Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

A2Y- Wrapping Up A Win Over The Tampa Bay Lighting And Jonatan Berggren's Progress

12/22/2022 at 6:26am EST

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

The Detroit Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning have been at opposite ends of the NHL power structure in recent years, and it showed in their head-to-head results.

Now, after being dominated by the Lightning from 2015 to 2020, the Red Wings are pushing back. They’re still not in Tampa Bay’s class, but they’re no longer easy fodder.

The Red Wings’ 7-4 victory Wednesday was their second win in 15 days and third in a row against the Lightning dating back to last season. Detroit is 6-3-2 in its past 11 against the three-time reigning Eastern Conference champions.

More importantly, the latest win ended their six-game slide.

“We’re sitting here in an 0-4-2 stretch, but anyone that’s watched us, we’ve been better than that,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “I wouldn’t call it unlucky, but probably not complete in our game. I just thought we got what we deserved tonight.”

continued

Below is Helene St. Jame on Jonatan Berggren, plus post game interviews and extended game highlights.

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

He makes some plays on entries, has some offensive poise," Lalonde said this week. "Sometimes skill shows up in different ways. He helps us get out of our zone at times. It might be as simple as being under pressure, and having the skill to flip, which gets you out of pressure, out of the d-zone. He does some of those things.

"His game is still growing. He gets himself in trouble — his fingerprints have been on chances against, goals against, but for the most part, he’s done a lot of good things, and this doesn’t surprise me from what I saw in camp, which is a positive."...

"I'm not the biggest guy, and I’ve never been the biggest guy," Berggren said. "So when I was little, I had to be able to cover the puck so a bigger guy can’t take it from me. I think that has played a big role in how I can do it at his level. I just try to learn every game, and every game I feel more confident."

Over the coming days and weeks, the Wings are expected to gain the services of Jakub Vrana, Robby Fabbri, Tyler Bertuzzi and Filip Zadina. But even if the Wings achieve full health, Berggren certainly has shown he can play in the NHL. Nine games in, he had two goals and four assists. Zadina, selected at No. 6 the same draft the Wings took Berggren at No. 33, had no points when he suffered a lower-body injury in his ninth game this season.

"What Berggren can do with the puck is good, we don’t have a lot of that in our lineup," Lalonde said. "He is able to make plays, he makes poised plays. He just helps our team."

more ($)

Larkin Rasmussen and Lalonde

Highlights part 1

Highlights part 2




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About Abel to Yzerman

Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that.

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