Detroit Red Wings Review – March 15-21, 2021
Broken Wings – The Red Wings stated this week Tyler Bertuzzi had a setback in his back injury and that they are considering surgery as an option. It will take at least two weeks once he consistently returns to skating to return if he does not have surgery. Bobby Ryan missed Tuesday and Thursday’s games, but returned Saturday. Jonathan Bernier left Thursday’s game with what appeared to be a leg or head injury and will be out for at least a week. The Wings remained COVID free again this week.
Wing Movement – Evgeny Svechnikov returned to the lineup this week from Grand Rapids. Dennis Cholowski was also recalled from Grand Rapids and inserted into the line-up for his first game of the season on Saturday. Calvin Pickard was recalled from Grand Rapids as well due to the injury to Jonathan Bernier.
Game Review – The Red Wings played three games this week. Continuing their strong play from last week, Detroit opened the week with wins over Carolina on Tuesday and Dallas on Thursday. Thursday’s win came courtesy of a hat-trick by Robby Fabbri, scoring all three goals for the Wings before Dallas almost came back to tie the game in the third period. Saturday, the Wings did not look bad, but also did not look good. Playing lethargic and looking tired, they were shutout 3-0 by Dallas. The Wings earned four out of six possible points this week. The Wings are in last (8th) in the Central Division and 28th in the NHL with a 10-18-4 record.
Talking Hockey – The Red Wings played well to open the week but looked lethargic on Saturday, playing their fourth game in seven days. They will hopefully have more jump come Tuesday after getting a two-day break; however, the Wings schedule from Tuesday on has them playing 12 games in 24 days. This will be the ultimate test to see if their play lately is a reflection of the team taking the step forward in the rebuild, or simply a bad team taking advantage of tired opponents in trap games.
Player of the Week – Robby Fabbri – Fabbri’s hat-trick on Thursday was all the offense Detroit could manage in the game. He also bagged the game winning goal on Tuesday. His four goals this week paced the Wings in both goals and points.