Gordie Howe would have been 96 today and Stan Fischler turned 92.

via Sportsnet,

On this edition of Saturday Headlines, Elliotte Friedman discusses Alexandar Georgiev's in-game outburst, when Lane Hutson could join the Canadiens, Scott Morrow joining the Hurricanes, Landon DuPont being granted exceptional status, and more.

from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,

Officially, the Detroit Red Wings are currently residing in the Sunshine State. In their headspace, though, it’s abundantly clear that they’ve entered into a state of denial.

Squandering a third-period lead, the Red Wings were able to scramble back and gain a point in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday afternoon.

“Obviously this one stings,” Detroit defenseman Jeff Petry was admitting to Bally Sports Detroit. “We wanted to get two (points).”

“It kind of feels like (Tuesday’s overtime loss at) Washington,” added Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde. “You feel a little empty, not getting the full two points.”

These offerings were rare honest insights from a team that evidently thinks with eight games to play, there’s plenty of time to right ship and get back on track for a playoff spot.

“I think our team game is growing,” Petry said. “If we bring that effort and compete every night from here on out, we’re gonna put ourselves in a good spot.”

Can’t you just picture Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, competitor that he is, seething with rage and anger as he’s hearing these comments?

continnued

Wings led 1-0 after the first period. A solid period for the Wings but Larkin took a puck off his knee early, tried to come back but he headed back to the room after falling on a faceoff.

Florida dominated Detroit in the second, but thanks to Lyon, the score stood at 1-0.

Florida scored two goals in less than three minutes to take a 2-1 lead in the third. Larkin then scored the tying goal and we are tied at 2-2.

The game went to OT with Detroit desperately needing the second point. No scoring in the extra five minutes so the shootout will give us a winner.

Florida with the only goal in the shootout, they win.

Team Stats

Detroit goals and other videos are below.

Good day and welcome to all. There are no expectations going into today’s game against the Panthers.

"This isn't throw tables, bang water bottles (time)," Lalonde said.

Seriously? When is the right time?

Lyon has the net today. Any other changes to the lineup are still being decided as of 9:30 AM.

It’s the Red Wings vs the Panthers. The puck is set to drop around 12:30 PM and will be broadcast on Bally Sports Detroit Extra, and on the Red Wings Radio Network, WWJ (950 in Detroit) for your listening pleasure. Also available on NHLN, BSFL, and SPORTSNET+.

It’s a Live Blog!

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

"This isn't throw tables, bang water bottles (time)," Lalonde said. "It's keep pointing things out. There are positives in our game and we just have to keep finding those positives, build off that, even a little bit more, and try to get some results."

Lalonde called Friday afternoon's roughly half-hour practice at Amerant Bank Arena, "a morning skate plus. A little more intensity. Just some habits that we want to work on with the puck. It's important to get some reps."...

"You have to continue to grow in those areas. It's a good learning lesson for our group that every play is really, really important this time of year, and against these top teams, you need every play. The message postgame was keep building. I liked our third period. I asked our guys to stay with it, try to build something in the third, and we had a very strong third period. And we got some help in the league, which is the reality of where we are at in the moment."

more

* After the Sabres won the lone contest Friday, the final Saturday of March features 15 games including a doubleheader on ESPN+/Hulu to go along with a four-game Hockey Night in Canada slate.

* Saturday will begin with an NHL Network Showcase that could be a First Round preview as the Red Wings, battling for a Wild Card spot, and Panthers, jockeying for a No. 1 seed, meet for a matinee in Sunrise (also on Sportsnet).

* The Avalanche and idle Canucks can both clinch a berth in the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday. For more details on their clinching scenarios, click here.

NEW YORK (March 29, 2024) – Montreal Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle has been suspended for one game, without pay, for slashing Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny during NHL Game No. 1152 in Montreal on Thursday, March 28, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.

The incident occurred at 19:55 of the second period.

Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, Guhle will forfeit $4,496.53. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

For a full explanation of the decision, complete with video, please click on the following link: https://www.nhl.com/video/topic/player-safety/guhle-suspended-one-game-6349961867112

Watch the slash from the bench below.

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

"The season is on the line right now," defenseman Moritz Seider said in a somber Wings locker room Thursday after a 4-0 loss in Carolina. "We can't find ways to dominate games and be a force but luckily other teams are missing out on the opportunity (to take advantage) and it's still up to us.

"We have to wake up pretty soon and just beat a team that we definitely can beat, that everyone saw in the past in us this year.

