Danny DeKeyser and Kyle Quincey have worked as a defensive tandem for the Detroit Red Wings for virtually the entire NHL regular season, but as Detroit prepares to begin the Stanley Cup playoffs Thursday at Tampa Bay against the Lightning, they will skate in separate pairings.
The insertion of rookie Alexey Marchenko into the Detroit defensive crew in place of Brendan Smith has given the Wings two right-handed shots on the back end. One of them, Marek Zidlicky, was paired with Smith, so it made no sense for Detroit coach Mike Babcock to use both his righties in the same duo.
Instead, Zidlicky with team with Quincey while DeKeyser pairs with Marchenko. The first pairing of Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson will remain unchanged.
“It’s a little bit of an adjustment, especially when you’ve been playing with somebody for so long,… DeKeyser admitted. “You kind of get to know them, know their tendencies and stuff like that.
“Marchey it seemed like we didn’t have any issues the last game and he was always in the spots where I thought he was going to be and where he was supposed to be, and I guess kind of vice versa on my side. So it seemed like we worked well together and hopefully that continues into this series.…
Zidlicky didn’t seem worried at all about making his Detroit playoff debut alongside a different defense partner.
“In this league it really doesn’t matter who you play with because they’re good guys, good players,… Zidlicky said.
While he’s been harping about the need for a right-hand shot on his back end all season long, Babcock insists that’s got very little to do with why he opted for Marchenko over Smith.
“It’s primarily because he’s good,… Babcock said. “We really liked him last year. We thought he was a very good player. He got hurt. I thought he was going to be on the team in training camp. He came back and because he had been hurt with his (ankle), he didn’t skate like he did.
“We tried him. He played really well for us but he still didn’t have the kind of pace we wanted this last time back. We liked him. I talk to Blash (Grand Rapids coach Jeff Blashill) every day. He’s got a pretty good handle on what’s going on.
“We think he’s a very intelligent, an intelligent player. We’re going to play him against real good players. We think he makes our team better.…
Up front, Justin Abdelkader (hand) won’t play in Game 1. Babcock indicated that with Abdelkader unavailable, it was unlikely that he would play Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk on the same line.
Besides Smith, Detroit’s other healthy scratches are forwards Teemu Pulkkinen and Daniel Cleary and defenseman Jakub Kindl.
Can Petr Channel Earl? Petr Mrazek will be the 15th rookie goalie to appear in net for the Red Wings in a Stanley Cup game and the ninth to start a playoff game for Detroit.
Among those 15, the man Wings fans would most like to see Mrazek emulate would be Earl Robertson. In 1937, Robertson took over when starter Normie Smith suffered an elbow injury and backstopped Detroit to a Stanley Cup final win over the New York Rangers, becoming the only rookie netminder to take the Wings to Stanley Cup glory.
Johnny Mowers (1941), Harry Lumley (1945) and Glenn Hall (1956) backstopped the Wings to the final as rookies.
Detroit Rookie Goalies in Stanley Cup Playoffs GOALIE Stanley Cup Debut Result Jimmy Franks-1 March 27, 1937 Detroit 1 at Mtl. Cdns 3 Earl Robertson March 30, 1937 Detroit 2 at Mtl. Cdns. 3 Johnny Mowers March 20, 1941 NY Rangers 1 at Detroit 2 (OT) Connie Dion March 21, 1944 Chicago 2 at Detroit 1 Harry Lumley March 20, 1945 Boston 4 at Detroit 3 Terry Sawchuk March 27, 1951 Mtl. Cdns. 3 at Detroit 2 (OT) Glenn Hall March 20, 1956 Toronto 2 at Detroit 3 Bob Champoux-2 March 29, 1964 Detroit 5 at Chicago 4 Roger Crozier-3 April 2, 1964 Chicago 3 at Detroit 2 (OT) Sam St. Laurent-4 April 14, 1988 Detroit 5 at Toronto 3 Chris Osgood April 20, 1994 San Jose 0 at Detroit 4 Kevin Hodson-5 May 17, 1998 St. Louis 3 at Detroit 1 Norm Maracle-6 May 11, 1999 Colorado 5 at Detroit 3 Jimmy Howard April 14, 2010 Detroit 2 at Phoenix 3 1-Replaced starter Normie Smith 2-Replaced starter Terry Sawchuk 3-Replaced starter Terry Sawchuk 4-Replaced starter Greg Stefan 5-Replaced starter Chris Osgood 6-Replaced starter Bill Ranford
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