Sheldon Dries makes case to stay with Red Wings on penalty kill

Sheldon Dries has given the Detroit Red Wings another option on the penalty kill since coming up from the Grand Rapids Griffins. Now Detroit is getting closer to having two of its injured forwards back.

Through Thursday’s games, the Red Wings had kept opponents scoreless on 25 of 31 power plays (80.6%) in the 11 games Dries dressed for, compared with 13 of 22 (59.1%) in the six games he missed. Detroit Hockey Now reported the split, which is borne out by the NHL game logs. Coach Todd McLellan told the outlet that Dries often starts the penalty kill and that the unit had improved since his recall.

The Red Wings recalled Dries under emergency conditions on Oct. 29. They held Vegas scoreless on three power plays in Thursday’s 2-1 loss. Dries also won an offensive-zone faceoff six seconds before Anton Johansson scored Detroit’s only goal and picked up the second assist.

McLellan expects Marco Kasper and Mason Appleton to return during the four-game road trip that opens Saturday in Colorado, NHL.com reported. Dries’ work short-handed gives Detroit a reason to keep him in the lineup as those forwards get closer to returning.