"Then, hopefully, we'll be on the right track."...

"A great opportunity," Seider said of Saturday's game. "An early game in Florida, against a team that is always tough to play against. But we've shown we can beat them in their rink (earlier this season). That would be a big step in the right direction if we got two points out of that building."

There was a sense of disappointment after Thursday's loss, a game Carolina dominated for long stretches. But the Wings aren't necessarily concerned, believing there is plenty of time to correct what is ailing them.

"Keep doing what we're doing. We just have to find a way to the back of the net," said defenseman Ben Chiarot, noting the offensive drought. "We're playing well defensively."...

"We have to get more pucks to the net," Lalonde said. "This time of year, with the way teams are defending, you're not going to get much on the rush. You have to create from the offensive zone and gets pucks to the net.

"When they (goalies) are feeling it and seeing it, you have to be harder around them. We've struggled against Bob (Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky) and we'll see him Saturday and it'll be the same thing. We have to get to that (hard) area a little more, a little bit more volume of shots."

more ($)

In an earlier tweet, HSJ noted Lyon will start.

from Rob Rossi of The Athletic,

The previous day, a shipment of 19,000 Jaromir Jagr bobbleheads had not arrived in Pittsburgh as scheduled. Acklin remained calm, having no reason to believe there was any foul play involved. A trucking company representative in California said the bobbleheads would be in Pittsburgh the next day by 5 p.m.

“Initial word is the truck driver was having some engine trouble — that they had to pause overnight and it’ll be OK,” said Acklin, the Penguins’ president of business operations.

The time came and went, and still no delivery. While watching the Penguins-Senators game from his Pittsburgh home, Acklin received another call from the trucking company. There was no engine trouble. The bobbleheads had been stolen.

“They said, ‘Well, we don’t know all the details, but apparently the trucking company is in touch with’ — and this is the first time I heard the word — ‘the extortionists.’”

By then, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, a California-based trucking company and a Hong Kong vendor were all pursuing the people who’d stolen the merchandise.

“They weren’t sure how they were lifted, but they were in touch with a group that has custody of them,” Acklin said.

And to verify the group had the goods and to determine whether to negotiate, Acklin said, the trucking company had to see if the bobbleheads “were still viable.”

“We’re dealing with a theft that sounds crazy,” Acklin said. “It felt like a story from ‘The Onion.’ When you tell it, it’s like an ‘Onion’ article.”

read on ($)

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

"They're a good team and they capitalized on their chances," defenseman Ben Chiarot said. "They're a team that's contending for a Stanley Cup right now. They know how to play and have been playing that way for a long time. A lot of dangerous players over there, and if you give them a couple of chances to put it in, they'll do it.

"We didn't capitalize on ours."

The Wings (36-30-7) received bad news before the game that forwards Patrick Kane and Austin Czarnik were unavailable because of illness. They went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen instead, bringing in forward Daniel Sprong and defenseman Justin Holl....

"We knew we'd be up against it, only from where the lineup was but to have it happen right before the game," coach Derek Lalonde said. "It's a bit of stinger. That's a tough team to play 11 forwards with because of the pace they play at. We probably could have done more to give ourselves a chance but you look back at this game and there was opportunity in this game."

Lalonde felt the second-period implosion may have began in the first period.

"I'm glad we got out of the first (0-0, though being outshot 15-3)," Lalonde said. "I know the shot volume is extremely lopsided but that's them. If you look at the underlying numbers in the first it wasn't that bad. We'd like to steal the period but we didn't and then a little breakdown on the track in the second, and they score on the power play, and it got away from us."

more

* The Stars, Hurricanes, Panthers and idle Bruins punched their tickets to the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, with Thursday marking the first day to feature four teams clinching a postseason berth since a quartet of clubs did so exactly seven years ago.

* Connor McDavid (27-95—122 in 69 GP) continued to close the gap in the Art Ross Trophy race via a three-point performance, now within just two points of League-leader Nikita Kucherov (42-82—124 in 71 GP).

* Friday will feature Jack Hughes and the Devils visiting Tage Thompson and the Sabres on Sportsnet ONE and NHL Network.

It was 0-0 after 20 minutes . Although the Wings were outshot 15-4, they held their own.

After 40 minutes, the Canes led 4-0. Enough said.

No scoring in the third, Canes win 4-0.

Team Stats

Nothing below.

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!

Top saves of the week in 8 minutes.

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.

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 ($)

* 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.

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 ($)

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.

Nine minutes of talk.