Wings hitting right notes after strong finish to road trip
>> Not surprisingly, the music out of the Red Wings’ locker room was blaring. Different types of tunes, a mix of genres, but all loud and thumping and ramping up the good times until reporters walked in and the volume needed to be turned down.
The good mood was understandable given Monday’s 4-3 overtime victory in Seattle. The victory enabled the Wings to earn a split of the four-game trip through western Canada and Seattle — never an easy journey — after losing the first two games in Edmonton and Vancouver.
But a 5-0 shutout win in Calgary, and the back-and-forth tussle in Seattle resulted in the Wings earning four of a possible eight points on the trip. In this case, and with the momentum earned at the end of the trip, the Wings will gladly take it and move forward.
“The way those first two games shook out and then to come back with two gutsy wins is awesome,” said goaltender Alex Lyon, who showed some moxie himself returning Monday after a couple of subpar outings in the two losses to open the trip. Lyon made 38 saves to defeat Seattle. “We can’t get emotionally too high right now because we still have so much hockey left to go and so many critical points. We’re going to enjoy this for a hot second, then move on and emotionally get ready for the next one.”
The victory Monday ensured the Wings of maintaining their hold of the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference and moved the Wings within one point from Tampa Bay for the first wild-card spot. The Wings are ahead of Tampa in win percentage.
With only 27 games left on the Wings’ schedule, these games become increasingly important in terms of making the playoffs. Several teams chasing the Wings have games in hand, and the Wings also have games remaining with some of those teams.
This playoff race is real, and is going to get more intense.
The Wings are looking forward to the playoff push. The importance of the games. Considering where this
organization has been, not making the playoffs the last seven seasons, it’s a different atmosphere.
“This is what you play for,” said defenseman Ben Chiarot, who scored Monday’s overtime game-winner. “This is why (general manager) Steve (Yzerman) brought in older guys, veteran guys. Just for this time of year, to be contributing and pulling the rope at the front of the line and getting the job done when it needs to be done and helping push this team toward a playoff push.”
Here are some highlights from Monday’s victory, along with the completed road trip:
What could be potentially promising for the Wings is, they won these last two games without playing their absolute best hockey.
Both goaltender James Reimer in Calgary, and Lyon on Monday in Seattle, kept the Wings in the game until they found the team found its balance.
Lyon is a big believer that a team learns from these opportunities and searches for a way to be successful when not at its best. Especially because, during a long hockey season, a team isn’t going to be great every night.
“It’s never going to be good, never
going to be pretty,” Lyon said. “You want it to be pretty all the time, but you’re going to have one out of every five games that’s like, ‘Oh yeah, we all felt great, we were buzzing’. But it’s a long trip and in situations like this you just have to find a way.”
Many times when the Wings’ depth is talked about, it’s in terms of the forwards and the ability of Lalonde to have four balanced lines, all of which have the ability to score.
But the Wings’ defensemen need to be highlighted, as well.
Chiarot and Moritz Seider both scored Monday, giving the Wings’ defense 33 goals. That ranks fourth in the NHL, among teams’ defensemen (Colorado leads with 48). The Wings’ 131 points from its defense ranks sixth. Colorado tops the list with 170.
“That’s kind of the way we’re built,” Chiarot said. “We’ve got guys who can score on the fourth line and defensemen that can get up on the rush. We’ve got offense from all over the lineup. That’s the key to our success. When we play good defensively, everyone is capable of contributing.”
Lalonde was quick to single out the defensemen’s offensive contributions after Monday’s victory.
“Awesome,” Lalonde said. “It’s been a key to our success all year, that balanced scoring. Everybody talks about our scoring through our depth core group, but we’re getting a ton through our defense, which is positive. We needed it (Monday).”
Don’t look now, but the Wings’ penalty kill is ranked eighth in the NHL entering Tuesday’s games, at 82.0%.
The Wings allowed a first-period power-play goal to Seattle, but with under two minutes left in regulation, and Olli Maatta penalized for crosschecking, the Wings were able to kill the penalty, which led to Chiarot’s game-winning goal.
It was a monumental moment in the game, and depending on how the rest of the season shakes out, possibly a key a point earned for the Wings in the standings.
“Our special teams have catapulted us all year long and we needed (a successful penalty kill) in that type of situation” Lalonde said. “It was huge, and then obviously we scored right after.”
Lyon felt the Wings have thrived in those types of situations through the season, building upon each experience.
“For me it’s a learning opportunity,” Lyon said “Here’s an opportunity to get better, and whether it’s now or in the playoffs you’re going to face adversity like that. It’s the nature of the game, and we found a way (to be successful).”
The Wings’ most consistent player on this completed trip? You could make a strong case for Lucas Raymond, and that just adds to the Wings’ list of dangerous offensive players if Raymond continues at this level.
Raymond had a goal and assist in both victories, giving him 46 points, three off the team lead by Dylan Larkin (49 points). Raymond as 12 points over his last 10 games.
What’s noteworthy, also, is the fact Raymond had two really good games after going a combined minus-five with no points in the losses to Edmonton and Vancouver to begin the trip.
“Razor had some jump (Monday),” Lalonde said. “I thought maybe he might be the guy in overtime (to score) the way he was going. But that’s a huge boost having him playing at a high level.”