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Mathematically…

03/28/2024 at 7:00pm EDT

Good evening and welcome to all. The Red Wings managed to blow another yet another two important points, but, are still in contention mathematically. Yes, yes, I know we weren’t told there would be any math, and realistically we all know this will go down to the wire. Maybe when all is said and done, the Wings will squeeze into that last Wild Card spot. To paraphrase George Carlin, “The last winner.”

Reimer has the net tonight. No other changes to the lineup have been announced as of 1:00 PM.

It’s the Red Wings vs the Hurricanes. The puck is set to drop around 7:30 PM and will be broadcast on Bally Sports Detroit, and on the Red Wings Radio Network 97.1 (The Ticket in Detroit) for your listening pleasure. Also available on ESPN+/NHLPP, BSSO, and SPORTSNET+.

It’s a Live Blog!

Video- -Saves Of The Week

03/28/2024 at 3:30pm EDT

Top saves of the week in 8 minutes.

Same Lineup Tonight

03/28/2024 at 11:59am EDT

Video- Bowen Byram Fined For Interference

03/28/2024 at 11:03am EDT

NEW YORK (March 28, 2024) – Buffalo Sabres defenseman Bowen Byram has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for interference against Ottawa Senators forward Angus Crookshank during NHL Game No. 1148 in Buffalo on Wednesday, March 27, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.

The incident occurred at 15:18 of the first period. Byram was assessed a minor penalty for interference.

The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

Watch below.

Seider's Year

03/28/2024 at 9:34am EDT

from Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic,

It was Red Wings vs. Lightning, January 21. By many eyewitness accounts, it was a Moritz Seider masterclass in shutdown defense. He went toe-to-toe with Nikita Kucherov for 86 percent of his ice time and lived to tell the tale, keeping the shot and goal count even.

That’s the job of a No. 1 shutdown defenseman and he aced it.

The postgame reports analyzing his work through raw data weren’t nearly as complimentary, though. That’s been an increasingly common occurrence through the back half of this season: Red Wings fans swear by Seider’s performance, but the numbers don’t back it up. Top of their hearts, bottom of the charts.

Usually when there’s a gap between the two schools of thought the truth lies somewhere in the middle. In this case, there’s something clearly missing in the equation that shifts the balance toward what many saw that night.

Seider faced off against Kucherov for roughly 15 of his 17 minutes at five-on-five, one of the most difficult defensive assignments any player has had to face this season. What should his numbers look like?

This season Seider has a Defensive Rating of minus-6.9. That means Detroit is estimated to have allowed seven more goals compared to an average player because of Seider, an extremely porous number that ranks 181st out of 189 regular defenders.

continued ($)

NHL Short Notes

03/28/2024 at 2:15am EDT

* The Lightning earned a crucial victory against the Bruins to improve to 8-1-1 in March and moved within two points of the Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division standings.

* While Boston failed to clinch a berth into the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Wednesday, they are one of six teams with an opportunity to do so during a 14-game Thursday (also FLA, CAR, DAL, VAN & COL).

* Playoff races are aplenty tonight, with all 16 Western Conference teams taking to the ice – including a red-hot Predators club looking to become the 15th team in NHL history with a 19-game point streak.

Mistakes Magnified

03/27/2024 at 10:54pm EDT

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

"Every play matters, even the little details," coach Derek Lalonde said. "We preach it, we watch it on video, we rep it, and our guys are understanding what it really takes. The exact details when it matters. A lot of guys haven't been in that situation and a lot of guys are learning and learning it a hard way."

There were glaring individual miscues against Washington that led to Capitals goals or nixed a Wings' scoring chance.

▶ A Moritz Seider turnover along the wall that eventually led to Washington's game-tying goal in the third period.

▶ Andrew Copp losing his man (Dylan Strome) after a faceoff loss and seeing Strome score on a rebound.

▶ Jeff Petry looking to pass instead of shooting into a yawning net late in the third period.

▶ Alex DeBrincat sending a pass on a two-on-one play with Seider into Seider's skate, in overtime, and seeing Washington come back down the ice and win on Strome's deflection.

"Tough video, tough messaging this morning," said Lalonde of the video work.

more ($)

Ethan Bear Under Care From The Player Assistance Program

03/27/2024 at 6:04pm EDT

NEW YORK/TORONTO (March 27, 2024) – The National Hockey League Players’ Association and National Hockey League announced today that defenseman Ethan Bear of the Washington Capitals will be unavailable to his Club for an indefinite period while he receives care from the Player Assistance Program of the NHLPA and NHL.

Under the terms of the joint program, he will return to the Club when cleared for on-ice competition by the program administrators.

Looks Like The Washington Capitals Will Not Be Moving

03/27/2024 at 4:21pm EDT

Video- Goals Of The Week

03/27/2024 at 3:34pm EDT

Top goals from the week in the NHL.

