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Bernie, Bernie, Bernie

December 8, 2018, 2:01 PM ET [1 Comments]
Bob Duff
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Detroit Red Wings are opting to ride the hot goalie. For the first time this season, Jonathan Bernier will make his second consecutive start as the Wings face the New York Islanders Saturday at Little Caesars Arena. Bernier got the win in a 5-4 overtime decision against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.

“First off, I think he’s played good for us,” Wings coach Jeff Blashill told DetroitRedWings.com. “We need two goalies that are going to have huge impacts on our year and we’ve gotten excellent goaltending so far and we need to continue to get that to be successful.

“We went into the year saying we were going to be in that 50-30 type breakdown of games and to do that, you have to give starts and this gives him an opportunity to get another start here. I think both guys are going to continue to be big impacts on our team.”

Bernier last regular-season back-to-back starts were April 5-7 last season for the Colorado Avalanche.

Daley Skates
Injured defenseman Trevor Daley (lower body) was back on the ice with his teammates on Saturday.

“I feel pretty good for the most part,” Daley said. “Obviously you’re not going to really get a good feel ’til you get going and get playing. I don’t know how much better I’m going to get but I feel pretty good now.”

Blashill wasn’t ready to put a timetable on Daley’s return to game action.

Daley was injured against the St. Louis Blues but had been feeling discomfort prior to being hurt.

“I think it was coming for a couple games,” Daley said. “It was just an old injury that flared up again.”

“He skated, so that’s good,” Blashill said. “He skated the last couple days on his own with (strength coach) Mike Kadar. By last couple days, I mean yesterday and then this morning before our pre-game skate but he wanted to get out there and be with our players a little bit so it gives him a good chance to do that. So it’s a good step in the right direction.

“I would say he’s probably got to get his legs and his lungs going a little bit here so I don’t know when that means but it’s a good step in the right direction.”

Lashoff Recovering
Defenseman Brian Lashoff isn’t expected to be in the lineup on Saturday, but that he’s back playing at all is quite remarkable. Lashoff tore his Achilles tendon during the summer.

“Yeah, I had surgery in the end of June,” Lashoff said. “I was sprinting, doing a running workout and it just popped. It was a real freak thing, it just kind of happened out of nowhere. I didn’t feel any kind of problems before that, or anything. It just kind of happened.”

Called up Thursday from AHL Grand Rapids, Lashoff was back playing faster than was expected following such a serious injury.

“Yeah, it went way quicker than I thought,” Lashoff said. “It was six or seven weeks non-weight bearing, so after that you never know how you’re going to respond. It’s a lot of muscle especially in your calf, but yeah, it definitely went quicker than expected.”

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