from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

Anyone who was wondering how seriously the Wings were taking these final two games, got their answer the second half of the game.

Instead of calling it a night, the Wings scored five unanswered goals.

"This group has been a group that's fought and competed and worked on a daily basis," coach Jeff Blashill said. "That showed tonight. Listen, we know we're playing two games and at the end of the day there's not a lot on the line.

"But I've talked about the importance of every NHL game and our guys understand that. They way they played, they didn't fold or quit, but kept grinding and we grounded our way back into the lead and did a good job in the third (period) of finding a way to win the hockey game.

"I like our group. I've said it a lot this year, there's a lot of character in the room."

more

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

Joe Veleno showed what he can do with the puck, and Jakub Vrana continued to make Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman look smart.

Vrana set up Veleno for his first NHL goal Friday at Nationwide Arena and then scored one of his own as the Wings played the first of back-to-back games against the Columbus Blue Jackets to wrap up their season.

The Wings rallied from a two-goal deficit to win, 5-2.

"It was a great second period," Veleno said. "We didn’t have the greatest of starts but we found a way to bear down and put it in the back of the net. It was a good effort from all the guys on the team."

continued

Below watch Joe Veleno's post game, on ice interview, Mickey Redmond and the extended game highlights

THREE HARD LAPS

* The idle and NHL-leading Hurricanes became the first team to capture a division crown this season, securing the No. 1 seed in the Discover Central.

* All four playoff spots in the Honda West are now accounted for after the Blues locked up the No. 4 seed with one point and an Avalanche regulation win over the Kings.

* The Stars earned a crucial win over the Lightning to keep their playoff hopes alive. Dallas trails Nashville by two points in the Discover Central and both teams have two games remaining.

First up we have Joe Veleno and Jeff Blashill, below are the game highlights.

First time the two Florida teams will meet in the playoffs.

Columbus lead the game 2-0 and it looked like one of those games where Detroit competes but can't score.

3:02 changed all that when the Wings went on a scoring rampage with 3 goals.

After 40 minutes the Wings were up 3-2.

Detroit added two empty net goals in the 3rd and the Wings win 5-2

Goals are below.

Team Stats

from Andrew Marchand of the New York Post,

ESPN is out on Wayne Gretzky, paving the way for The Great One potentially going to TNT as an analyst for its NHL studio coverage, The Post has learned.

Gretzky’s role with Turner would be akin to Charles Barkley’s on Inside The NBA. If a deal is done, Gretzky, 60, is expected to command in the $5 million per year range, according to sources.

Even in a time when ESPN/ABC is trying to make many of its broadcasters’ contracts more reasonable, it was willing to go to the $2 million range for Gretzky, sources said. The bidding, though, has now gotten too high and ESPN has decided to bow out.

continued

Do the Wings end the season with a couple of wins? Will they lose the last two games for possible better draft position? We all know the draft is always a gamble.

There are 19 Wingaholics anxiously awaiting the outcome of these last two games, which we all know could end up being a lose, lose for the Wings.

We’ll soon find out...

It’s a Live Blog!

via the YouTube page of The Bob McCown podcast,

Two Canadian broadcasting legends, CHRIS CUTHBERT and JIM HUGHSON join the podcast for a rare "Play-By-Play" edition of our friday roundtable talk.

Watch th 46 1/2 minute show below.

And speaking of three-on-three overtime, is anyone else enjoying it less this year? Or is it just me? Back before the coaches turned it into a tactical exercise, of constant regrouping — when it was a straight-out-exercise in trading chances — it was the best five minutes of any game. Now, it’s been dulled down to the point, where it’s marginally more interesting than the regulation 60 minutes, but nothing at all like the whirlwind it used to be.

-Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic where you can read ($$$) numerous topics including now what Rangers?

Watch the incident below.

added 5:36pm, One game suspension for kneeing, watch the explanation below.

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

Anyone who would have wagered that Erne would be leading the Red Wings in goals when this season ended is likely a very, very rich person today.

But given a larger opportunity — not necessarily just personal improvement — as the season progressed, Erne flourished with it.

“If you asked him, it’s more about getting more opportunity and he’s done a good job with it,” Blashill said. “With him, it’s getting more opportunity and he’s capitalized with the opportunity.”

Erne, 26, was a 2013 second-round draft pick of Tampa Bay, so there was always potential of being a good offensive player.

But his best season in three years in Tampa was a seven-goal season, before being traded to the Wings in one of general manager Steve Yzerman’s first moves in the summer of 2019.

Erne only had two goals and three assists last season with the Wings, but he heads into this final weekend with a career high in goals (11) and having tied a career high with 20 points.

As for Rasmussen, it is a case of a young player putting in the work during the long offseason and improving on the ice.

“From a year ago, and you include the summer as part of it, he’s clearly a better skater, clearly playing with more confidence and clearly a better defensive player,” Blashill said. “He’s come one of the furthest in terms of development.”

more

13 minutes of your time.

from the CP at TSN,

Canada is golden at the under-18 men's hockey championship after another strong performance from two of the youngest players at the tournament.

Led by 17-year-old captain Shane Wright and 15-year-old Connor Bedard, the Canadians beat Russia 5-3 on Thursday in the championship game, going undefeated along the way.

Wright had two goals and an assist while Bedard added a goal and a helper.

Brennan Othmann scored a highlight-reel between-the-legs goal for Canada, which got another from Logan Stankoven.

Benjamin Gaudreau made 31 saves and was named top goaltender at the 10-nation event.

Wright and Bedard — two of only seven players in Canadian Hockey League history to be granted exceptional player status to join major junior a year early — finished 2-3 in tournament scoring behind Russia's Matvei Michkov.

continued

Below, watch the goals from Connor Bedard during the tournament, note the video may be taken down due to IIHF restrictions.

