The Ottawa Senators, a primary Red Wings’ rival, helped Detroit in a big way Sunday night by downing the Washington Capitals 3-2 in overtime.

Denying the Capitals an extra point allowed the Red Wings to stay in the Eastern Conference second wildcard spot. Detroit moved into that final spot by beating Buffalo 3-1 Sunday afternoon.

Each contender for that wildcard position has five games remaining. Now, Detroit controls its own destiny. If the Red Wings win their last five games, then they will qualify for the playoffs for the first time in five years.

The Capitals have now lost six in a row. The Red Wings play them Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena.

Defenseman Jake Sanderson scored 41 seconds into overtime to give the Senators the win. He beat Washington goalie Charlie Lindgren with a wrist shot from the point. The Senators had tied the game 2-2 at 12:49 of the third period on a goal by Ridly Greig

Jake Sanderson gets it done in OT for the Sens! pic.twitter.com/oSAdAHGwO0

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 8, 2024

Red Wings In Case You Missed It

• Moritz Seider is the Red Wings’ top shot blocker. He confirmed that Sunday when he blocked 10 shots in Detroit’s 3-1 win against Buffalo.
• Goalkeeper Alex Lyon had a strong performance (37 saves) in the home win against the Sabres.
• Grand Rapids Griffins are giving some younger prospects a taste of the American Hockey League late in the season.

Red Wings Next Game

The Red Wings are home to face the Washington Capitals Tuesday and everyone understands the score. Detroit fell 4-3 in overtime to Washington just 13 days ago. The Red Wings are 1-0-1 against Washington this season. They clubbed the Capitals 8-3 on Feb. 27. But the Red Wings will face a more desperate Washington team on Tuesday. The Capitals are one point behind Detroit, and come into Detroit on a six-game losing streak (0-4-2). In fact, Washington’s last win was the OT triumph against Detroit on March 26.

Hockey Now Network

Boston: Jimmy Murphy writes that it is a Stanley Cup or bust for defenseman Charlie McAvoy and the Boston Bruins.

Colorado: The Colorado Avalanche defensive woes continue as they fall 7-4 to the Dallas Stars. What’s going on in Colorado?

Florida: George Richards explains why you may see some new faces in the Florida Panthers’ lineup during their final regular-season homestand. Carter Verhaeghe and Aaron Ekblad probably won’t play again until the playoffs.

New Jersey: Masterton nominee Curtis Lazar could miss the remainder of the season for the New Jersey Devils.

Philadelphia: Jonathan Bailey explains why a Carolina Hurricanes’ signing impacts the Philadelphia Flyers.

Pittsburgh: Dave Molinari makes a case for Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby to win the Hart Trophy.

San Jose: Sheng Peng offers his Top 10 San Jose Sharks Prospect List. It’s interesting to note that Sharks’ recent signing Collin Graf, a hot NCAA free agent signing, is not on his list.

The post The Daily: Senators Do Red Wings A Favor; Crosby in Hart Race? appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

With the Pittsburgh Penguins in Ottawa tonight to face the Senators, the timing is perfect to discuss the possibility of the Penguins moving Erik Karlsson to Ottawa this summer.

Sportsnet hockey insider Elliotte Friedman discussed it on his 32 Thoughts podcast Monday.

It could make sense for both the Penguins and Senators, depending upon the details. The Penguins need cap space. Shedding some, or all, of Karlsson’s $10 million cap hit for the next three years would help. The Senators need to become competitive again and Karlsson can still have impact. Plus, he started his career in Ottawa and fans loved him when he was there.

Bring Erik Karlsson home.

— Marc Methot (@MarcMethot3) March 11, 2024

“It’s not going to be an easy one to move, it definitely isn’t,” Friedman said on his 32 Thoughts Podcast. “There is going to be a lot of focus on Ottawa. If there’s one team that you would think would consider it, it would be them with Daniel Alfredsson.”

The other question in play for this transaction to occur is whether the Penguins truly want to move Karlsson. GM Kyle Dubas has said the organization does consider him one of core players along with Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin.

Red Wings In Case You Missed It

• A Red Wings prospect made the move of a lifetime to score a goal in an Ontario Hockey League game recently.
• Everyone has their fingerprints on Detroit’s five-game losing streak. Lucas Raymond is minus-eight. Moritz Seider is minus-7. J.T. Compher has been a minus player in all five games.
• Bob Duff writes that the Red Wings still have work to do at the center position. With Dylan Larkin sidelined by injury, their offense has lost their spark.
• Forget about playing better, the Red Wings just need to find a way to win. It’s critical the team earns a win tonight against the Buffalo Sabres to stop the bleeding.

Red Wings Next Game

Michael Rasmussen practiced Monday, which means he likely will be ready to play tonight against the Buffalo Sabres. He left Saturday’s game in Vegas with an undisclosed injury.  Alex Lyon should be back in goal for the Red Wings who are trying to halt a five-game losing streak. The Sabres did beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 in a shootout, but have lost three of their last four.

Hockey Now Network

Florida: The Florida Panthers will be without defenseman Aaron Ekblad for at least two weeks because of a knee injury.

Montreal: Marc Dumont explores the fact that the Montreal Canadiens will have more than $17 million in available cap space this offseason. They also have 12 picks in 2024 NHL draft.

