The Detroit Red Wings will begin a two-game homestand at Little Caesars Arena on Friday night, hosting the San Jose Sharks. The matchup marks the second and final meeting between the teams this season, with Detroit having previously defeated San Jose in a shootout earlier in November.
“I feel like, sometimes, you can forget about how [the fans] can be such a big part of the game,” said Elmer Soderblom. “If we’re down or defending a lead, we can use the crowd as an energy boost.”
The Red Wings currently hold a record of 28-16-4 with 60 points, while the Sharks are at 24-19-3 with 51 points. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m., and coverage will be available on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit).
“This is the grind time,” said head coach Todd McLellan. “In every sport you hear coaches talk about dog days, this is the time where teams can really take advantage of one another.”
Detroit looks to recover after being shut out by Boston earlier in the week. Goaltender John Gibson commented on that loss: “[The Bruins] came out hard. They had energy and kind of weathered the storm. We ran out of gas there at the end, but Talbs played well, gave us a chance to win and kept us in there all night.” Gibson was recently named NHL’s Second Star of the Week and will make his 29th start for Detroit on Friday.
“It’s really nice to have that confidence knowing they’re in the net,” Soderblom said about Gibson and Cam Talbot. “We trust them. They’ve been winning games for us here, so I think that’s huge. We’re just so happy to have two really good goaltenders that can win games for us.”
Friday’s contest is part of a demanding stretch for Detroit, which has played four games in seven days and faces continued scheduling pressure ahead of next month’s Olympic break.
“Because of the condensed schedule, it’s either gameday or get ready for gameday,” McLellan said. “You never get a long break, where you’re practicing for four or five days in a row. It’s been a while since we can even remember that type of schedule, so I do think it seems like it’s going by fast. But 34 games [remaining] is a big total still, so we can’t get ahead of ourselves.”
San Jose enters Friday’s game holding onto a Wild Card spot after defeating Washington on Thursday night.
“It’s not a team we see all the time,” McLellan said regarding San Jose. “When you catch up on what they’re doing — their season started a little wavery and you weren’t sure where they were going to go, but from that point on all they’ve done is build up confidence. You take that young skill they have, inject some confidence and they believe they can beat anybody right now. Their belief system is quite strong.”
McLellan also highlighted Macklin Celebrini as a player to watch: “It’s not an easy task, because the book on him isn’t big yet in the NHL,” he said about Celebrini’s impact this season as both an assist leader and top point scorer among rookies.
The Red Wings play their home games in downtown Detroit at Little Caesars Arena (https://www.nhl.com/redwings/). As one of hockey’s Original Six franchises (https://www.nhl.com/redwings/), Detroit has won 11 Stanley Cup championships (https://www.nhl.com/redwings/)—the most among U.S.-based National Hockey League teams (https://www.nhl.com/redwings/). The organization began operations in 1926 (https://www.nhl.com/redwings/) and continues to represent Detroit as its professional ice hockey club (https://www.nhl.com/redwings/).
