Game Notes: Red Wings Score Statement Victory in Winnipeg

Last night in Winnipeg, the Detroit Red Wings scored a 4–2 win over the Jets at Canada Life Center, riding a dominant first period and commanding special teams to victory over the NHL’s leaders.  The win marks four in a row for the Red Wings under new coach Todd McLellan, who needed just five games to steer Detroit to its season-long win streak.  Here’s more on how the Red Wings rolled through Winnipeg:

The Game in One Quote

As Larkin alluded to, the Red Wings trailed 5–0 40 minutes into McLellan’s tenure to the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Since that moment, they have won four straight and are out-scoring their opponents 19–10.  From his introductory press conference onward, McLellan has emphasized “spirit” over tactics in discussing the changes necessary for his team to find success, and as Detroit rides a four-game winning streak, Larkin’s assessment of a team enjoying new life is unassailable.

It’s not a very scientific means of explaining Detroit’s change in fortunes—good feelings, confidence, spirit—and yet it seems the best one.  Where 10 days ago, the Red Wings languished, now they are invigorated, playing with a confidence that allowed them to skate into the arena of the NHL’s best team and dictate the terms of play from puck drop.

McLellan himself told reporters after the game, “the belief system has grown; it’s gotten stronger over the last 10 games.”  Of course more than a confidence boost is necessary for Detroit achieve its long-term objectives, but the sense that the sum of the individual parts has become so much greater in so little time under McLellan’s leadership stems directly from resurgent confidence.

Stat of the Night: 0

That’s a zero as in power play goals against, against the NHL’s best power play.  While it’s clichéd to reduce a game’s outcome to the special teams battle, it was the clear difference maker for Detroit Saturday night.  The Red Wings built a 2–0 lead on a pair of power play goals and held the Jets off the board on their two power play tries.

Last night, McLellan said that while he has mostly left the Detroit power play (which has been a bright spot throughout the season) alone, the penalty kill required a “total revamp.”  Since his arrival, the Red Wings have killed off 76.9% of the power plays they’ve faced (10 of 13).  That’s a far cry from spectacular, but it would rank 23rd on the NHL for the season, compared to an actual season rank of 31st at 69.8%.  To go from disastrous to somewhere between middling and bad is in fact a major improvement.

It’s also an area where we can localize Detroit’s confidence boost under McLellan.  After the Red Wings’ New Year’s Eve win over the Penguins, goaltender Alex Lyon talked about the feeling of dread that his team used to experience upon being whistled for a power play, a feeling that a goal against was imminent.  The penalty kill is no longer an emotional drain for Detroit, and even if more improvement remains necessary, that’s probably the biggest on-ice win of the early days of the McLellan era.

Observations

First Period Statement

-It’s hard to express just how stark the contrast was between last night’s first period and the first period from the first period of Jets’ visit to Detroit in late October.  Back in October, Winnipeg raced out to a 3–0 lead on the strength of a lethal transition game driven by Kyle Connor that put the Jets out of sight in just 20 minutes.  Last night, the Red Wings played what very well may have been their best period of the season to open the game.

While Detroit only came away with one goal, the Red Wings outshot Winnipeg 17–7, holding the Jets scoreless.  McLellan has mentioned that defensive zone coverage is one area his staff hasn’t had a chance to make many adjustments, instead focusing on aspects of the game farther up the ice that might help Detroit spend less time in the D zone to begin with.

You could see that dynamic on full display throughout Saturday’s first period.  The Red Wings smothered their hosts, and it had very little to do with what they were doing in the their own defensive third.  Instead, Detroit completely cut out the Winnipeg rush game that had proven so devastating back at Little Caesars Arena in October.  Part of that was puck management.  Part of it was increased connectivity and strength in the neutral zone.  It didn’t have much of anything to do with in-zone defending.  The Red Wings completely flipped the script from October: They were the ones attacking in waves, leaving the Jets weary and without the legs for any counter-push of their own.

Perhaps you would have liked to see the Red Wings leverage that dominant start into more than a 1–0 lead, but regardless of the eventual outcome, it was a period that suggested a new gear to Detroit’s game, one the Red Wings can return to as the season progresses and one they will need if they are to make up ground in the standings.

Kane, DeBrincat Find Pay Dirt

It wasn’t a banner night for Detroit’s second line of Andrew Copp between Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat, but the trio did combine for a third period insurance goal.  Their underlying numbers suggested a night spent underwater (0.37-1.027 by expected goals when on the ice together at five-on-five, per MoneyPuck), but they were decisive in finding the back of the net without conceding.

That goal came from a controlled breakout in the D zone.  It’s not a goal Winnipeg will enjoy watching back—allowing a situation that didn’t seem dangerous to turn into a goal against despite the Jets’ occupying reasonably strong defensive positions as the Red Wings entered the zone.  However, Detroit did well to create confusion and then take advantage of it.

Two things stand out to me upon watching the goal back: One is the tight connectivity of the Red Wings as they leave their own zone, and the other is the way Detroit quite consciously emphasizes changing sides:

Erik Gustafsson and Justin Holl exchange passes in the defensive zone to give the Red Wings the chance to establish that connection, with Kane, DeBrincat, and Gustafsson grouped tightly along the left wing as Holl drifts wide and right.  Holl sends a crisp diagonal pass back to Gustafsson, switching sides again and triggering Kane and DeBrincat to fan out and attack the offensive blue line with speed.

Gustafsson attempts to change sides again, but his pass is picked off by Alex Iafallo.  However, under pressure because of the speed Detroit generated beneath the puck, Iafallo gives it right back away to DeBrincat, who is able to knock it over to Kane, who feathers a pass back inside for DeBrincat, which the winger re-directs home.

Again, this isn’t a banner moment for Winnipeg’s generally strong defense, but the Red Wings were able to force confusion and pressure through the way they built up to the goal, allowing the opportunity for Kane and DeBrincat to make something out of nothing.

Another Seider Closeout Masterclass

I’m not sure there’s been any aspect of Detroit’s game I’ve enjoyed watching lately more than Moritz Seider’s play in five-on-six situations.  The intensity with which he defended Alex Ovechkin to help close out McLellan’s first win with the Red Wings against the Capitals was mesmerizing.

There’s not a moment in any game where Seider shows compunction about sacrificing his body in the name of team defense, but that dynamic is even more pronounced in end-of-game five-on-six scrambles.  Tying up sticks and asserting body position in front of the net, throwing a hit to knock the puck loose and get a clear, absorbing a hit to bleed away seconds along the way—Seider has become a weapon for Detroit to kill games.

Last night, it was Seider eliminating the threat of a loose puck just beyond the crease that won back possession for the Red Wings, eventually setting up Larkin’s empty-net goal that iced the game.   It’s a small part of Seider’s overall play, but it’s an area where games are quite literally won and lost and one where he has continued to add major value for his team.

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