Tag: detroit red wings

Drama Until Shootout- Sharks lose to the Red Wings 3-2

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By Fernando Abarca

San Jose Sharks Defenseman John Klingberg and Red Wing center Marco Kasper battle the puck during the first period of the game at SAP Center in San Jose, California on Nov 2nd 2025

SAN JOSE, CA –– The San Jose Sharks started off the new month with high hopes and another win as they hosted the Colorado Avalanche Saturday night. On Sunday Night, another test against another tough rival, the Detroit Red Wings. The visitors enter this game with an 8-4-0 record (2nd in the Atlantic Division). The Sharks after winning two straight dropped a close one to Detroit 3-2.

Also the Sharks celebrate Hockey Fights Cancer, an initiative by the NHL to raise awareseness and funds for cancer research and celebrate those who have survived against this disease.

The first period was very even between the two teams, with five shots on goal apiece, resulting in a scoreless draw at the end of the period. Both teams were feeling each other out, and the Sharks were trying to leverage their home-ice advantage.

During the 2nd period, Detroit managed to get on the board first, with Lucas Raymond putting the visitors ahead 1-0, which would remain in favor of the visitors until the end of the period.

At the start of the Third, the Sharks did not shy away and came back in the game. Jeff Skinner deflected, helping the Sharks to tie it up with a play set by P. Kurashev, D. Orlov. The Red Wings responded quickly, taking advantage of the defensive mistakes by the Sharks, and Moritz Seider put the Red Wings back up by one.

The Sharks responded by again, Sam Dickinson recorded his first NHL goal at a moment the Sharks needed it the most, to tie this game up again. The pace of the game picked up, chances increased for both sides, and it became clear the game could be decided beyond regulation.

The Sharks responded well to the pressure, but ultimately, the Teal folded with no score during the shootout. Unfortunately, the team could not make a consecutive win, but clearly the underdog Sharks pushed to the limit a Detroit team that is sitting top of the standings in their division.

The Sharks are on the road for the next game at Seattle and will try to get another win. The Teal returns home against Winnipeg on Nov 7.

San Jose Sharks podcast Lincoln Juarez: Nedeljkovic key factor in keeping New Jersey out of the nets on Thursday

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San Jose Sharks left winger William Eklund (72) scores on the New Jersey goaltender Jake Allen (34) in the first period at SAP Center in San Jose on Thu Oct 30, 2025 (AP News photo)

San Jose Sharks podcast Lincoln Juarez:

#1 How quickly did William Eklund score for the Sharks, and in what fashion did he get that goal?

#2 The two Sharks were really moving offensively against New Jersey the two Sharks players who scored a goal and an assist each from the match they were Alex Wennberg and Philipp Kurashev,

#3 Sharks’ goalie Alex Nedeljkovic saved 29 shots out 31 shots and was the key figure keeping the Devils out of the nets on Thursday night.

#4 What milestone did Alexander Wennberg achieve during this game while also contributing offensively?

#5 The Sharks begin the first of back to back games starting with the Colorado Avalanche Saturday at 1pm and on Sunday against the Detroit Red Wings at 5pm. Do you see the Sharks handling these two teams much like they did against New Jersey?

Join Lincoln Juarez for the San Jose Sharks podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Detroit has Utah HC Seeing Red In 5-1 Thrashing

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Utah Hockey Club goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) had a rough night against the Detroit Red Wings faced 13 shots, saved nine and allowed four goals at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Mon Mar 24, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah finishes homestand on a losing note as Red Wings score five unanswered goals in a 5-1 win at the Delta Center.

Heading into Monday night’s contest against the Detroit Red Wings, the Utah Hockey Club had won seven of their last nine home games in an effort to keep their playoff hopes alive. Each team entered the matchup with 32 wins on the season, with Utah holding an edge in points thanks to 11 overtime or shootout losses versus 6 for the Wings who are also in the Wild Card hunt in the Eastern Conference.

The first period started off bright for the home team when Tyler Motte was whistled for tripping against Kevin Stenlund, giving Utah an early power play opportunity. Captain Clayton Keller fired a perfect pass to Dylan Guenther who one-timed a slap shot past Detroit goaltender Alex Lyon for his 26th goal of the season and a 1-0 Utah lead.

A little more than a minute later, however, Utah defenseman Sean Durzi lost the puck in the offensive zone and Vladimir Tarasenko was off to the races, feeding linemate Elmer Soderblom who put the puck past Karel Vejmelka for his 4th goal of the season to tie things up.

