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The opening ceremonies originally planned for the home debut of the Las Vegas Golden Knights will be witnessed Friday by the Detroit Red Wings.
After the tragic shooting in the city that claimed 58 lives, the Golden Knights opted to alter plans for their opener against the Arizona Coyotes, paying tribute to the 58 victims.
“I think they are also going to do some things before our game, more what they had planned for opening night,” said Wings coach Jeff Blashill. “So that’s good for them. A tragic, tragic thing that happened and for all of us, I think it’s important to remember that on a daily basis.”
The shooting took place at a country music festival, and as professional athletes who perform in the spotlight at events front of thousands of people, it’s difficult for the Wings not to think about it on a daily basis.
“It’s just crazy,” Wings goalie Jimmy Howard said. “We live in a sick, sick world. I think it’s happening more and more and with the media coverage each event gets, I think you have to think more about these events.”
“Something is wrong,” Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg added. “We’ve got to figure out a way to get it fixed.”
Zetterberg acknowledged the thought of the strife and terrorism that seems to be increasing around the world impacts his plans for travel and vacations.
“You try not to think about it,” Zetterberg said. “You will go nuts if you think about it all the time. As a family we didn’t go to a few destinations this summer just because of it.
“I won’t say that it doesn’t affect you, even though you try to live life as normal as you can.”
Good Knights
The Wings can’t help but be impressed by the 3-0 record of the first-year expansion Golden Knights, who include former Wings forward Tomas Nosek and are coached by ex-Wing Gerard Gallant.
“I think they came out strong from the start,” Zetterberg said. “They’ve been playing well. We’re happy for them that they have a good start. Before the season, not a lot of people believed in them.
“They rallied together and are playing well.”
Lineup Changes
Petr Mrazek will make his second start of the season in goal for the Wings, and Blashill has flipped wingers on two of his forward lines. Martin Frk moves in alongside Frans Nielsen and Darren Helm, while Justin Abdelkader slides in next to Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha, a forward unit Blashill had sought to use from training camp. But that plan was scuttled when Abdelkader suffered a groin injury.
Defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who saw his first action of the season in Thursday’s 4-2 win at Arizona, will take the warm-up and be a game-time decision.
“I’m hoping to play,” Kronwall said. “Hopefully everything goes well and I should be good to go.”
Defenseman Danny DeKeyser (lower body injury) will miss his second straight game.
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