from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

In this season of misery, what matters is the development of the players the Detroit Red Wings view as critical to the rebuild.

Filip Zadina is making strides in showing where he will fit. He enters Tuesday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens on a confident note, having tallied his 10th point in 18 games since joining the Wings in late November.

Zadina converted on a power play in Sunday’s 4-2 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center, taking the puck and carrying it around the right circle for several seconds before roofing a shot. Zadina played 19:24, and was on late in the third period when the Wings were trying to level a 3-2 deficit and had pulled their goaltender.

“I thought Filip was playing pretty good,” Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “He was making some plays, he was managing his game and he plays with some confidence. He had scored the goal and sometimes when guys score, they feel good about themselves. I like his progress. I think he’s playing pretty good hockey.

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from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

“We just shoot ourselves in the foot for no reason,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “We played stupid hockey in the second. We forced pucks on the power play we didn’t need to, force a play to the slot on the first goal.

“Let’s just be patient and grind them down and make them defend — and it ends up in our net. Our puck management was terrible as the game went along.”

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