Early in the second period, Red Wings forward Marco Kasper banked the puck off of Utah’s Lawson Crouse in front of the net for a fluke goal, his 14th of the season, giving Detroit a 2-1 lead. The two squads would exchange power play opportunities during the period but the two netminders held off any further scoring.

At 9:51 of the third period, Detroit would collect its second fluke goal of the game when a shot toward the net from the blue line by Simon Edvinsson would deflect off the stick of Austin Watson at the top of the faceoff circle and fly just over the left shoulder of Karel Vejmelka into the top corner of the net to make it 3-1.

For Watson it was his first goal of the season in his fourth game as a Red Wing. With the clock winding down to the final few minutes, Utah pulled Vejmelka for an extra attacker, but Detroit was able to capitalize as Alex DeBrinkat put the game out of reach for good with his 33rd goal of the season into the empty net, assisted by Patrick Kane.

Adding insult to injury, with 88 seconds left on the clock, Tyler Motte picked up a rebound from a shot by Craig Smith to notch his 3rd goal of the season and finish off Utah 5-1.

In the locker room after the game, Utah defenseman Ian Cole weighed in on the game. “I think overall, it was a decent game, but ultimately, regardless of what the balance is, we lost the game. There’s a lot of turning points that we could talk about over the course of that game, but overall, we didn’t get the job done.” With regard to the challenge of making the playoffs, Cole continued, “Nothing’s easy, right? You need a lot of good force on your side. You need calls on your side, you need to take advantage of opportunities, and you need to play really, really good hockey. You need kind of a perfect storm to get into the playoffs and then have success when you’re in the playoffs. You need all those things going for you. Tonight some of those things did not go for us, but we’re right back at it against a great team in Tampa in a couple days. We’ll have to look at the video and figure out what went wrong and what we could have done better, and then fix that and move on.”

Captain Clayton Keller also faced the media. “We had a good start. We had a lot of possessions, some shots early, but I don’t think we did a good enough job of getting to the inside, hitting those rebounds … power plays got to be better. We had a good start there, but we have to find a way to get another one there. So that’s definitely frustrating as well. … There’s never going to be any quit in this room ever. We’re going to fight all the way until the end. We’re going to try to win every single game from here on out. Never know what can happen. We’re going to stay motivated, learn from this game, (and) attack this next road trip. We go 3-0, you never know what will happen.”

Utah Head coach André Tourigny began his media room comments by saying, “I think we got a little bit unlucky on our goal against. The puck was bouncing a lot tonight. It was tough to execute. I would have loved to simplify a little bit, go more at the net, and (be a little) bit more dirty. I thought we had a good start. But we could have simplified a little more in our shooting mentality in trying to make plays. Like I said, at the end of the day we got unlucky.” When asked what adjustments he would have liked to have seen, Tourigny commented, “More (of a) shooting mentality, more shots on net, more broken plays. Give them credit; they played well defensively, which we did as well. We gave up five shots after two (periods). We kept them on the outside pretty good. The way we played defensively was alright. Offensively, I think we could have simplified. … I have no problem with the way we played in terms of intensity, battle, those kinds of (things). I don’t have much to say. I’m trying to be creative here. We didn’t execute right offensively and we tried to do too much. We should have gone to the net and had some scrappy goals and we didn’t.”

Utah now hits the road for a trio of games against Tampa Bay, Florida, and Chicago before returning to Delta Center on April 1 against Calgary for the first of five games on the final homestand of the inaugural season.

Cooley and Kerfoot Strike Lightning Twice In 6-4 Utah HC Win Over Tampa Bay

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Utah Hockey Club’s Logan Cooley (92) scored a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sat Mar 22, 2025 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City. Here is Cooley getting congratulated by teammates after scoring against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Vancouver on Sun Mar 16, 2025. (Canadian Press via AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Utah forwards explode for six goals while notching the team’s seventh home win over the past 9 games in hard fought victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Utah Hockey Club played a rare early afternoon game at Delta Center on Saturday, hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning who have outscored every other team in the league except the Washington Capitals and boasts the highest plus/minus differential in the NHL.

Josh Doan struck first for the home team at 6:42 of the opening frame connecting at the goal crease on a perfect pass from Jack McBain from behind the net for his fifth goal of the season, with the second assist to Lawson Crouse.

