The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 6-3 to snap the team’s six-game losing streak. Two veteran Red Wings played a particularly key role in the win against the lowly Sabres. The Sabres have 56 points in 64 games played and are in eighth place in the Atlantic Division. Before the NHL’s trade deadline, the Red Wings had acquired goaltender Petr Mrazek from the Chicago Blackhawks, as well as veteran forward Craig Smith, in the Joe Veleno deal. Mrazek made 23 saves on 26 shots in his first game played for the Red Wings in a little over seven years. “Great to be back,” Mrazek said after the trade was made.
Mrazek played for the Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Chicago Blackhawks in between his stints with the Red Wings. The first win of Mrazek’s career came against the St. Louis Blues in 2012 when the Red Wings won by a score of 5-1. The last game that he won in his first stint was against the Nashville Predators on February 17th, 2018, when the Red Wings won by a score of 3-1. In the intervening 2,580 days between those two wins, Mrazek amassed 422 wins for three of the original six teams in the NHL.
All the goalie moves were made with the anticipation of Sebastian Cossa eventually joining the Red Wings club. Cossa was drafted by the team with the 15th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. Cossa is making his way to the Red Wings roster. In the meantime, the Red Wings currently have seven goalies under contract, Cossa being one of them. In 33 games played for the Grand Rapids Griffins this season, Cossa has a 2.32 GAA and a .916 save percentage.
Superstar Patrick Kane also played well against the Sabres, his hometown team, scoring two goals and adding three assists. A photograph of Kane and his father at a game when Kane was a child was shown during the broadcast. Kane is playing well as of late, scoring two goals and adding five assists in the last five games for the Red Wings. “We needed the win. It didn’t matter how it came. Obviously, it’s nice to put up seven, but we needed the win tonight,” Kane said after the game.
Kane played most of his Hall-of-Fame career with the Blackhawks, winning the Stanley Cup in 2015. Kane scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal against the Flyers in 2010. Even at the age of 36, Kane is the most talented scorer the Red Wings have had on their roster for some time. Kane has scored 17 goals and added 28 assists in 55 games played for the Red Wings this season.
The Red Wings have seventeen games left in the 2024-25 NHL season. At the time of writing this, the team has an eight percent chance of making the Stanley Cup playoffs. This is something that the team has not done in nine seasons. Both Kane and Mrazek will play a significant role in the team making it back. Perhaps this game against the Buffalo Sabres was the beginning of these two players rounding into form to propel the Red Wings back into the playoffs.
ITR 36: Coaching Carousel – Inside The Rink
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