Red Wings at Sharks
Andreas Athanasiou answered his wake-up call of a benching by erupting for his first career three-point performance in the ensuing contest - all in one period, no less. The speedy 22-year-old forward looks to remain on the fast track Saturday as the Detroit Red Wings play the fifth contest of their season-high seven-game road trip against the San Jose Sharks.
"It's not a defensive thing, it's not an offensive thing. It's a skating-in-a-battle thing and I thought he was big-time engaged in the first period right from the beginning," coach Jeff Blashill said after Detroit's 4-0 rout of Los Angeles on Thursday. "When he's that determined, he's got big-time talent. We're a better team when Double A is going at a high level and he was going at a high level (Thursday)." Athanasiou also scored in a 3-0 victory over San Jose on Oct. 22 and will face a Sharks team that lost its third in a row on Thursday following a meltdown versus Minnesota that coach Peter DeBoer referenced as a "roof collapse." Defenseman Brent Burns notched two assists in the 5-4 setback to increase his point total to 23 (nine goals, 14 assists) in his last 21 games.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, CSN California (San Jose)
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (17-17-5): Rookie Anthony Mantha scored and set up a goal and veteran Thomas Vanek tallied twice versus the Kings to increase their respective point totals to 11 (six goals, five assists) and eight (four goals, four assists) in their last eight games. The offense hasn't been as readily forthcoming for fellow forward Gustav Nyquist, who scored twice in the first meeting versus San Jose but has just one goal and nine assists in his last 33 contests. Undrafted rookie Jared Coreau has stepped up nicely, turning aside all 34 shots he faced at Los Angeles to improve to 3-1-1 with a .913 save percentage in five starts this season.
ABOUT THE SHARKS (23-14-2): Although San Jose did not practice on Friday, defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic was on the ice stretching his skating legs and is eligible to return from injured reserve on Saturday after blocking a shot against Philadelphia on Dec. 30. His presence was sorely missed in the chaotic third period on Thursday, as the pairings of Justin Braun and Brenden Dillon as well as Burns and Paul Martin were each on the ice for two of the Wild's four third-period goals. Martin Jones, who was blitzed for five goals Thursday, has dropped three in a row (0-2-1) overall and is 1-2-0 in three career starts against Detroit.
OVERTIME
1. San Jose LW Patrick Marleau has five points (two goals, three assists) in his last four games.
2. The Red Wings, who went 0-for-6 on the power play versus the Sharks in the first encounter, are 2-for-52 with the man advantage in the last 16 games.
3. The Sharks reassigned D Tim Heed to San Jose of the American Hockey League on Friday.