Red Wings Rumblings
Happy St. Patty’s Day! Big win for the Wings yesterday over Vegas — and now the team looks forward to a light but difficult schedule this week. Detroit is on the road for the next four games, but will only play two games this week: Washington tomorrow night, then Vegas Saturday. Plenty of time to rest and get some practice in.
After yesterday’s win, Detroit sits at 70 points with 15 games left to go in the regular season. They are tied with Columbus (who has a game in hand), and two points back from the second wild card spot with a game in hand over the Rangers. Montreal is firmly in the mix just one point behind NYR. It’ll be a race to the finish and every point is valuable. Unfortunately for Detroit, they have the toughest schedule the rest of the way.
Looking over the Grand Rapids in the AHL — appears the Griffins are back on the rails. They collected their third-straight win Saturday in Rockford, and it was Jan Bednar’s first-career AHL start and win. Bednar, who stopped a paltry 14 shots on goal, is the ninth rookie goaltender that has won their debut game in Griffins history.
Meanwhile, the Toledo Walleye have clinched a spot in the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Opponent TBD, but the estimated start for round 1 is April 16. Toledo is the fourth team to have punched their ticket to the ECHL postseason so far, and have been one of if not the most dominating teams in the Western Conference. Really damn good club, and some of Detroit’s goaltending prospects (Gylander, Bednar) have played a big role in the team’s success.
We’re almost at the time of year where junior and college teams are getting ready for the postseason. We’ll try and keep tabs on everyone as that progresses. Hopefully the Red Wings can get a little playoff action as well?
Couple of other items…
The PWHL takeover at LCA after yesterday’s game was an overwhelming success. Detroit broke the U.S. attendance record for women’s professional hockey. Some 14,288 fans attended the game. Great job, gang. Show them that we deserve a pro women’s team in the D!
Finally, the NHL GMs Meeting is underway in Florida. Just putting this on your radar, as there could be some news that comes out off these meetings.
