Detroit Red Wings Week Six Review – February 22-28, 2021
Broken Wings – Tyler Bertuzzi has not yet resumed skating and still has no timeframe to return. The Red Wings also stayed COVID free this week, but lost Dylan Larkin and Robby Fabbri to injury. No update on either was given over the weekend.
Wing Movement – The Red Wings drew some questions this week after putting Frans Nielsen on waivers to assign him to the taxi squad. Nielsen returned to the active roster after one game due to the injury to Larkin. Evgeny Svechnikov was activated from Grand Rapids to the taxi squad and then into the line-up for his first two games of the season this week.
Game Review – The Red Wings played four games this week. They played full series against the Nashville Predators and the Chicago Blackhawks. The Wings lost the first game against Nashville, getting shutout 2-0. The Wings would then put-up commanding wins over both Nashville and Chicago, beating the Predators 5-2 and then Chicago 5-3 to win back-to-back games for the first time this season. The Wings would lose their last game of the week on Sunday, 7-2 against Chicago. The Red Wings earned four of eight possible points this week and finished the week seventh in the Central Division and 26th in the NHL with a 7-14-3 record.
Talking Hockey – The Red Wings continue to play well and finally saw some reward for their effort. The top line continues to be cold but contributions from the bottom 6 forwards this week came after weeks of strong opportunities going for not. Even in losing on Sunday, the Red Wings played well but fell apart in the last 10 minutes of the game after Chicago took a three-goal lead. If the injuries to Larkin and Fabbri are long term (Larkin appeared to suffer an elbow injury which may be at least a 7-10 day turn around, Fabbri took a hard fall which could mean a sooner return) the gains of the last few weeks may come apart at the seams.
Player of the Week – Sam Gagner – Gagner scored his first hat-trick in nine years in the 5-2 win over Nashville, and then contributed a big goal on Sunday to cut Chicago’s lead to just one goal. Gagner was not brought onto the team to put up points, but this week he showed signs of the offense that got him drafted sixth overall in 2007.