The Daily: Red Wings Fans Say ‘Thanks’ to Leafs; DeBrincat Woes

If the Pittsburgh Penguins earn the final wildcard position over the Detroit Red Wings, the pain will be more unbearable for Detroit fans. They don’t much care for the Penguins, particularly Sidney Crosby.  This intense dislike goes back to the two Stanley Cup Finals between the two teams in 2008 and 2009.

Detroit fans still offer a derogatory chant toward Crosby when he visits Detroit, a remnant from those days, mostly over the handshake controversy. Crosby didn’t shake hands with Detroit captain Nick Lidstrom in 2009 after the Pens won the Stanley Cup. Crosby’s side is that he was celebrating with teammates and by the time he went to the handshake line Lidstrom was gone.

That’s the story in two sentences.

But 15 years later it adds to the entertainment value of the Red Wings and Penguins competing for the same spot. Detroit fans certainly are happy this morning that the Penguins only picked up one point for a 3-2 overtime loss to Toronto on Monday night.

The Penguins probably played well enough to get two points in that game.

This was Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s Dan Kingerski’s take: “The general feeling in the Pittsburgh Penguins locker room was that Monday’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs was one of their best. Yet the results were mixed. The Penguins earned a point, but their four-game winning streak ended when Lars Eller, Drew O’Connor, and Erik Karlsson were caught on the ice for more than 90 seconds at the start of overtime. Eventually, Toronto defenseman Jake McCabe had a short breakaway to beat Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic for a 3-2 OT win.”

Former Red Wings goalie Nedeljkovic was down about the loss.

“(It was a) pretty tough goal to give up — their second goal that was probably a little deflating,” Nedeljkovic said. “So it’s pretty tough to give that up. But I give the guys a lot of credit. They battled through it. They battled back and got a good bounce — went to the net — tied it up and bailed me out on that aspect.”

Red Wings In Case You Missed It

• What has happened to the Alex DeBrincat-Patrick Kane connection? Kane is scoring, but DeBrincat isn’t.
• Ville Husso is heading to Grand Rapids for one or two conditioning starts. If the Red Wings make the playoffs, coach Derek Lalonde will have goalie options.
• Defenseman Moritz Seider is the king of Detroit shot blockers. The big German defenseman had 10 blocks in the win against Buffalo.

Red Wings Next Game

The Red Wings play Alex Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals tonight (7 p.m.) in a game critical to the playoff fortunes of both teams. The Red Wings, with a .545 points percentage, hold the last wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals are one point behind them. Washington beat Detroit 4-3 in overtime on March 26, but the team has only won three of its last 10 games

Hockey Now Network

Boston: Jimmy Murphy writes that he believes the Boston Bruins are ready to be physical in the postseason.

Montreal: With a few games remaining, the Montreal Canadiens are 28th in the NHL overall. That would earn them an 8.5% chance of picking first and an 8.6% chance of picking second. The Habs have a 69.5% chance of picking fifth or sixth.

Nashville: Some Nashville Predators are chasing some noteworthy team records. Michael Gallagher had the story.

Philadelphia: The Flyers signed a big Swedish winger. Jonathan Bailey explains what this player can do for the Philadelphia Flyers starting next season.