Andrew Copp on Tactical Identity, Dylan Larkin-less Line-Up, and New York Returns Adam Fox to a Roster Already Atop the East: Red Wings-Rangers Game Day Notebook & Where to Watch
Tonight, the Detroit Red Wings will look to avenge one of their worst showings of the season—a 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers—when the two sides get together again at Madison Square Garden.
From Detroit's desire to build on the momentum it's generated across a three-game win streak to the fallout from Dylan Larkin's absence for the Red Wing line-up, here's everything you need to know ahead of tonight's game.
Nov 7, 2023; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers left wing Will Cuylle (50) is hit by Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider (53) during the first period at Madison Square Garden.
Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Red Wings Look to Build on Momentum of Three-Game Heater
Entering tonight's game in New York, the Red Wings have won three straight, and, if you ask around the team, it's not just the victories that have inspired confidence so much as the style in which they were secured.
"We have 11 wins on the season, we've pointed in 14 of 20 games, this is why we've put ourselves in a really good position at the quarter mark," assessed Derek Lalonde after yesterday's practice. "But you also know when you're playing the right way—judging ourselves on performance over outcome. In all three of these games, boy, it would be really hard to pick apart any of our game—our five-on-five game, underlying numbers. Our guys are just skating. We're getting above and taking a lot of pride in those hard things, playing defensively, second effort type things. We want to keep that momentum. It's a hard league. It's hard to win any night. You can be humbled in a hurry. Just when you're playing well like this, you kinda want to ride it and keep preaching what's made us successful of late and go from there."
"When we're playing our game, we're playing fast, we're playing heavy, we're playing on top, it's pretty easy to see that we're feeling good, and we're making a lot of plays, and we're scoring a lot of goals," added depth forward Christian Fischer to The Hockey News. "We played really well for the last three games. You want to do that for seven, eight, nine game stretches, instead of just two or three and then flip over back to the bad side."
Andrew Copp pointed out that over these three games, defensive solidity has opened the door to scoring goals.
"We're playing really strong defensively, not giving up any odd-man rushes, Copp told The Hockey News Teusday. "We're disciplined in our forecheck, so we don't get three guys caught [up ice] very often at all. So feels like that's kind of been the calling card. When we play really sound defensively, get pucks back quicker, play more time in the offensive zone, I feel like that's been the key to our success."
Copp went on to offer a tactical explanation of what it looks like when things aren't as crisp for Detroit, explaining that when the third forward on the forecheck (also known as F3) gets too aggressive rather than allowing the first two forwards in (F1 and F2) to put the opposing defense into difficulty, problems emerge.
"Our F3 gets way too aggressive and sees puck, and then there's turnovers and odd-man rushes the other way," Copp said. "So for us, it's about F1 and F2 getting skating, forcing bad plays from their defensemen, and then when our F3 comes across he's really disciplined, and our F1 and F2 are reloading, it's tough to play against. When we're not doing it, it's obvious, and when we are doing it, it's also obvious."
"You can't dive down, especially if the play's coming at you," Copp offered, in further explanation of F3's role. "You can't be skating forward as the play's coming at you. That's probably the biggest thing. So you want to be swinging with the puck a little bit, and you're not chasing from behind. Three-on-threes are fine. We can gap that out. Three-on-twos, two-on-ones are not good. It's usually not one mistake; it's kinda two and three, but our F3 has been pretty good lately."
Tonight at Madison Square Garden, the Red Wings will look to keep those defensive habits sharp tonight against the Rangers.
Line-Up Tinkering without Larkin
As the Red Wings look to extend their present winning streak, they will have to do so without the services of Dylan Larkin, and defenseman Justin Holl's status is up in the air. Here's how Detrot lined up at yesterday's practice:
Alex DeBrincat-J.T. Compher-Lucas Raymond
Jonatan Berggren-Andrew Copp-Robby Fabbri
Michael Rasmussen-Joe Veleno-David Perron
Klim Kostin-Christian Fischer-Daniel Sprong
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Olli Maatta-Shayne Gostisbehere
Larkin's absence is of course a massive one from the front and center of the Detroit line-up, but the versatility of the Red Wings' four centermen for tonight's game (all of whom have spent time on the wing this season) helps ease that blow. Assuming he is in the line-up come puck drop, Berggren also has an opportunity to express more of his offensive gifts in a potential top-six role with Larkin unavailable.
Per Lalonde, Ville Husso will start in goal.
The biggest news from this morning's pre-game skate was Patrick Kane suiting up in the Winged Wheel for the first time, but his debut will likely wait until at least next week.
Rangers Return Fox, Sit Atop East
The Rangers enter tonight's game coming off a disappointing 5-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres Monday night, but despite that set back, they are the top team in the East with a 15-4-1 record.
At the beginning of the month, New York received bad news when Norris-winning defenseman Adam Fox was sidelined with a lower body injury. The Rangers are without a doubt a deep team, but to sustain a loss as big as Fox's can be too much for any roster to overcome.
Instead, New York has gone 7-2-1 in Fox's absence, shooting to the top of the standings in the East. Erik Gustafsson helped fill the void he left on New York's top power play unit, and Peter Laviolette's Rangers kept humming along.
Tonight, Fox returns to the line-up, and an already formidable opponent gets stronger. However, New York will be without Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil, both of whom were placed on IR Tuesday.
Kakko fell awkwardly in the loss to the Sabres, sustaining a lower body injury, and Chytil has not played since the second of the month against Carolina as he deals with the fallout form a head injury.
Where to Watch
Toninight's game, a 7:30 PM start, will be broadcast by TNT and available via streaming on the MAX App.
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