from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
Derek Lalonde made a few changes to his lines as the Detroit Red Wings try to start another winning streak.
One of the new looks at Tuesday's practice, as the Wings prepared to host the Buffalo Sabres Wednesday, had David Perron on a line with Tyler Bertuzzi (and Michael Rasmussen at center). Perron was enthusiastic about the possiblities.
"I love his game," Perron said. "I know he’s a hard worker, he always finds a way to be around the net, around the puck. He finds open areas of the ice.
"I haven’t played with him yet, so it’s going to be interesting for sure. I’m excited. He’s a guy that can make a lot more plays than he gets credit for, so I also have to be ready in those situations. I think he is a guy who will make those little plays and create that cycle game that I like to play as well."
In other changes, Lucas Raymond was moved back to Dylan Larkin's right wing (where Perron had been playing), with Dominik Kubalik on the left wing. Andrew Copp centered Oskar Sundqvist and Adam Erne, while the fourth line remained Joe Veleno with Jonatan Berggren and Pius Suter.
from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,
"Ned was going to get one of these next two games, we had planned (it) for a while," coach Derek Lalonde said. "It was good for him to get in there and get a rhythm. It was perfect."
With Husso on a hot streak, Nedeljkovic sat an inordinate amount of time, making practice that much more important. That ability to stay sharp was apparent after replacing Husso against the Leafs.
"We're all professionals," Nedeljkovic said. "You have to be ready because obviously like when a situation like (Monday) arises, and you're not prepared and you get lit up, it doesn't look good on you. Nothing changes physically, or anything like that. It's just mentally sticking with it, practicing like a game, and making sure you stay sharp and working on the details and fundamentals of the game.
"So, when you get the opportunity, you get in and you're ready to go."
Monday's game was the first time Lalonde made an in-game change. Nedeljkovic had allowed eight goals in a game to both Buffalo and the New York Rangers earlier this season, but with Husso scheduled to make the next start, Lalonde didn't make a change.
But Monday's game played out differently.
"You could tell we had hit a wall as a team, whether it was the workload coming into it or some energy, you could feel it was going to keep going," Lalonde said. "I didn't want to do that to the goalie playing the next game, it made no sense putting Ville in Buffalo to face a barrage and playing the next game.
"This (Monday) felt different. We weren't giving up much, we were controlling the game positionally. This was different. We were still in this game."
more ($)
Lalonde is trying everything to get Bert going. I would actually reunite him with Larkin and Raymond.
I'm open to anything- Bert is invisible these days.
Copp already moving into his long term role as our 3rd line center. Only took 1/4 of 1 season of a 5 year deal.
Nailed it
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