Kukla's Korner

Red Wings forward Joakim Andersson’s playing understatedly superb 2-way hockey

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/24/13 at 07:30 AM ET | Comments (15)

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

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/24/13 at 04:57 AM ET | Comments (1)

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?

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/24/13 at 04:22 AM ET | Comments (2)

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

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/24/13 at 04:05 AM ET | Comments (23)

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

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/24/13 at 01:41 AM ET | Comments (12)

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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How’s Walnut Grove Looking, Ladies?

Blog: Abel to Yzerman By IwoCPO

05/24/13 at 12:07 AM ET | Comments (55)

A2Y interns from Northern Michigan University came upon this goldmine of a conversation minutes ago on Twitter...

@halfpint

Watch any hockey tonight?

@maryingalls

STFU

@halfpint

Gordie Howe shook their goalie's hand.   Gordie. Howe.

@maryingalls

They were supposed to be rebuilding! Fuch.

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Gordie Howe to Jimmy Howard: Okay, Imma let you finish, but first let me shake your hand

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/23/13 at 11:56 PM ET | Comments (21)

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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AHL Playoffs Second Round

Blog: The Puck Stops Here By PuckStopsHere

05/23/13 at 11:18 PM ET | Comments (0)

The second round of the AHL playoffs completed yesterday.  My first round coverage was here.  Here are the results from the second round:

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defeat Providence Bruins four games to three.  Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is the Pittsburgh Penguins farm team and Providence belongs to the Boston Bruins.  Providence had a 3-0 lead in this series and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fought their way back to win the series with four straight wins.  Trevor Smith and Chad Kolarik were the top scorers for the Penguins.  Brian Dumoulin led their defence.  Brad Thiessen played very well in their goal.  Chris Bourque and Carter Camper led the Providence offence.  Matt Bartowski had been their top defenceman until he got called up in the playoffs.  This may be an excuse for the Providence loss.  Niklas Svedberg was their goaltender.

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Red Wings-Blackhawks Game 4 quick take: stranglehold

Blog: The Malik Report By George Malik

05/23/13 at 10:51 PM ET | Comments (18)

Upated 5x with tons of video at 11:51 PM: Very briefly: Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard was nothing less than a superstar and the Detroit Red Wings played, well...Ugly hockey on Thursday night, mucking, grinding and just plain old out-working the Chicago Blackhawks en route to a 2-0 win and taking 3-1 series lead heading into Game 5 on Saturday. Howard earned the shutout on 28 saes.

Jakub Kindl scored the only goal the Wings would need (on the power play, no less)...

The Red Wings stood up to Bryan Bickell and all the Hawks tried to throw at them in terms of mucking, grinding and playing a nasty game...

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The West Is On Fire

Blog: Abel to Yzerman By IwoCPO

05/23/13 at 10:50 PM ET | Comments (98)

And it's burning to the tune of "Chelsea Dagger."  

I'd love to tell the naysayers to suck it, but I'd be telling myself to suck it and that's just awkward.

This is absolutely insane.  Discuss as you see fit and I'm sure George will be right behind me with a 5000 word recap that he'll call "quick".  All I can possibly type at this point is that, once again, this is the postseason none of us ever saw coming, but--because of who we are (Red Wing fans)--it's the one we deserve.

LGRW.  9 to 12 and 5 until this conference is burned to the ground once and for all by the team that kept it afloat and ruled it for twenty years. 

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