Red Wings Postgame: Second Forward Lost to Injury

DETROIT —  The Red Wings will have to wait until tomorrow to know the fallout from Anaheim Trevor Zegras’ blow to Michael Rasmussen’s head in the second period Sunday night.

Rasmussen left the game late in the second period and didn’t return. Replays show a clear blow to the head and give rise to wonder whether Zegas could face league supplemental discipline.

“I think when a player gets a blow to the head and doesn’t return, it’s never a good sign,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “But we’ll see how he is (Monday).”

The Red Wings are scheduled to fly to Minneapolis Monday afternoon for their Tuesday road game against the Minnesota Wild.

“(Rasmussen) seems to be in fairly good spirits at least when I wandered by him,” McLellan said. “He’s not happy about it but he’s in fairly good spirits, happy for the team.”

The Red Wings played angrier after the incident, fueled even more from the fact no penalty was called on the play. Officials simply didn’t see what occurred.

“They can’t make stuff up. I get it,” McLellan said. “If they didn’t see what happened, they can’t just can’t make it up. And that’s what they told me.”

Not many of players saw what happened either. “I don’t think anybody
was really aware of what was going on, including obviously the four
officials,” McLellan said.  “What comes out of it now is out of everybody’s
hands and we move on.”

Michael Rasmussen hurt after this hit to the head by Trevor Zegras.

No call on the play. Rasmussen to the dressing room. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/h03Va9uqVa

— Ryan Hana (@RyanHanaWWP) February 24, 2025

Copp Update

The news is more definite about Andrew Copp. He won’t accompany the team to Minnesota. He has an upper body injury suffered in the loss Saturday to Minnesota.

“We’ll know more tomorrow,.” McLellan said.

If the Red Wings have two forwards out, they will likely call up a player from Grand Rapids Tuesday morning.

The Red Wings had already juggled their lines because of Copp’s absence Sunday, and they had to do more when Rasmussen left.

“There was a scramble going on,” McLellan said. “I thought J.T. Compher had one of his best games in a while.”

Ice Chips

The power play continues to carry Detroit. The Red Wings were 3-for-4 on the power play against Anaheim, and have five power play goals in their past two games. The team has scored multiple power play goals in a game 15 times this season.

Under McLellan, the Red Wings are 28-for-72 (38.9 percent) on the power play.

Weary Stars

Lucas Raymond and Dylan Larkin were both minus-2 against Anaheim.

“I thought Larks looked gassed tonight,” McLellan said. “Razor probably not his best either. (The 4 Nations Faceoff) could be catching up to them.”