With a little more than two minutes remaining in the period, Utah forward Nick Schmaltz fed Michael Kesselring the puck on a breakaway which was stopped by Lightning netminder Brandon Halverson, but Logan Cooley followed the play and punched the rebound into the back of the net for his 20th goal of the season and a 2-0 lead.

Shortly after the ensuing faceoff, Ian Cole was whistled for tripping against Nikita Kucherov, resulting in a power play goal for Brayden Point, his 33rd on the season, assisted by Jake Guentzel and Oliver Bjorkstrand.

At 5:22 of the second period, Tampa Bay forward Anthony Cirelli evened the score on a slap shot for his 24th goal of the season, assisted by Brandon Hagel and Nikita Kucherov. 36 seconds later Utah would regain the lead when forward Kevin Stenlund one-timed a cross ice pass from John Marino to find Alexander Kerfoot in front of the net who knocked it in for his 9th goal of the season.

With 2:37 remaining in the period, Lightning forward Jake Guentzel tied things up once again, tipping in a pass from Nick Perbix for his 34th goal of the season, but 30 seconds later John Marino launched a shot from the blue line which Logan Cooley deflected into the net for his 21st of the season, putting Utah back on top 4-3 as the period closed.

Barely a minute into the third period, Clayton Keller was stopped at close range by Brandon Halverson, who immediately turned away a rebound attempt by Logan Cooley but was unable to stop Nick Schmaltz on a second rebound backhand shot for his 17th goal of the season and a 5-3 lead.

Less than two minutes later Brayen Point could cut the lead to one again with his second goal of the game, assisted by Ryan McDonagh and Jake Guentzel. Earlier in the season Utah struggled to maintain third period leads, but Karel Vejmelka, playing in his career high 13th consecutive game, held the Lightning offense scoreless the rest of the way, fending off a Tampa Bay power play with 2:09 remaining due to a too many men on the ice penalty.

With 57 seconds remaining, Alexander Kerfoot fired the puck into an empty net for his 2nd goal of the night and 10th of the season, giving Utah the 6-4 victory, their seventh at home over their past 9 contests.

In the locker room, Kerfoot talked about Utah’s recent success at home. “I think the crowd’s been unreal. I mean, third period there towards the end of the game—that’s a loud building that’s fun to play in. We’ve obviously placed an emphasis on being at home, I don’t think that our mindset has really changed, but we’ve just dug in here down the stretch and it’s a fun place to play. It feels like we’ve got momentum when we come home and when we’re playing in front of our fans. … I think that this was a great atmosphere for kids to come and watch the game and this is a new market, we’re trying to grow hockey here. SEG’s done an awesome job of growing the game in this community and to have a night like this where we get to bring in some youth hockey players and some kids during an early game on the weekend, it’s really fun and I hope that we can do that again in the future.”

In a game full of momentum swings, Logan Cooley talked about managing emotions. “It was kind of a crazy game, honestly. We were up two but then a goal gets called back, but you know, we just kept going at it and I thought we were playing the right way the whole third [period] there and then we got the outcome with a big two points.” With regard to his personal compete level, Cooley remarked, “I think just for me, I try to be the best version of myself each and every day and just try to get as good as I can to become the player I want to be. Obviously, it comes back to the team and trying to get into the playoffs. Eventually, I want to get a Cup and I think that’s the biggest drive for me right now. Being in Utah, it’s special in front of these fans. There’s no better feeling than coming to the rink every day and working together towards one goal here.”

Head coach André Tourigny was all smiles in the media room. “Really happy about the offense we created tonight, but even more proud of the way we defended the rush and the way we closed the middle of the ice. That was a really tough challenge, tough team to do that against them. Obviously for individual performance, I think Sergey [Mikhail Sergachev] was really good. Cooley and his line, they were something else. They were really, really good. I think it’s a huge character win. … Right from the start of the game, the focus, the execution, the urgency was elite. I think everybody was engaged. Everybody was connected. We’re really disciplined, and in the way we had to play against those guys. Great effort from the boys.” Comparing his club’s protecting the lead in the third period with difficulties earlier in the season, Tourigny said, “It’s day and night. I think that the mindset, the composure, the assertiveness, you cannot even compare. I think our team grew a lot, and I think we have way more maturity now.”