Bedard is 15 years old, eligible for the 2023 NHL Draft and is 5' 9", 185 lbs.

from Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times,

“It’s the right decision because ESPN is the biggest sports platform in the United States, probably the world,” Zadorov said. “It’s definitely a step forward for us to sell the game. We’re going to bring more people, more population to watch [us]. And it’s a big step up with the money as well for us, which is going to help us in the future with the next [collective-bargaining agreement].”

The money is undoubtedly the biggest positive from a league-business standpoint. The NHL will net $645 million annually from ESPN and Turner, plus another roughly $400 million annually from its ongoing Rogers/Sportsnet contract in Canada. It previously received less than $300 million annually from its contracts with NBC and Disney (for online streaming).

The increased TV revenue will balance the books after a devastating financial year and help the salary cap rise again — although that isn’t expected for another year or two.

“It’ll be good to get some freshness after the year we all had with COVID and everything,” Hawks forward Brett Connolly said. “It’ll be different, but hopefully it’s an advantage, which I think it will be.”

more

via the NHL's YouTube page,

A celebration of the weird moments across the NHL including a stubborn stick, mysterious goalie blunders, Brady Tkachuk's 'Frank the Tank' celly and more!

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

This wasn’t about the state of the rebuild. This was about the state of the Rangers union. And Jim Dolan, the Executive Chairman of Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., was not comfortable with it. So he acted. Decisively.

“I saw a weakness in the team that was not being addressed and I knew it needed to be,” Dolan told The Post during a telephone interview on Thursday in explaining why he dismissed president John Davidson and general manager Jeff Gorton. “I knew that we were missing a key component to us being a Stanley Cup contender.

“And that is the overall spirit and culture that goes with being a team. I believe that as good of a job as JD and Jeff have done, in speaking with them, it is clear to me that Chris Drury was going to be the right guy to lead the team forward.”

continued

from Neil Best of Newsday,

from Michael Traikos,

Now that the blood has dried and we’re done shaking our collective fists at Tom Wilson, George Parros and the old-school culture of settling scores, can we please go back to marvelling at what Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews have done so far this season?

Can we talk about the emergence of Adam Fox as a Norris Trophy contender and the endurance of Sidney Crosby as one of the game’s best players? Can we go back to debating whether Russian veteran Kirill Kaprizov should be considered a rookie and whether Patrick Marleau should have broken Gordie Howe’s games-played record? Can we laugh about how badly run the Sabres are and how no one is safe from John Tortorella?

Can we return to our regular scheduled programming and highlight the amazing years that Joel Quenneville, Aleksander Barkov and Marc-Andre Fleury are having, as well as Buffalo goaltender Michael Houser’s unbelievable journey from being left for dead in the ECHL to winning a couple of games in the NHL?

Can we focus on the hug that Nicklas Backstrom gave T.J. Oshie following a 4-2 win on Wednesday, rather than the cross-check that Pavel Buchnevich gave to Anthony Mantha in a fight-filled game?

Can we try to remember that the NHL isn’t broken? That it’s not a gong show or a sideshow or a poop-emoji show. That it’s been entertaining and fun and exactly the kind of distraction we all needed in a difficult year of virus variants and slow-rolling vaccinations, and where the local lockdowns keep being extended to golf courses and pickleball courts.

continued

from Shawn Windsor of the Detroit Free Press,

...here are the Wings, two games from season’s end – they finish with consecutive games in Columbus this weekend – pushing themselves all over the ice as if there were something for which to play.

Actually, there is.

Don’t forget this.

Whether contracts or momentum or pride or love of the game, this group is fighting. Again, Blashill deserves some credit for this.

It wouldn’t be a stretch for Yzerman to extend Blashill’s contract another season or two. It’s not like the Wings are going to compete for the Cup anytime soon anyway. And as long as the team keeps improving, and as long as the young players keep developing, why not?

Familiarity can be helpful during a rebuild. So can a fresh voice in the locker room. Which is why it wouldn’t be stunning if Blashill is gone, either.

No matter Yzerman’s choice, he obviously thinks a lot of his coach. He wouldn’t have kept him around the past two seasons if he didn’t.

more

THREE HARD LAPS

* Auston Matthews reached 40 goals on the season, while Connor McDavid moved within four of the 100-point mark.

* Jeff Carter scored four times as the Penguins followed up a 7-3 win on Tuesday with an eight-goal outburst to move back into first place in the MassMutual East Division.

* Friday’s slate is highlighted by Wild rookie Kirill Kaprizov looking to inch closer to the 30-goal mark, the 2020 Stanley Cup Finalists concluding their season series as well as the Honda West Division-leading Golden Knights and fourth-place Blues opening a back-to-back set in Las Vegas.

How close are the Canucks and head coach Travis Green to signing a contract extension? Is there reason for optimism for NHL participation in the Olympics? TSN Hockey Insiders Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun discuss this and more.

Watch at TSN

High-sticking.

from Sean Shapiro of The Athletic,

When it comes to luring big-name talent for its hockey coverage, ESPN is taking a shot at the biggest name in the sport’s history.

ESPN has approached and pitched Wayne Gretzky about a broadcasting role, according to multiple sources. Whether Gretzky, an alternate governor for the Edmonton Oilers, is interested is unknown, but at this point ESPN hasn’t been given a “no.”

It’s been believed that ESPN wanted to take some big swings when it came to adding hockey personalities whose names held Hall of Fame value from their playing careers. Bringing in hockey’s universally known all-time leading scorer would certainly fit that ambition.

continued ($$$)

20 1/2 minutes of Jeff Blashill after practice, turn your volume up.

There were no reports by the media from pracice.