Still In It For Bubble Teams In The East

03/27/2024 at 1:22pm EDT

Playoff Deck Still Being Shuffled In The West

03/27/2024 at 12:59pm EDT

from Travis Yost of TSN,

If you love end-of-season hockey and compelling playoff races, a free tip for the final weeks of the season: ignore the Eastern Conference and set your sights out West.

As it stands today, there are eight extremely likely playoff representatives in the West, with teams like the St. Louis Blues (7 per cent) and Minnesota Wild (4 per cent) hanging on by a thread. That’s taken some juice out of any potential wild-card race, though it’s not entirely out of the question.

And yet the next two weeks will be fascinating, in large part because none of the top eight teams have been able to materially separate from one another in the standings. With the points race this tight, the range of possible seeding scenarios and associated matchups for every team remains extraordinarily wide.

Consider just a few points to appropriately frame this.

  • The Clarence Campbell race has three teams (Dallas, Vancouver, Colorado) separated by just two points.
  • The Central Division race sees three teams (Dallas, Colorado, and Winnipeg) separated by just five points, with chasing Nashville on an 18-game point streak.
  • The current No. 5 seed (Edmonton) is just four points ahead of the current No. 8 seed (Vegas).

continued

NCAA Frozen Four Starts On Thursday

03/27/2024 at 11:18am EDT

from ESPN,

The field for the men's NCAA hockey tournament is set, with 16 teams looking to earn a trip to St. Paul, Minnesota, for the Frozen Four.

Regional play begins Thursday and concludes March 31, with the national semifinals set for April 11 and the championship game April 12 at the Xcel Energy Center. Every game of the tournament will be aired on the ESPN family of networks and streamed on ESPN+.

Boston College, the Hockey East champion and No. 1 team much of the season, secured the No. 1 overall seed. The other top seeds are Boston University, Denver and Michigan State.

The tournament champions in Atlantic Hockey, the Big Ten, CCHA, ECAC, Hockey East and NCHC were automatic qualifiers, with the 10 at-large spots determined by the PairWise rankings.

continue for TV schedule, brackets, etc.

Fix The Schedule

03/27/2024 at 9:27am EDT

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

Now try to tell me again that the reason the league doesn’t break down into 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5 conference-based first-round matchups is to foster divisional rivalries and I will tell you that is about the most idiotic explanation you could attempt to offer.

Ninth Avenue does not believe in rivalries.

The schedule matrix is hopelessly broken. The Islanders were the designated home team for the Stadium Series match in New Jersey, so the Rangers haven’t even been to UBS this season. Indeed, the Blueshirts have not played a regular season game on the Island since Oct. 22, 2022.

Holy Dave Fortier!

It is the height of absurdity that clubs play only 26 games within their respective divisions — 32 percent of the schedule — while playing 32 games against teams in the other conference. The Rangers play the Penguins three times this season just as they played three times against the Islanders last year.

more

A Good Point But Not Enough

03/27/2024 at 2:16am EDT

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

With the one point earned, the Wings (36-29-7, 79 points) find themselves two points behind Washington (36-26-9, 81 points) for the second and final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals also have one game in hand on the Wings.

"In reality it's probably a good road point," coach Derek Lalonde said. "But under the circumstances you certainly want to get the full two points. Some mixed emotions there. We have a lead into the third (period) and then finding a way to get into overtime.

"In reality a pretty good road point under the circumstances but you probably want a little more."...

"It's not what we wanted but getting one (point) was huge for us," captain Dylan Larkin said. "No moral victories. But we played good and it's playoff style hockey and we stuck in there. I wish we had a better start to the third period."...

"I like the way we're competing and defending and the underlying numbers will play out well," Lalonde said. "in reality we've had six fairly good periods on the road and only one point to show for it. But we're going to need to be even better with the type of competition we have coming up here."...

"You can see why this team is where they're at," Lalonde said. "The goaltender, no one is playing better in the league right now and they feed off him. The confidence he brings to that group, you can tell. But I give our guys credit to be down in the third against that goalie and it feels like it's going to take something remarkable to get something by him, and we got a goal."...

"We had some other looks, Petry had the wide open net and he probably scores nine of 10 times," Lalonde said. "He might have been surprised by how much room and space he had.

"The totality of it is it's a good point, just not with the circumstances."

more

NHL Short Notes

03/27/2024 at 2:04am EDT

* The Rangers officially started the clinch train as the club became the first team to secure their spot in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

* Artemi Panarin and David Pastrnak recorded 100 points in a season for the first and second time in their careers, respectively, and became the fourth and fifth players in 2023-24 to reach the century mark.

