Red Wings Practice Report: Kasper Stays on Top Line, Lyon "Day-to-Day"

DETROIT—After a Wednesday day off, the Detroit Red Wings (18–18–4) held practice Thursday, with an eye toward extending their five-game winning streak Friday evening against the visiting Chicago Blackhawks (14–25–2).

Detroit spent a good portion of the practice drilling defensive zone exits, with coach Todd McLellan calling out at one point, "What we're trying to do is help you while you're under pressure."

At practice, the Red Wings stuck with the line combinations they'd pivoted to in the third period of Thursday's win over the Senators, with Marco Kasper and Joe Veleno swapping spots.  That shift moved Kasper to the wing on the top line next to Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond and Veleno to the fourth line center position.

In explaining that decision after practice, McLellan emphasized that the change wasn't just about the impact on Veleno and Kasper themselves but rather a collective reaction to the shake-up.  "Forget about Marco and Joe, I liked the fact that our team responded in the third.  We didn't skate well in the second period.  We were in mud or whatever you want to call it.  We were spread out.  We weren't playing as five.  I'm not saying that Marco and Joe flip created the change, but it happened.  And we woke the team up by doing it.  From there on, Joe scored the tying goal and Marco had some real good chances, so we're gonna give him a run up there.  And I made sure that Joe knew he wasn't centering that [fourth] line now because he was playing poorly.  In fact, sometimes it's the opposite.  We trust him enough to go down there and take care of that line."

Meanwhile, on defense, the Red Wings remain without the services of Jeff Petry, whom the team placed yesterday on injured reserve retroactive to Jan. 2.  While that timeline would theoretically make Petry eligible for tomorrow night's game against the Blackhawks, McLellan said that wouldn't be the case, effectively ruling him out for tomorrow night and for Sunday's game against the Seattle Kraken by saying, "Petey went on IR, never a good sign. Likely not gonna play this week, and we'll see where he's at the beginning of next week."

Finally, goaltender Alex Lyon was not able to participate in practice after leaving Tuesday's game early with an upper body injury.  However, McLellan's update suggested that Lyon shouldn't be out of action long, with the head coach describing the netminder as "day-to-day right now," before adding, "he may get on the ice as early as tomorrow, see what happens."  Regardless of Lyon's precise timeline to recovery, Cam Talbot will start in goal against Chicago.

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