Detroit Red Wings: Zadina Nets his first and Svechnikov does it again

Filip Zadina struggled at times Thursday night in his first preseason appearance.  Zadina bounced back last night for the Detroit Red Wings scoring on the power play against the Boston Bruins.  Svechnikov wins it in OT for the Wings.

Filip Zadina spoke with the media after his Detroit Red Wings debut and admitted the NHL game is much faster than he expected.  Zadina mentioned he wasn’t exactly ready for that type of speed.  Zadina realized a shift or two in that he wasn’t in junior hockey anymore.

Zadina mentioned he would be better and he was last evening.  Zadina buried a power play goal from Kronwall and Veleno.  Veleno centered Zadina and Nyquist on the evening.  Zadina was a minus 1 in 18:32 of ice-time, but had a much better showing than his first game.  You can tell he still has a bit of the jitters.  Now is the time to settle in and rid the butterflies in your belly.  When the games start to count players even the youth need to be banging on all cylinders.

Libor Sulak played 21:04 minutes last night, Sulak finished the night even and with 3 shots on goal.  Although Sulak never recorded a point he didn’t hurt his stock at all.  Playing big minutes and continuing to show off his mobility will continue to draw the attention of his coaching staff.

Dennis Cholowski scored his first goal of the preseason last night.  Cholowski is a player the Detroit Red Wings coaching staff wants to continue to watch closely.  Dennis played 22:51 last night.  Cholowski was a minus 1 with 3 shots on goal.

Michael Rasmussen played over 19 minutes and was a plus 1 but didn’t record any points.  Niklas Kronwall made his 2018 preseason debut.  Kronner logged 18:48 and recorded an assist.  Joe Veleno played 18:05 with a helper but was also a minus 1.

Jimmy Howard played the entire game.  Howard was respectable; he allowed 3 goals on 26 shots.  It’s only preseason so don’t overreact, but Howard needs to be better.  A .885 save percentage just isn’t good enough.  Again don’t over examine it.  I have a fear though that the Detroit Red Wings goaltending will become singled out with a below average, rebuilding club in front of them.

Evgeny Svechnikov for the second straight game plays less than 15 minutes and buries the game-winning goal.  Svechnikov is watching Wings younger prospects play nearly 20 minutes a night, and playing with skilled players.  It has to be discouraging playing around 14 minutes a night fighting for a job, and the competition is playing 6-8 more shifts than you.

Evgeny Svechnikov was a plus 1, playing as a member of the Red Wings third line in preseason game three.  It is time Jeff Blashill opens his eyes and allows Svechnikov more ice-time.  Luke Glendening, Darren Helm, and Domonic Turgeon all played more minutes than Svechnikov.

The Detroit Red Wings preseason schedule continues this afternoon at 3 pm.  The Wings travel to Pittsburgh to take on the pesky Penguins.