game comments.
The, "We think we played well" line came out, they made sure to mention that they're hitting goalposts and aren't getting much puck luck, and they insisted that bearing down a little more in the offensive department would yield a certain comeback for a team that posted a fantastic regular-season record. But many of those comments came from someone who took three minor penalties in the game, who made a point of saying, "I'm not going to comment about the officiating," and while Jonathan Toews told the Chicago Daily Herald's Tim Sassone that his team fully believes in its ability to rebound...
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Red Wings-Blackhawks Game 4 multimedia post: Howard, Zetterberg, Kindl, Brunner, Babcock weigh in
by George Malik on 05/24/13 at 01:41 AM ET
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Bandwidth can be a cruel mistress, but I promise that the multimedia post subsequent to the Red Wings' 2-0 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 4 of their second-round series--which is this thing right here--will include more links and fewer auto-play videos. Learning on the fly here, folks (and both We All Bleed Red on YouTube and I wonder what the hell Duncan Keith said to Al Sobotka before Al twirled the pre-game octopus).
Anyway, here are the game's highlights from the Wings' website, as narrated by the CBC's Bob Cole:
ESPN posted a 3:19 clip in which Barry Melrose and Steve Levy discussed the game, NBC posted a 1:24 highlight clip, the CBC posted a 2:50 highlight clip, Sportsnet posted a 2:21 highlight clip,TSN posted a 27-highlight clip and Comcast Sportsnet Chicago posted a 3:11 highlight clip:
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Gordie Howe to Jimmy Howard: Okay, Imma let you finish, but first let me shake your hand
by George Malik on 05/23/13 at 11:56 PM ET
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Remarkable stuff from the Red Wings: this is what happens when Mr. Hockey decides to very quietly pull a Kanye West:
Update: And here's Jimmy Howard talking to John Keating about the game...and Gordie:
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About The Malik Report
The Malik Report is a destination for all things Red Wings-related. I offer biased, perhaps unprofessional-at-times and verbose coverage of my favorite team, their prospects and developmental affiliates. I've joined the Kukla's Korner family with five years of blogging under my belt, and I hope you'll find almost everything you need to follow your Red Wings at a place where all opinions are created equal and we're all friends, talking about hockey and the team we love to follow.
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