Detroit, MI
Detroit Red Wings sound alarm: ‘Got to fix something’ before Olympics
The Detroit Red Wings are sounding the alarms. They have two games left and are winless in their last three as the Olympic breaks nears.
Detroit Red Wings: ‘We didn’t respond’ against Colorado Avalanche
Detroit Red Wings Dylan Larkin, J.T. Compher & Todd McLellan, Jan. 31, 2026 in Detroit.
Todd McLellan rattled off a litany of things he didn’t like about the Detroit Red Wings’ latest performance, and then a litany of things they need to look at in order to regain their footing.
The Wings head into their last two games before the Olympic break, both on the road, and the first against a team that just leveled them. The Colorado Avalanche await the Wings again on Monday, Feb. 2, in Denver, having just picked them part Saturday in Detroit.
That 5-0 loss was what the Wings deserved; they looked flat after failing to generate anything during two power plays in the first period. The Avalanche, on the other hand, just kept building.
“We just didn’t have a response to their offense,” forward Dylan Larkin said. “They got to what they like to do and we kind of just watched a little bit.”
The Avs top the NHL standings, but were missing three key players from their lineup and had lost four of their last five games. They’re not invincible, the Wings just made them look that way with a performance that deserved nothing but criticism.
“A lack of energy, a lack of drive, a lack of execution,” McLellan said. “You can’t have all of those things disappear at one point and expect to have success. I didn’t think we skated well at all. I didn’t think we passed real well at all, which affects your skating. And then when it was time to do some of the harder, the heavier things, battles, 50-50s loose stuff, the foot races, they were much better than we were.
“We’ve got to fix something.”
It’s been a week since the Wings returned from a three-game road trip with five points, and there was a consensus among players and McLellan that this season, when they’ve hit a ditch, they’ve been able to to drive themselves out. Now they’re trying to gain traction after picking up just one point from a three-game home stand.
“We have to figure out why we’re flat,” McLellan said. “There’s different reasons for that. One is lack of focus. And if there’s a lack of focus, then that’s on all of us to get it back and make sure we’re executing. It could be that you get stale with line mates and it’s not working. It could be complacency that slips in and you’re okay with what’s going on and that’s wrong. We have to fix that.
“It could be a bit of a fatigue factor. And if it is that, then we’ve got to suck it up. We have six periods left. And those could be the deciding points. If we aren’t completely willing to dig in and get after them, then regret comes in many different ways and at many different times. Or we can dig in and at least give ourselves an opportunity.”
The Wings (32-18-6) are still in second place in the Atlantic Division, but the Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins are within close chase. And most of the players in the room should still remember the lesson from 2023-24, when the Wings missed the playoffs by a tiebreaker. That’s how valuable a single point can be. Feeling sorry or frustrated over how things have gone these last few games can’t fester.
“The outside, the rest of the hockey world doesn’t care,” McLellan said. “We have to care. We have to get it back on track. This is what it feels like to be in a battle and in a race, and that’s good for us to be in it. But the fact that we’re in it, we have to respect the opportunity that we have.”
These last two weeks have shown the Wings playing some of their best hockey, during the road trip, and then coming home and looking progressively worse.
“You’re going to have ups and downs,” J.T. Compher said. “It’s stopping the downs. Todd said during the game that when it’s going bad, you’ve got to stop it. And it doesn’t mean it goes all the way back up to the best level you’ve got. It’s just got to inch back upwards.
“There’s a ton of belief in our room. There’s a lot of confidence in our room. And we’ve done it all year. We just need to return to that level.”
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
Detroit, MI
Detroit’s Sloppy Chops restaurateur Mike Brown fatally shot, 2 injured
When to call 911 and when to use non-emergency lines
This video explains the importance of knowing when to call 911 for emergencies and when to use non-emergency lines for less critical situations.
Detroit restaurateur and nightlife mainstay Michael “Mike B.” Brown was fatally shot early Saturday morning on the city’s west side, a violent incident that also left two other people injured and sent shockwaves through Detroit’s hospitality and entertainment communities.
According to Detroit police, the shooting occurred outside Suite 100, a cocktail bar on Schaefer Highway near Puritan Avenue. Investigators are urging anyone with information to come forward. As of Sunday afternoon, authorities had not announced any suspects or arrests.
“At approximately 4:30 a.m., Saturday, there was a triple shooting that occurred at 15789 Schaefer,” Detroit Police Department (DPD) media relations manager Jasmin Barmore wrote in an official statement Sunday afternoon. “Two of the vicims were found in front of the location and the third across the street from the location. Unfortunately, the victim found across the street from the location, Mikey Brown, succumbed to his injuries.
“The Detroit Police Department extends their condolences to the family and is asking the community for assistance with this incident. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to please contact DPD’s homicide unit or, they can submit an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers or Detroit Rewards TV.”
Brown, 52, had spent decades building a name for himself across Detroit’s club and restaurant circuits, evolving from party promoter to business owner and, in recent years, a culinary entrepreneur with expanding ambitions. His death comes at a moment when he had been working to grow his “Sloppy” restaurant brand – a move that aligned with the rise of new Black-owned establishments reshaping the city’s dining landscape.
