Detroit, MI

Detroit Red Wings badly outplayed in 6-3 loss to Penguins, but hold playoff position

Published

1 month ago

March 17, 2024

Detroit Red Wings badly outplayed in 6-3 loss to Penguins, but hold playoff position

The Detroit Red Wings didn’t help their playoff hopes, but neither did their closest rivals.

One day after ending a seven-game losing streak, the Wings were back on the short end of a final score, losing 6-3 on Sunday to the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena. But the Wings (34-28-6) stayed in the second wild-card berth by virtue of one point.

By the time their game began, the New York Islanders already had lost their Sunday matinee, keeping them below the Wings in the standings, at 73 points. (The Washington Capitals are also at 73 points). Other than Alex Lyon starting in net, it was the same lineup that toppled the Buffalo Sabres Saturday in Detroit. The Penguins outshot the Wings, 40-27, taking advantage as the Wings reverted back to the shoddy team defense that has hampered their efforts throughout March.

RED WINGS PLAYOFF PURSUIT: Here’s the path to bust streak with 15 games left

Lucas Raymond scored twice, the second on a power play setup by Patrick Kane with 3:23 to play. The Wings had Lyon pulled for much of the remaining time, and Drew O’Connor scored into an empty net with 26 seconds to play.

The Penguins, hanging on in the chase but unlikely to make the playoffs, made things difficult. They drew two penalties in the first 10 minutes and scored a second after the second power play expired when Reilly Smith redirected Marcus Petterson’s shot at 10:10.

That deficit was leveled by Raymond, who netted his fourth goal in four games when he fired a wrist shot from the dots at 15:39 that slipped by former Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, who had lost his stick. At the time, shots favored Pittsburgh, 12-2. Sidney Crosby corralled a bouncing puck and scored on a backhand at 18:53, and Valtteri Puustinen scored with 43.2 seconds left in the first period to leave the Wings in a 3-1 hole.

Michael Bunting pushed it to 4-1 midway through the second, scoring another net-front goal. The Wings looked like they might make a game of it when Christian Fischer finished a perfect set-up by Michael Rasmussen from behind the net, but Lars Eller tipped Crosby’s shot during a power play with 20.7 seconds to go in the second period to put the Wings back down by three goals.

The Wings have 14 games left, six of them at home, and next play Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

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Detroit, MI

Report: Detroit Lions signing local, undrafted kicker

Published

6 hours ago

April 28, 2024

Press Room

Report: Detroit Lions signing local, undrafted kicker

According to Michigan Wolverines reporter Anthony Broome, the Detroit Lions are signing Michigan kicker James Turner as an undrafted free agent.

Over the weekend, the 2024 NFL Draft saw three kickers drafted—Alabama’s Will Reichard (Vikings), Stanford’s Joshua Karty (Rams), and Arkansas’ Cam Little (Jaguars)—all in the sixth round. The Lions opted to pass on the opportunity to add kicker competition in the draft, but identified Turner in the undrafted free agent market.

Turner has four years of college experience as a kicker. For the first three years at the college ranks, he was with Louisville. There he had two successful seasons sandwiching a rough one. Take a look:

2020: 40-of-40 on extra points (100%), 13-of-15 on field goals (86.7%), Long: 50
2021: 46-of-48 on extra points (95.8), 14-of-22 on field goals (63.6%), Long: 46
2022: 38-of-39 on extra points (97.4), 20-of-22 on field goals (90.9%), Long: 48

In that 2022 season, Turner set the Louisville program record for field goal percentage, while tying for most field goals made in a season.

In 2023, Turner entered the transfer portal and helped the Wolverines win a national championship. He converted 65-of-66 extra points, along with 18-of-21 (85.7%) on field goals, with a long of 50 yards—which he accomplished on three different occasions. In the national title game, Turner was a perfect 6-for-6 on kicks (two field goals, four extra points).

In short, Turner has been a reliable kicker from short and moderate distances, but with a college long of just 50 yards, he may not solve the Lions’ current issue of having no reliable long-distance kicker.

Turner will come in and compete with incumbent kicker Michael Badgley. Last year, Badgley initially lost out on the kicker competition before returning to the practice squad, winning the job back, and going 4-of-4 in the regular season and 3-for-3 on field goals in the postseason.

In addition to adding Turner, the Lions have also shown interest in Michigan Panthers kicker Jake Bates, who has caught the attention of NFL teams after starting the season perfect on field goals, including a pair of makes from 60+ yards. Bates cannot sign with a team until the UFL season is over in June.

To see all of the Lions’ UDFA signings, head over to our 2024 UDFA tracker.

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Detroit, MI

Detroit sets new bar with “over 775,000” at the draft

Published

13 hours ago

April 28, 2024

Press Room

Detroit sets new bar with “over 775,000” at the draft

In the end, Detroit saw Nashville’s 600,000 and raised it. By a lot.

Per the NFL, “over 775,000” attended the three-day draft. That surpasses the prior record, from 2019, by nearly 30 percent.

Next year, Green Bay gets its turn. The fact that a division rival drew so many people will surely be regarded as a challenge by Green Bay and all of Wisconsin to match or exceed it.

It feels like, somewhere, the draft will hit one million for the three days, sooner than later. It’s come a very long way from Radio City Music Hall, where the first night was magical and the second night was OK and the third day featured tons of empty seats. (I was present for each of the last five drafts held there.)

The league left in 2015 because of a scheduling conflict. The draft went to Chicago for two years and then to Philly and it will never look back.

The next time it’s in New York, it won’t be in Radio City Music Hall. And it will feature a lot more people. Hell, it might be held in Times Square, turning New Year’s Eve into a three-day affair.

Regardless, look for the draft to keep on moving. And look for it to keep on getting bigger and bigger.

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Detroit, MI

KEY QUESTIONS: How does Holmes feel about Lions' depth at CB following NFL Draft?

Published

20 hours ago

April 27, 2024

Press Room

KEY QUESTIONS: How does Holmes feel about Lions' depth at CB following NFL Draft?

GM Brad Holmes put a bow on the 2024 NFL Draft after the Lions made four selections on Saturday to give them a three-day haul of six picks total. The work for Holmes and the Lions certainly isn’t over as they hit the phones after the draft to try and sign undrafted players to the roster.

Holmes addressed the media Saturday and started by acknowledging the amazing job the city did hosting the draft and the record-breaking attendance it saw.

He then addressed all the key questions from the media, as follows:

How did the Lions come across Giovanni Manu out of the University of British Columbia and what do they like about his potential?

Holmes traded a third-round pick next season to get Manu. He credited Senior Personnel Director John Dorsey with getting the train rolling on that evaluation.

“He kind of got wind of – he had a really good workout and he kind of got on the workout circuit, and really starting back with (Lions Scout, Auxiliary) Ademi Smith who scouted him and then Dorsey finds out about the workout, and Dorsey and (Lions Assistant General Manager) Ray (Agnew) talk and Ray comes to me and he’s telling me like, ‘Man, I think you’ve probably got to take a look at Giovanni here,’” Holmes said.

Holmes watched the tape and loved the physical traits at 6-foot-7, 351 pounds but with athletic traits that would have put him in the 90 percentile among tackles at the Combine.

“We just kind of got enamored with the upside and then when we reached out to his agent and tried to get him in for a visit because he wasn’t at the Combine, we could hardly get on the dance card,” he said.

“The whole dance card was filled up. So, he came in on a Sunday, like a Sunday afternoon and that was like visit number nine. He came in and he did a great job and sat with the coaches, and we felt really good about him. We talked about Brodric Martin last year. This is more of a down-the-road future deal, but the upside is enormous.”

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