Utah will square off on Monday against the Detroit Red Wings before embarking upon a three game road trip to Tampa Bay, Florida, and Chicago. They will then return for one final homestand of five games before finishing out the regular season on the road.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro Fri Mar 7, 2025: Utah’s Veimelka 31 saves shutout Red Wings 3-0; Bjorkstrand scores game winner for Bolts 6-5 win over Sabres; plus more news

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Utah Hockey Club goaltender Karel Veimelka saved 31 shots for a 3-0 shutout against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Thu May 6, 2025 (AP file photo)

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro Fri Mar 7, 2025

Len before we start just a quick run down about the NHL trade deadline and the Washington Capitals Alexander Ovechkin’s run at the all time goal scoring record.

#1  Karel Veimelka stopped 31 shots for the Utah Hockey Club and Utah scored three unanswered goals against the Detroit Red Wings for a 4-2 win at Little Caesars Arena Thursday night in Detroit. Vejmelka just signed a five year extension before the game for Utah.

#2 Jake Guentzel had a big night for the Tampa Bay Lightning picking up a hat trick that helped the Bolts edge the visiting Buffalo Sabres at Amailie Arena on Thursday night 6-5. Oliver Bjorkstrand ended a 5-5 tie in the third period in his Tampa Bay debut with a goal. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.

#3 Florida Panthers Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 16 shots as the Florida Panthers picked up their fifth straight game in a shutout over the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-0 at Amerant Bank Arena Thursday night. Bobrovsky picked up his 433rd career win which tied goaltender great Tony Esposito for the tenth spot on the NHL all time list.

#4 Winnipeg Jets Mark Scheifele scored a goal and had two assists as the Jets got a convincing 4-1 win over Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night. Gabriel Vilardi picked up three assists teammate Kyle Connor scored a goal and got an assist. The Jets snapped a three game losing streak with the win.

#5  Carolina Hurricanes Seth Jarvis scored a key goal with 19 seconds left in regulation to get the Canes a 3-2 win against the visiting Boston Bruins at Lenovo Center in Raleigh on Thursday night. Jarvis scored his goal from the short side at the left hash marks after defenseman Nikita Zadrorov broke his stick in an attempt to clear the puck in the right circle.

Join Len Shaprio for the NHL podcasts Fridays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Lightning get shutout help from Vasilevskiy; Isles edge Bruins 2-1 at the Garden; plus more NHL news

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Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (88) and defenseman Ryan McDonagh (27) put the stop on the Calgary Flames right wing Matt Coranato (27) at the Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Thu Feb 27, 2025 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped all 27 Calgary Flames shots on goal for a 3-0 shutout at the Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Thursday. The Lightning got goal scoring from Brandon Hagel, Erik Cemak, and Nikita Kucherov.

#2 The New York Islanders just got by the Boston Bruins 2-1 at the Garden in Boston. The Islanders Alexander Romanov scored his fourth goal of the season at 16:11 in the first period and teammate Kyle Palmieri scored his 18th goal of the season at 4:21 in the second period. The Bruins got their only goal of the game at 10:04 when David Pastrnak scored in the third period.

#3 The Columbus Blue Jackets won a three goal contest against the Detroit Red Wings. Most of the game’s scoring came in the second period when the Red Wings Alex DeBrincat scored his 27th goal at 27 seconds making it 1-0, the Blue Jackets would follow up with four unanswered goals from James Van Riemsdyk, Sean Kuraly, Kent Johnson, and Riemsdyk scored his second goal of the period making it 4-1 CBJs. The Red Wings JD Compher scored at 16:30 for the final goal of the period making it 4-2. The Jackets Kirill Marchenko scored at 19:03 in the third period to round out all the goals in a 5-2 win for Columbus.

#4 The San Jose Sharks and Montreal Canadiens skated to a 2-2 after the first period. The Sharks getting first period goals from Fabian Zetterlund and Nico Sturm. The Habs got first period goals from Nick Suzuki scoring twice in the period. In the second period the Sharks Will Smith scored at 17:21 making 3-2 Sharks. The Canadiens added two more in the third period Alex Newhook and in overtime Cole Caulfield scored the game winner for the 4-3 win.

