Red Wings Plan For Playing Two

It’s an odd situation for the Detroit Red Wings to be facing for sure. However, Wings coach Derek Lalonde doesn’t necessarily see it as a bad situation.

The Red Wings are playing two NHL preseason games on Monday. They’ll be home to face the Pittsburgh Penguins at Little Caesars Arena. That is a make up game for the one that was postponed on Saturday.

ICYMI: Tickets for Saturday’s scheduled game will be valid for tonight’s game at Little Caesars Arena.

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) September 30, 2024

Meanwhile, a second batch of Red Wings are off to Buffalo to face the Sabres. That was the orginally scheduled game for Monday. Both contests are 7 p.m. ET starts.

Buffalo is in a similar situation. The Sabres have the bulk of their NHL team currently playing in Europe. That likely means the Buffalo-Detroit game might look a lot more like a Grand Rapids vs Rochester AHL contest.

“This is a rare, unique,” said Lalonde, who doesn’t seem to mind the demanding slate awaiting his team. They’ll be in Pittsburgh tomorrow, at home to Toronto on Thursday and Ottawa on Friday before heading to Toronto to close out the preseason on Saturday.

Lalonde Handling Red Wings At Home

While Lalonde leads the Wings at home tonight, Grand Rapids Griffins coach Dan Watson and Toledo Walleye coach Pat Mikesch are handling the squad playing at Buffalo.

“It actually works fine,” Lalonde continued. “You get the two teams going. I don’t know if it’s ideal, six games in six days. It’ll be a little taxing on a couple of guys.”

Split squad action tonight as the Red Wings face off against the Sabres in Buffalo 7pm, and Pittsburgh @LCA at 7pm. Busy week. Red Wings play 6 games in 6 days.

— Ken Kal (@KenKalDRW) September 30, 2024

The Detroit coach is preferring to focus on the positive in this unusual scenario. With lots of games on top over the next week, it’s giving him plenty of opportunity to not only gauge the ability of some of the team’s prospects, but also how they are dealing with the challenge of a little bit of adversity. Those players figure to be the ones taking on the brunt of the workload over the next few days.

“I think it flows actually pretty good where obviously the guys got Saturday night and then Sunday off,” Lalonde said. “Again, there’ll be a couple guys that will be stuck with some back to backs and three in fours, but those are probably some of those guys that we would like to see, too.

“Guys are begging for games, so it’s not even that. It’s not that bad of a schedule coming up here.”

Patrick Kane was among those Red Wings who were sitting in the dressing room Saturday, waiting to play a game that didn’t happen. He’ll be getting his chance to face the Penguins at LCA tonight.

“A little bit different of a day,” Kane said. “I’m sure the coaches are busy with having two teams, then another game tomorrow, too. So a little bit of an unusual schedule.”