Kronwalled? Not likely, but TSN duly noted that the Hawks possess a 9-1-and-1 record at Joe Louis Arena since 2010, and that's plain old scary.

This game is obviously a little different if you happen to believe that momentum transfers from game to game: just as there was a two-day break between Games 1 and 2, the Wings and Hawks won't play Game 4 until Thursday and Game 5 on Saturday (at 8 PM EDT), and as you already know, Jonathan Toews' complaints about a lack of hooking and holding penalties called will probably fall upon rabbit ears, not deaf ones, so it's going to be an uphill climb for the Wings...

In no small part because the Blackhawks have absolutely owned Detroit at Joe Louis Arena of late--they swept the Wings in two games this season and have absolutely dominated the Wings at home over the course of the last couple of regular seasons, with the Chicago Tribune's Chris Kuc pegging Chicago's record at JLA at 9-1-and-1 since the 2010-2011, so the Hawks told Kuc that home ice is what you make of it...

Continue reading "Red Wings-Blackhawks Game 3 set-up: exceeding one’s performance envelope"

One Wings prospect did take part in the Worlds, and he shared a gold-filled post-game dinner with lapsed Wings prospect Dick Axelsson:

Continue reading "Red Wings prospect news: Jarnkrok wins gold with Sweden; Frk’s Mooseheads stumble at Memorial Cup"

"The growth of Smith and Kindl has been huge for us," Babcock said. "Ericsson has gotten much better. We seem to have people rounded into playing in spots that suit them better.

"I talked about when DeKeyser came, he helped us immensely. Whenever we got confidence or got playing better, we were able to maintain it when he left to a certain level -- we still don't move the puck the same, but I just think we're a better team. We weren't a good team at the start."

Another big move for the Red Wings was the rise of forward Justin Abdelkader. He was one of the kids when Detroit made back-to-back trips to the Cup Final in 2008 and '09, but Abdelkader had seemed to settle in as a bottom-six forward.

That changed when Babcock tried him on a line with Datsyuk, and he's now a critical element of the team's top trio.

"He's been a dominant physical guy for us and made us a better team," Babcock said. "It took us a long time to figure out where everybody fit best. There were lots of changes, new guys that we brought in that didn't fit the way we thought they were, or were better than we thought they were. We've just kind of watched it happen."

much more from Babcock...

And yes, Kronwall insists that he's trying to keep things as clean as he can while leading the Wings' defense and trying to keep the physical edge to his game while playing anywhere between 22-27 minutes a night.

This question was apparently not well-received by the coach of the Detroit Red Wings:

“I’m not here to evaluate whether he’s frustrated or not. I don’t know where you’re going with this, but I’m not going to help you write your story,” Babcock bristled Sunday morning at Joe Louis Arena, where the Wings and Hawks resume their historic rivalry Monday night with the best-of-seven split at a game apiece. “What do you want me to say? Jonathan Toews is a real good player, I’ve coached him, he’s mentally tough, he works hard, he’s an Olympic champion, a Stanley Cup champion, and world junior champion -- I don’t know what else he’s won, but he knows how to play. I would expect that he’s gonna play hard in this series. I didn’t think he didn’t play hard yesterday, though.”

Instead, Babcock wanted to praise his own team's captain, Henrik Zetterberg, for registering a pair of assists while shutting down Toews' line...

Continue reading "The wrong question to ask the wrong coach"

STARTING TIME SET FOR GAME 5 OF BLACKHAWKS-RED WINGS SERIES

NEW YORK (May 19, 2013) – The National Hockey League today announced that the starting time for Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinal series between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings has been set for 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on Saturday, May 25, in Chicago.

In the U.S., the game will be broadcast nationally on NBC. In Canada, the game will be televised nationally by CBC and RDS.

Pavel Datsyuk is battling Joffrey Lupul in the quarterfinals of EA Sports' NHL 14 cover athlete voting, so give the magic man a hand if you are able to do so.

As I wait for Tweets to come in from the Joe, a few stories popped up overnight and/or didn't quite make the quick take or main recap.

First, ESPN offered a slate of stats related to yesterday's 4-1 Wings win:

Continue reading "Red Wings Sunday practice post: all’s quiet on the ‘Octopi Hockeytown’ front"

I'm not saying "seemed to pick the Blackhawks," because I sure as shit could swear, at least by what I read from everywhere on the internet and heard on the TV and radio, that there was going to be a handshake line after Game 2, when the Blackhawks would advance to play for the Stanley Cup against the Los Angeles Kings, and I was quite happy to hope that the Red Wings went out onto actual ice after a two-day break and, with determination, grit, poise and attention to detail, told the hockey world to go *#$%@& itself.

Now I don't believe that the team's really that tuned into what's being said about them--if the 48-games-in-99-nights marathon taught me anything, the players are so damn busy playing every other night that it takes a tremendous amount of effort to pay attention to what's being said about them...

Continue reading "Red Wings-Blackhawks Game 2 wrap-up: so much for the two-game series"