#5 The Carolina Hurricanes came away with a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. Wearing their Hartford Whalers uniforms the Hurricanes scored three unanswered goals in the first period taking a 3-1 lead after the first period. Carolina would score a goal in each of the second and third periods for the 5-2 win.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts each Friday morning at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Nylander scores game winner in OT for Leafs; Caps Ovechkin now 21 shy of Gretzky’s goal record; plus more NHL news

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Toronto Maple Leafs William Nylander (88) scored the game winning goal against the New Jersey Devils, he is joined in the celebration with teammates Jake McCabe (22) and Phillipe Myers (88) at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Thu Jan 16, 2025 (Canadian Press via AP)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Toronto Maple Leafs William Nylander scored the game winning overtime goal at 1:10 to defeat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Thursday night. Nylander on a Mitch Marner stretch pass and shot the puck for a goal past New Jersey goaltender Jacob Markstrom glove side from the blue line.

#2 Alexander Ovechkin scored the game winner for the Washington Capitals for his 874th career goal at 3:07 in overtime to defeat the Ottawa Senators 1-0 at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. Ovechkin is now 21 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal scoring record at 894. Ovechkin took a pass from Ramus Sandin on a two on one and beat the Sens Leevi Merilainen with a snap shot.

#3 The Tampa Bay Lightning Jake Guentzel scored in the shootout to defeat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa Bay on Thursday. The Lightning’s Brayden Point scored, Victor Hedman picked up his career 600th assist. The win puts the Lighting at 3-1-1 in their last five games. Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy saved 34 shots.

#4 The Detroit Red Wings Cam Talbot stopped 41 shots on a busy night to defeat the Florida Panthers 5-2 at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise. Talbot had the hot hand stopping 23 shots in the third period. The Wings Dylan Larkin had two goals and an assist to keep the offense going.

#5 The Columbus Blue Jackets kept their win streak alive with a convincing 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks at Nationwide Bank Arena in Columbus on Thursday. The Jackets James van Riemsdyk scored twice and Zach Werenski picked up his 18th consecutive home point.

Join Len Shapiro for the NHL podcasts Fridays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Beat Red Wings 6-3 end 3 game skid, Wings end 7 game win streak, SJ scores 4 in third period

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The San Jose Sharks defenseman Cody Ceci and defenseman Jan Rutta (84) celebrate a first period goal that put the Sharks up on the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tue Jan 14, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 on Tuesday. Jan Rutta, Nico Sturm, William Eklund, Mikael Granlund, Tyler Toffoli and Mario Ferraro scored for the Sharks. Alexandar Georgiev made 25 saves for the win. Vladimir Tarasenko and Lucas Raymond scored for the Red Wings. Ville Husso made 18 saves in the loss.

The Sharks have given up the lead in the third period in several recent games. After the game, Jan Rutta said: “We’ve been in this situation more than a few times this year. So, we got the job done today. Hopefully that’s just a sign of us taking steps in the right direction and that when we have the lead we can play like tonight.”

Sharks Head Coach Ryan Warsofsky talked about Georgiev’s performance in the win: “He was tracking pucks, he was locked in, made some huge saves for us, so… You can see his game it’s been trending in the right direction. So happy that he got rewarded tonight with the win for sure.”

The Sharks took an early lead with a goal from Jan Rutta at 1:45. Alexander Wennberg stole the puck away from Detroit below the goal line, then centered it for Will Smith. Smith took the shot and then caught his own rebound. He passed it up to Rutta above the faceoff circles. Rutta took the shot from high in the slot through some traffic. Assists went to Smith and Wennberg.

The Sharks added to their lead with a short-handed goal at 17:41. William Eklund broke away into the neutral zone then lost the puck before he got to the Detroit blue line. He gathered the puck back up and passed it to Nico Sturm on the blue line. Sturm carried the puck in and took the shot from just above the goal line. Assists went to Eklund and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

The Sharks were badly outshot in the first period, 12-6 by the Red Wings. The Sharks took the only first period penalty. Their penalty kill allowed two shots but also took two shots and scored once.

Vladimir Tarasenko got the Red Wings on the board at 1:28 of the second period, catching a rebound from Simon Edvinsson’s shot for a snap shot. Assists went to Edvinsson and Jonatan Berggren.

The Sharks outshot the Red Wings in the second, 9-6. The Sharks also took the only second period penalty. The penalty kill got one short handed shot and did not allow any shots against.

William Eklund made it 3-1 28 seconds into the third period. Eklund passed the puck behind the net to Celebrini, who then passed it back through the blue paint to Eklund, who knocked it into the net. Celebrini and Tyler Toffoli got the assists.

Tarasenko trimmed the Sharks’ lead again, with his second of the night. Erik Gustafsson shot the puck off the backboards so that it centered just as Tarasenko arrived at the net to shoot it in. Gustafsson and Joe Veleno got the assists.

