Team tries to explain why they’re playing so well since Sweden trip
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Call it a quiet confidence, call it maturity, call it focus: The Detroit Red Wings call it winning.
They head into Thursday’s home game against the NHLcellar dwelling San Jose Sharks having won six of seven games, and with the excitement stoked by the imminent debut of a fantastically talented forward.
“Newsy (coach Derek Lalonde) talks about it a lot, it’s quiet confidence,” captain Dylan Larkin said after the Wings staved off three unanswered goals by the Sabres Tuesday in Buffalo to emerge with a 5-3 victory. “When things go a little sideways, we’ve got a good foundation of character and guys that can kind of calm it down.
“It’s just a good feeling. Winning is contagious and when you start to feel good, you get used to those situations. Yeah, it got a little closer than we wanted, but two points is two points in this league.”
Tuesday’s two points had the added inflation of coming against a divisional opponent, helping the Wings strengthen their foothold on a playoff spot inside the Atlantic race.
The Wings pulled a 5-4 overtime victory out of Montreal in their last game, after holding 3-0 and 4-2 leads. Ville Husso and Alex Lyon have been terrific over the past seven games, but a big difference this season is also just the ability to score. Robby Fabbri, for example, had a goal and an assist against the Sabres to record his third multipoint game in four outings.
“We’re getting it from all guys,” Larkin said. “Fabs has come in and it’s pretty amazing what he has done. We’ve got a good thing in this locker room right now and coming home from Sweden, we jelled really well and it’s showing up on the ice. We care about each other. We care about playing the right way. It’s a lot of fun right now.”
On Thursday, Patrick Kane will join the lineup.
“It’s really exciting,” Larkin said. “He seems really excited to be here, which is really cool. I’ve noticed him taking time with young guys and talking to them. He loves hockey, he’s passionate about hockey, and to see that, it’s really cool. When we get him on the ice, it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s going to be a good environment for him to come into, I think.”
It’s an environment that in the past two games has seen the Wings overcome late letdowns. The Sabres whittled a fourgoal deficit down to one and had a two-man advantage parts of the last two minutes.
“It was interesting,” Lyon said. “They’re a very talented team so you can’t take anything for granted. I think we’re slowly making strides in that department of finishing games, but we still have a ways to go. It’s a really important part of becoming the team that we want to be.”
Veteran defenseman Ben Chiarot described the Wings’ post-Global Series stretch (6-1) as “playing responsible. We’ve been getting great goaltending and the power play has kicked in for us again, so a combination of things have been going well for us.
“I think it’s natural when you’re up a few goals to kind of relax a little bit, which isn’t a good thing, but it is kind of the natural reaction. But it’s something we have to fix because you don’t want to be doing that especially going down the stretch when teams are hungry for points.”
Since returning from Sweden, the Wings are 6-0 when scoring first. In the past two games, they’ve had 3-0 leads.
“We’ve been starting very well of late,” Lalonde said. “Huge credit to the guys.
“I think there’s been a pretty good focus for a while now. We’ve had a pretty good stretch. For the most part, I like a lot of what we are doing.”