Abdelkader hat-trick helps sink Toronto

This was not a homecoming he wanted to acknowledge, or have acknowledged, so there were only a couple quick waves as the crowd at Joe Louis Arena stood and applauded the winningest head coach in the history of the Detroit Red Wings.

Abdelkader was able to rub it in just a bit more, recording a hat trick in the win against his former coach. Luckily the Red Wings did nothing of note past year so there’s no overly long ceremony to sit through (Chicago…). Hes going to be a great coach for us.

I’m no doctor but I think he needs to retire and enjoy the rest of his life.

This was exactly the scenario that led to at least one of the Detroit goals; for the Toronto Maple Leafs, they need to ensure this slackness in the neutral zone doesn’t become a regular feature in their play.

The Red Wings have assigned forward Dan Cleary and defenceman Xavier Ouellet to Grand Rapids of the AHL.

The last trip to the postseason prior to that was 2004.

Goalie Petr Mrazek stopped 43 shots, keeping the Red Wings in a game in which they struggled early, but rallied with all sorts of energy late.

[Yahoo Fantasy Hockey: Sign up for a league today]. He was born in a Detroit suburb and grew up in nearby Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., but he isn’t in awe of leading a storied franchise in a banner-filled arena. Now, it’s just working.

Then at 6:36, with the Red Wings energized, Pulkkien redirected a shot from Tomas Tatar, giving the Red Wings a sudden lead.

“All three of us have a few intelligence, are pretty strong in our convictions, but the thing is we have in common is we respect and like each other and know what success is and what it isn’t”. “It has been fairly easy to adjust to him because he sees the game similar to Babs”. “They sure didn’t have to do that”, Babcock said via ESPN.com. “I don’t coach the team anymore”.

CLOSING TIME: The Red Wings have failed to advance past the second round since coming one win short of repeating as Stanley Cup champions in 2009.

“Were focused on our group and hes focused on his, ” Abdelkader said.

“Obviously I’m the one who is going to be in for it. We’ve got to fix our group”.

“With him being the coach its a little different, just standing back there, than when we were playing against (Valtteri Filppula) down in Tampa Bay, ” Jimmy Howard said.

C Pavel Datsyuk is still recovering from ankle surgery he underwent in June.

The Red Wings are the only team that have earned a spot in the play-offs every year since the league emerged from a lockout in 2005 – a run that coincided with Babcock’s decade in Detroit – and are aiming to be in a 25th straight post-season. The Leafs played a solid game in the opener against Montreal, and Babcock’s return to Detroit on Friday had too many mitigating factors to be used for any meaningful analysis. Defenseman Danny DeKeyser will be out three to four weeks with a sprained ligament in his left foot.