The Sharks took back their two goal lead at 7:43 with a power play goal. Mikael Granlund caught a pass from Macklin Celebrini at the top of the faceoff circle. Granlund carried the puck almost past the net before scoring with a backhand shot.

Lucas Raymond got one back for Detroit at 9:56 with a wrist shot. Going right to the net after a faceoff, he caught the pass from faceoff winner Dylan Larkin.

Tyler Toffoli made it 5-3 at 10:57. William Eklund gathered up a loose puck in front of the net and passed it ahead to Toffoli, who shot it in from a bad angle.

Mario Ferraro scored an empty net goal at 18:22 with a shot from just above the Sharks’ goal line.

The shots were almost even at 10-9 Sharks in the third period. The Red Wings took their first penalty of the game and the only one called in the third. The Sharks power play got two shots on goal and scored.

The Sharks next play on Thursday at 4:00 PM PT in Columbus against the Blue Jackets.

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: McLellan new Red Wings head coach; Wings become McLellan’s 4th team

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Former Los Angeles Kings head coach Todd McLellan has been hired by the Detroit Red Wings on Thu Dec 26, 2024 to replace Derek Lalonde. McLellan formerly coached the San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings. (AP file photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Detroit Red Wings on Thursday hired former San Jose Sharks head coach Todd McLellan who signed a multi year contact. The Wings fired former head coach Derek Lalonde. McLellan who was fired from his last job with the Los Angeles Kings on Feb 2. McLellan is 598-412-134 in 1444 games. McLellan also was head coach for the San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers, before joining the Kings and has a 42-46 playoff record. McLellan ranks sixth among winningest head coaches. Lalonde is the fourth NHL coach to be fired this year.

#2 For McLellan this is his fourth NHL team and when you consider him the sixth ranking winningest NHL head coach that makes a NHL team looking for an head coach no doubt look for the best in who’s available.

#3 For the Red Wing general manager Steve Yzerman is a third of the way into his third season and had to make a move as the Red Wings were on a three game losing streak previous to Thursday’s coaching change. The Wings have lost nine of their last 12 games and 21 of their first 34 games this season.

#4 Yzerman didn’t see any improvement from Lalonde as the Wings are just above the last place Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference. Lalonde was midway into his third season with the Wings. Lalonde had success as an assistant coach in Tampa Bay winning two Stanley Cup Championships there.

#5 Former San Jose coach and the Red Wings associate coach Bob Boughner was also fired from the Wings and replaced by Trent Yawney to work as an assistant coach. McLellan has a success record out nine of 14 seasons McClellan has led his teams to the post season.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts Fridays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Len Shapiro: Guenther scores twice to give Utah 2-1 win; Caps Lindgren stops 24 shots for 3-1 win over Wild; plus more NHL news

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The Utah Hockey Club’s Dylan Guenther is congratulated from the Utah bench after scoring a goal in the first period against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center in Minneapolis on Fri Dec 20, 2024 (AP News photo)

On the NHL podcast with Len Shapiro:

#1 The Utah Hockey Club’s Dylan Guenther scored twice and got a go ahead goal at 10:01 in the third period. Guenther extended his point streak to seven games in a 2-1 win over the Minnesota Wild at the Excel Energy Center in Minneapolis.

#2 The Washington Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren stopped 24 shots and the Caps got a 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes at the Capital One Center on Friday. The Capitals Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, and Jakob Vranda all scored a goal and an assist.

#3 The Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray stopped 25 shots in his first NHL game back since Apr 2, 2023 getting the win over the Buffalo Sabres at Key Bank Center in Buffalo on Friday 6-3. it was also Murray’s first NHL win since March 23, 2023. Sabres have lost 12 straight games and have 0-9-3 during the losing streak and are 11-18-4 overall.

#4 The Montreal Canadiens Patrik Laine scored the go ahead goal at 7:58 to lead the Habs to a 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Pizza Arena in Detroit on Friday. Emil Heineman and Jake Evans each scored and got an assist for Montreal. Habs goaltender Cam Talbot save 24 shots.

#5 Aleksander Barkov scored with 17 seconds remaining in overtime that gave the Florida Panthers a 2-1 win over the the St Louis Blues at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise on Friday. Barkov got a wrist shot from the right circle during a power play right after he was sent to the penalty box for tripping the Blues Brayden Schenn at 4:17.

Len Shapiro does the NHL podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com