Red Wings at Lightning Game Day Updates, Keys to the Game

J.J. FromKansas

• 2 min read Front Page

Game Day Updates

Projected Lines

Red Wings

Andreas Athanasiou - Dylan Larkin - Tyler Bertuzzi
Darren Helm - Luke Glendening - Filip Zadina
Robby Fabbri - Franse Nielsen - Brandon Pernlini
Justin Abdelkader - Christoffer Ehn - Adam Erne

Patrik Nemeth - Filip Hronek
Trevor Daley - Mike Green
Alex Biega - Madison Bowey

Jonathan Bernier
Jimmy Howard

Lightning

Ondrej Palat - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn - Anthony Cirelli - Steven Stamkos
Mathieu Joseph - Tyler Johnson - Yanni Gourde
Pat Maroon - Cedric Paquette - Mitchell Stephens

Victor Hedman - Jan Rutta
Ryan McDonagh - Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev - Kevin Shattenkirk

Curtis McElhinney
Andrei Vasilevskiy

Keys to the Game

1. Would Somebody, Anybody Please Stop a Goddamn Puck

We’re so very near the midpoint of the season and by my unofficial count, the Red Wings goaltending has stolen exactly one game this season. I’m also well-aware that the rate at which the Wings give the other team unfettered shots from the net-front area tends to turn the difficulty level on such an ask up to 11, but I don’t care. I don’t want to be fair. If I can’t get the Red Wings limiting those shots, then I want to be entertained by a guy making stop after stop on shots he has no business preventing from turning into goals.


2. Be Filip Hronek’s Wingman

If you took the Red Wings team to a bar, the guy you would have to help out the most is Filip Hronek because that dude NEVER turns down an opportunity to take a shot. Mickey Redmond mentioned it yesterday and it’s definitely a playing feature that has its pros and cons, but I don’t want to turn Hronek into another guy who’s hesitant on the trigger. I want the Wings doing a better job with him on the ice of making sure that they’re setting up in goaltenders’ sightlines quicker once they anticipate the puck will get to him. Failing being directly in sightlines, every single person closer to the goal than Hronek should have his stick on the ice when that shot comes.


3. Build off the Anticipation of Adjustments

Every sporting match evolves as it happens. Teams are constantly adjusting to one another and even adjusting to the adjustments they think their rivals will take. I’ll be looking for the Wings actually doing this for a change. Being forced to dump it out of your own zone a bunch? Great, do it vertically to allow speedier forwards to force defenders back and perhaps you’ll see the forecheck slow as a result, giving you the opportunity to start stringing together outlet passes instead of dump-outs.  Something something establish the run so you can use the play-action blah blah x’s and o’s.