The Malik Report

The Detroit Red Wings' prospects defeated the Carolina Hurricanes' prospects 1-0 on Friday night, riding a 2nd-period Tomas Nosek goal (assisted by Evgeny Svechnikov and Andreas Athanasiou) and Jake Paterson's superb 22-save effort to a win in what was an up-and-down affair.

The Red Wings lost defenseman Justin Lemcke to a shoulder issue in the 2nd period as well, but Paterson held the fort and the Wings' defense--of Joe Hicketts, Robbie Russo, Vili Saarijarvi, Ty Stanton and Andrew Prochno, not exactly an All-Star lineup--played superbly and strongly.

After the game, I was able to speak with Paterson, who discussed his shutout performance and the importance of getting off to a good start (Paterson will start Saturday's affair vs. Chicago, too), the team's ability to withstand Lemcke's injury and its energy management given the 9:30 AM practice and 4 PM game after a game that didn't end until nearly 10 PM...

I and MLive's Brendan Savage spoke with Tomas Nosek about his goal, the win and his team's effort down a man (and Nosek's English is still limited, but it's far better than it was a year ago at this time)...

I had a longer chat with Dylan Larkin, who discussed getting his feet wet at the tournament, the level of play he encountered, what he feels he needs to improve upon and his impressions of his team's play...

And Grand Rapids Griffins coach Todd Nelson discussed the game as a whole, the power play and penalty-killing units' aplomb, his team's resilience despite a short-handed defense and the play of Paterson, Nosek, Evgeny Svechnikov, Anthony Mantha, Larkin and Robbie Russo, who impressed the coach and the audience, all before informing us that the Red Wings' practice on Saturday will be only a 20-minute skate to "get a sweat on" and let starting goalie Jake Paterson feel the puck:

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