{"id":5445,"date":"2017-01-29T14:33:15","date_gmt":"2017-01-29T19:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonhockey.com\/?p=5445"},"modified":"2017-01-30T20:18:35","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T01:18:35","slug":"though-not-star-andreas-athanasiou-playing-like-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2017\/01\/29\/though-not-star-andreas-athanasiou-playing-like-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Though Not An All-Star, Andreas Athanasiou Playing Like One"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three weeks ago, with the Red Wings reeling and\u00a0about to embark on a west coast swing in Anaheim, Andreas Athanasiou<\/a><\/strong> had been struggling himself. After an injury that kept him out for a month of game action, the former Barrie Colt had just two points in ten games since, getting 14 minutes or more of ice time just three times in that span. It led head coach Jeff Blashill<\/strong>, who hasn’t been mum on Athanasiou’s consistency in particular in the past<\/a>, to healthy scratch him in favor of Steve Ott<\/a><\/strong>, a frequent staple on Athanasiou’s wing when relegated to bottom-six duty.\u00a0This came two games after he played just 5:13 on December 29th when he was benched for the entire third period against the Ottawa Senators. Blashill, again, seemed irked.<\/p>\n

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#RedWings<\/a> Athanasiou logged 5:13, didn’t get off the bench in the third. Blashill: “It\u2019s a coach\u2019s decision. I\u2019ll just leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) December 30, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n