* A thrilling three-goal, third-period comeback victory allowed Nashville to extend its franchise-record point streak to 18 games (16-0-2) and its winning streak to six contests.

* The Bruins will have another shot at securing a berth in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs should they earn a point against the Lightning on TNT, Max and TVA Sports during Wednesday’s two-game slate.

Quick Recap- Detroit Red Wings/Washington Capitals

03/26/2024 at 9:47pm EDT

0-0 at the end of the first period. Detroit had the edge in the first ten minutes, Washington had more of the edge the last ten minutes. Lyon with some big saves.

In the middle stanza, Washington scored early, the Wings tied it 1-1 2 1/2 minutes later and then added a power play goal with 47 seconds left in the period. 2-1 Wings.

In the third, the Caps scored twice within the first 5 minutes to take a 3-2 lead.

Kane scores with just over 5 minutes left, 3-3.

No more scoring in the period and in overtime, Washington scored to win 4-3.

Team Stats

Detroit goals are below.

What’s At Stake

03/26/2024 at 6:30pm EDT

Good evening and welcome to all. The Red Wings played a good game against the Preds but still lost, so no points, and another moral victory just won’t do. The Wings and their fans know what’s at stake here tonight. No need to say anymore.

Lyon has the net tonight. No other changes to the lineup have been announced.

It’s the Red Wings vs the Capitals. The puck drops around 7:00 PM and will be broadcast on Bally Sports Detroit, and on the Red Wings Radio Network 97.1 (The Ticket in Detroit) for your listening pleasure. Also available on ESPN+/NHLPP, MNMT, and SPORTSNET+.

It’s a Live Blog!

The TSN Insiders Tonight

03/26/2024 at 6:27pm EDT
TSN’s Hockey Insiders update the Leafs' Matt Murray and his recovery after hip surgery, whether or not the Panthers can afford pending UFA Sam Reinhart, Andre Tourigny expected to return as coach of Team Canada at the Worlds and the possibility of Connor Bedard and Sidney Crosby joining him.

Watch at TSN

Three Things to Consider Before Every NHL Bet

03/26/2024 at 6:00pm EDT

Outside of the hard hits and exceptional skills of the players, one of the biggest drivers of the NHL’s popularity is its parity. On any given night, any team can win a game no matter where they sit in the standings. It’s also possible to see lower seeds in the playoffs make a surprising run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and compete for a championship that few thought they could win.

An Urgency Game

03/26/2024 at 2:13pm EDT

from Tom Gulitti of the NHL's website,

The Washington Capitals and the Detroit Red Wings expect to get a taste of what the Stanley Cup Playoffs can be like when they face off at Capital One Arena on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MNMT, BSDET).

The Capitals (35-26-9) lead the Red Wings (36-29-6) by one point for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference and have one game in hand. The winner can grab the inside track toward earning a postseason berth.

"This one will probably feel a little bit like a playoff atmosphere, I would imagine," Capitals forward T.J. Oshie said. "There should be probably a lot of urgency on both sides, for them and for us, so it will be an exciting game. We've played in some meaningful games for whatever the occasion was this season, but I don't think any of them will feel as meaningful as this one as we're both fighting for a spot to get in.

"Come three weeks from now, this game could be the one that you look back at that could've been the difference-maker for either side whatever way it goes."

These are the kind of high-stakes games the Red Wings have been looking forward to playing after failing to qualify for the playoffs the past seven seasons. After Tuesday, Detroit will have 10 games remaining and the Capitals 11, including a visit to Little Caesars Arena on April 9, so each team will have some work left to do regardless of the result.

continued

A Brief Morning Skate Report

03/26/2024 at 11:28am EDT

Happy March 26th Day

03/26/2024 at 11:18am EDT

Another Big Game For The Wings

03/26/2024 at 8:32am EDT

from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,

At Washington to face to Capitals, Detroit is trailing the Caps by one point for the second Eastern Conference wild card spot. Making matters more concerning for the Wings, the Capitals are also holding a game in hand over Detroit.

“It’s exciting, it’s a fun time of year,” said Detroit forward Patrick Kane, a three-time Stanley Cup winner. “It’s almost like you’re in playoffs right now, even though we have 11 games left.

“You look at (this) like a playoff game. Obviously it’s the team ahead of us in the standings. If we beat them, we’re in a playoff spot. They have a game in hand and they’re playing really well right now, so it’ll be a good test for us.”

Alex Lyon will be in goal for the Red Wings, making his second consecutive start. He’s lost his last eight decisions.

“I just try to keep the same mentality, keep positive,” Lyon said. “It’s very difficult but those are the important things. You’re gonna change your game all the time. You’re always gonna be tweaking the way you feel. How’s my body feeling, how’s my brain feeling, my emotions? But the most important thing is to just continue to fight. Keeping that fight and that energy is vital.”

read on

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