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GDT: Canes v. Red Wings 3/4 7:00

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
The Canes bring their dads and mentors to the Motor City. To quote Tom Hanks in That Thing You Do, “it’s very important that you don’t stink today”

The Canes toughed out an OT win against Calgary on Sunday, Aho with his 5th OT winner of the season. Slavin had the 1st goal on a nice 2 on 1 with Blake, after Hall crushed Kadri leading to the turnover. Kadri exacted his revenge, scoring just after a 5 on 3 PP expired. The PK has gone the way of the PP, they’ve allowed a PP goal in 4 straight, dropping to 2nd in the league. If the goalie rotation holds, we’ll see Andersen tonight.

Detroit is clinging onto the 2nd Wild Card spot, 2 behind Columbus, tied with the Rangers and only 1 point ahead of Ottawa and Montreal. They’re 6-3-1 in their last 10 but have lost 2 straight, including Saturday's loss to Columbus in the Stadium Series game. But they’ve earned the 4th most points since December 26 when Todd McLellan replaced Derek Lalonde as coach. Alex DeBrincat leads with 29 goals, he’s on a heater with 25 points in his last 23 games. Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond each have at least 20. Raymond leads with 41 assists and is averaging better than a point per game. The Wings have settled on Cam Talbot and Alex Lyon in goal, they shipped Ville Husso to Anaheim last week. Talbot is at 2.92/.903 in 35 games, Lyon is 2.74/.902 in 23 games. Since McLellan‘s hiring, they’re 7th in goals per game, 24th in goals against. McLellan has also revived the PP, they lead the league at 38.5% since his hiring. They’re 29th on the PK since his hiring, DFL for the season.

You're not seeing things, the Canes are wearing black jerseys tonight so the Wings can wear their Stadium Series jerseys at home. FanDuel for TV.
 
OK, with a grimy W under their belts and the Dads in tow, it's time to work on a couple of other ugly trends in Detroit.

Job 1 ... get some freaking thing out of the power play, if for no other reason than to shift the vibes. Yeah, the possession time and entries have gotten a bit better, but they're still struggling with puck movement and intention. Figure out what you actually want for a shot and start getting to it. The Wings have a crappy kill so this is as good a chance as any to get something going.

Job 2 ... settle on a first line and stick with it for more than a couple of periods. Detroit's not a particularly difficult matchup because they aren't all that great down the middle. That takes away Carolina's biggest matchup concern with their recent setup, which is keeping Jost and KK from getting overwhelmed. Freaking Compher, Motte and Veleno ain't overwhelming anybody. So put the first line you want out there and let it simmer. Pick from Blake, Svech, Jarvis or whatever other insane option you're keeping under wraps (first line Martinook again, probably) and let them have a bash for a couple of games.
 
Shoot the damn puck…when you don’t score on a power play for so long why on earth would you think the cute passes to nowhere are going to work.
 
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