His first major restaurant venture, Sloppy Chops, opened in 2020 on West McNichols just off the Lodge Freeway. The steakhouse featured high-end cuts like ribeyes and tomahawks, but it quickly drew wide attention for its low-cost lamb chop specials – a dish with a fervent local following and long-standing ties to the city’s food culture.
A year later, Brown launched Sloppy Crab, later renamed the Crab Sports Bar, on East Jefferson Avenue near the Renaissance Center. The seafood spot mixed Detroiters’ love for crab dishes with the energetic, nightlife-forward atmosphere Brown had refined during his years in the entertainment scene. Occasional cover charges, signature strong cocktails and celebrity drop-ins helped make the venue one of downtown’s most animated destinations, placing it alongside longstanding nightlife pillars such as Floods Bar & Grille and Sweetwater Tavern.
Both restaurants emerged during a period when Detroiters were increasingly vocal about who new development served. Sloppy Crab’s proximity to the riverfront offered an answer to residents who wondered where Black diners fit into the city’s transforming downtown, while Sloppy Chops demonstrated that restaurants with the energy and polish of downtown destinations could thrive in the neighborhoods as well.
As of Sunday afternoon, more than 1,000 comments expressing sadness and shock had flooded a pinned post on Brown’s Instagram page, along with a number of posts on his Facebook profile.
On her own page, Darralynn Hutson, an award-winning journalist, author, documentarian and media strategist who has provided content to a host of media outlets including the Detroit Free Press, shared photos of herself with Brown.
“I had the opportunity to interview Mike a few years ago for a feature in Food & Wine and I remember how reluctant he was about sitting down to talk,” Hutson recalled. “Interviews weren’t his thing – he was much more comfortable building than explaining. I had to call him more than 20 times to set up the interview. He didn’t care about Food & Wine. But once we ate and got into conversation, what came out was his commitment to creating something for his Detroit.”
Brown’s influence stretched far beyond his menus. His establishments became recognizable gathering places, and his presence – familiar from downtown corridors to Dexter Avenue – made him a significant cultural figure in Detroit’s nightlife and, later, its dining renaissance.
His death leaves both industries mourning a personality whose ambitions were still growing, and whose imprint on the city’s social fabric remains unmistakable.
Detroit, MI
RECAP: Detroit’s lack of execution results in 5-2 loss at Carolina | Detroit Red Wings
RALEIGH, N.C. – Wrapping up the February portion of their 2025-26 regular-season schedule, the Detroit Red Wings unfortunately spent most of their Saturday night playing catch-up in an eventual 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center.
“They’re a heck of a team,” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. “This is a hard building to play in…They’re the class of the East, and you got to come in here at some point and get points. I just didn’t think we executed. We allowed them to be on top of us and come back in waves on Talbs.”
Goalie Cam Talbot made 30 saves in his first start since Jan. 22 for the Red Wings (34-20-6; 74 points), who moved to 11-5-2 on the road since Dec. 6. Meanwhile, turning aside 27 shots netminder Frederik Andersen helped the Hurricanes (38-15-6; 82 points) win their fifth straight game and extend their point streak to 12.
“We’re leaving without points, so that’s real disappointing,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “I thought that the game was real fast to begin with. There was a lot of pace going both ways. It was a good game for us to play in. A lot of their offensive opportunities came off of basically our tape…[Carolina] really took advantage of our mistakes.”
Detroit held steady against Carolina’s characteristically heavy, initial 10-minute push in the opening frame, but the leaders of the Metropolitan Division went up 1-0 when Taylor Hall blocked Simon Edvinsson’s shot attempt in their defensive zone and proceeded to score on a breakaway at 14:05. Then with eight seconds left in the period, while the hosts were on the man advantage, Sebastian Aho’s shot from the left face-off circle deflected off Edvinsson’s stick down low and into the back of the net to extend their lead to 2-0.
“They come out flying and shoot a lot of pucks,” Larkin said. “You can’t really pay attention to the shot clock because they fire it from everywhere, but I liked our start. It’s just that we had some times where we didn’t execute, and they score with eight seconds left. That’s a tough one, but we responded well. We won the second period.”
The Hurricanes struck again just 2:52 into that second period, as Eric Robinson jammed a wrist shot from the top of the crease to push ahead 3-0. But in a span of just 47 seconds late in the stanza, the Red Wings beat Andersen twice to put the hosts on their heels and make it a one-goal game going into the second intermission.
Detroit, MI
Teenager injured in shooting near Detroit school, police say
A teenage male is recovering and police are investigating after a shooting near a school on the east side of Detroit on Friday night.
According to police, the incident happened at 8:28 p.m. on the 3400 block of St. Aubin Street, the same area where the Detroit Edison Public School Academy’s Early College of Excellence is located.
Officials said an altercation ensued inside a building on the block and continued outside. An individual then fired shots that struck the male, whose age has yet to be disclosed, according to police. He was taken to the hospital where he was in stable condition on Saturday.
According to The Detroit News, the altercation was a fight that broke out during Detroit Edison’s boys basketball game against Detroit University Prep.
As of Saturday afternoon, police haven’t shared whether any arrests have been made.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Duluth Police Department at 313-596-5740 or Crime Stoppers of Michigan at 1-800-773-2587.
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