lordstanley

2 on 1 to make it 2-0! Raymond to Rasmussen.

9am Vancouver time. Coffee, bacon, eggs & Wings. Game is on ABC. Kane gives the Wings a 1-0 lead over St. Louis just 33 seconds in.

Let's see what a 2nd rounder + Berggen would get us, if anything. I'd be fine with giving up both. Not a 1st.

Winner! March is going to be exciting.

Overtime. Wings have 52 seconds left on a powerplay to start.

Impressive penalty kills by the Wings. 1-1 with 2:41 left in 3rd.

The two games that matter tonight are the Leafs on the road in Arizona and the Flyers on the road in Chicago.

Caps beat Devils 7-2. Isles beat Pens 5-4 in OT. Philly has 65 points after 56 games. Tampa has 65 points after 57 games. Wings have 64 points after 55 games. They are all in playoff spots at the moment. Devils, Isles and Caps all have 60 points after 55 games. Pens have 56 points after 53 games. They are all on the outside looking in at the moment.

Ok. Without reading any comments yet, I say fine with the money, term a bit long by a year, but whatever. Not really what you expect a top 10 draft pick to be, but Ras has found a role and most people are more positive on him now than they were 18 months ago.

The Atlantic article on Kasper's growth. https://theathletic.com/5284153/2024/02/19/red-wings-prospect-marco-kasper/?access_token=12041601 Paywalled, I believe, but here is the first part: GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The play that Griffins coach Dan Watson feels should be at the top of Marco Kasper’s highlight reel might surprise you. It’s not the between-the-legs goal he scored earlier this month against Manitoba, taking a pass at the net front and then fooling the goalie by tucking it through his own legs and in. It wasn’t the flashy assist he tallied in mid-November against Chicago, drawing in a defender on the rush before making a backhand pass into space for Jonatan Berggren. It actually didn’t earn him a point at all. That’s because the play Watson reserves that comment for was a different kind of highlight. It was Kasper’s racing end to end to beat an icing call, then holding off three Belleville Senators in a battle behind the net for nearly 15 seconds until Berggren eventually scooped up the puck and banked it in for a game-sealing goal. “If he had a highlight reel, that should be it right there,” Watson told The Athletic over the weekend. “Because that’s who he’s going to be.” That’s because the play Watson reserves that comment for was a different kind of highlight. It was Kasper’s racing end to end to beat an icing call, then holding off three Belleville Senators in a battle behind the net for nearly 15 seconds until Berggren eventually scooped up the puck and banked it in for a game-sealing goal. “If he had a highlight reel, that should be it right there,” Watson told The Athletic over the weekend. “Because that’s who he’s going to be.”

Sens beat Tampa. So the Wings now have a better points percentage than Tampa (Wings 1 pt behind with 2 games in hand) and Philly (Wings 1 pt behind with 1 game in hand).

The Wings were shorthanded for the first 16 seconds of OT. In overtime, when shorthanded, the sides play 4 on 3, as 3 on 2 would be too lopsided. At the first whistle after the penalty expires, you revert to 3 on 3. So the Wings killed off the penalty (Maata returns to ice to make it 4 on 4) and then scored before the first whistle.

Chiarot!

Overtime, whew.

Dumb penalty by Maata. Could well cost the Wings a point or two.

Kane clangs one off the crossbar. 4 minutes to go, still tied.

Talk about a wide open net! Kraken tie it with 12 minutes to go.

I agree ... now. They have created some distance (6 pts up, same number of games played). But before their winning streak, they were down in the mix with the Bolts, Wings, and others.

Fischer with the pass, Sprong with the roofer. Pretty play.

Kane has 9 goals so should join the list soon.

Leafs have won already today for their 4th straight win, and are 8-2 in past 10. They may be waking up and pulling away from the Wings.

Yes, Tigers-Blue Jackets would have been a mismatch.

Another matinee for the Wings, starting at 3:30pm ET, 12:30pm PT in Seattle. A win would salvage an acceptable 2-2 road trip.

Tigers to play the Blue Jsckets in a Stadium Series game next season, March 1 2025, at Ohio Stadium. The outdoors concept is well past its best before date,but what I saw of the two games from MetLife this weekend seemed like good entertainment in a good atmosphere. https://oilersnation.com/news/nhl-notebook-blue-jackets-to-host-red-wings-in-2025-stadium-series-at-ohio-stadium-and-which-teams-have-the-best-odds-to-select-macklin-celebrini-in-2024-draft

I will start a Playoff Tracker thread on March 1, or someone else may do so in the meantime which would be totally cool. It was a fixture of the board in the springs of 2014-2016 when the Wings were a bubble team.