Nashville: Clay Brewer explains how a potential Ryan Johansen buyout in Philadelphia would impact the Nashville Predators.

Philadelphia: The Johansen situation with the Philadelphia Flyers organization is complicated by an injury and Johansen’s past relationship with coach John Tortorella.

San Jose: Tomas Hertl explains why he chose to leave the San Jose Sharks to go to Vegas.

The post The Daily: Karlsson To Ottawa This Summer?; Ekblad Out appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

The Ottawa Senators, the Detroit Red Wings’ nemesis, beat them in overtime 3-2 last night. But that loss didn’t diminish the Red Wings’ enthusiasm about how well the team played in January. By earning a point against Ottawa, they finished January with 2o points (9-2-2).

Those points allowed Detroit to move within one point of the Tampa Bay Lightning for third place in the Atlantic Division. According to Moneypuck, the Red Wings now have a 50.3% chance of making the playoffs.

That’s encouraging for a team that has missed the postseason for seven consecutive seasons.

“This is going to be fun,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve put all of our energy and all of work in just getting us in the fight. Beginning of the year I think we were eight percent chance to be in this battle. Even at Christmas, we were in that single digit percentage to be in the battle, and now we’re here. Let’s see how we handle it. I’m really excited about watching us take a run at it the second half of the year.”

Players always look forward to their annual break. Because the NHL All-Star game is this weekend, the Red Wings won’t play again for 10 days. The Red Wings will benefit with the return of injured players Patrick Kane and Ben Chiarot. But given how impressively they have played and how much momentum, they’ve gained, the Red Wings also understand that the timing of this break couldn’t be worse.

The one negative about the break is sometimes when you’re away from it that long you forget, you maybe don’t have the muscle memory of how hard we were actually competing. So, we’ll have to get that back in a couple of practices.”

"I should be good to go after break."

Kane, Seider & Newsy following today's practice » https://t.co/kQ6kixAAyA pic.twitter.com/cw2GyiFCEK

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 30, 2024

Red Wings In Case You Missed It

• Captain Dylan Larkin has led Detroit’s offensive charge in January. He netted 10 goals this month.
• Jonatan Berggren is on a six-game points streak. He has five goals and five assists in the surge. He will play in the AHL All-Star game this weekend.  Simon Edvinsson was also selected to play.
• Paywall: Red Wings remaining schedule favors team ending their seven-year NHL playoff drought.

Red Wings Next Game

Coach Derek Lalonde’s players have an eight-day extended All-Star break and 10 days off before they play their next game against the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 10 (1 p.m. at Little Caesars Arena)

Hockey Now Network

Boston: Does it make sense for the Boston Bruins to trade for Noah Hanifin. The Calgary Flames already moved Elias Lindholm to Vancouver. The Flames are starting to move. Jimmy Murphy explores the possibility in a paywall story.

Chicago: Nate Brown weighs in on whether the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks should pursue a trade for Kaapo Kakko

Florida: Paul Maurice should be a Jack Adams Coach of the Year nominee. That’s George Richards’ take. Florida Panthers.

Montreal: Marc Dumont offers his Montreal Canadiens‘ prospect power rankings. The team has some promising youngsters in the pipeline.

Philadelphia: Jonathan Bailey has a take about how Lindholm’s trade impacts the Philadelphia Flyers. 

Pittsburgh: Dan Kingerski writes that the Pittsburgh Penguins are in the market for scoring wingers.  Does Vladimir Tarasenko or Victor Olofsson make sense?

The post The Daily: Break Comes At Bad Time for Red Wings; NHL Trade Talk appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

DETROIT — Even losing  an overtime game to the rival Ottawa Senators couldn’t spoil the mood of a Detroit Red Wings team that earned 20 points this month to climb back into the Eastern Conference playoff race.

The  3-2 loss to the Senators left Detroit with a 9-2-2 mark in January.

Red Wings (26-18-6) are in a wild card position, six points ahead of the closest team behind them and only one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for third place in the Atlantic Division. This was a team that was just treading water at 17-16-4 on New Year’s Eve. Now, they have a shot at ending their seven-year playoff drought.

“This is going to be fun,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve put all of our energy and all of work in just getting us in the fight. Beginning of the year I think we were eight percent chance to be in this battle. Even at Christmas, we were in that single digit percentage to be in the battle, and now we’re here. Let’s see how we handle it. I’m really excited about watching us take a run at it the second half of the year.”

The encouraging aspect of the Red Wings’ January performance is that they only surrendered 29 goals (2.23 per game) in regulation in the 13 games. That’s nearly a goal per game less than they were giving up coming into the month. Alex Lyon’s goaltending has played a major role in the goals-against improvement.

Reducing Goals Against

“The big emphasis for us is keeping goals out of our net,” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. “I think we’ve done a good job with that. Obviously you’re gonna have the odd night but we always have a goal of two or less for the game. We’ve been right there a lot of times. Goaltending and penalty killing has helped that. I think our team defense is improved and our puck management. There’s not as much high risk, high reward. We’re doing it right and grinding teams down. I feel this month we’ve really learned what our game is and how to win hockey games.”

The Red Wings were trailing 2-1 going into the third, but tied the game on Larkin’s 23rd goal of the season at 11:15 of the period.

Dylan Larkin scored his 10th goal since January 7, tied with Elias Pettersson and Auston Matthews for the most in the NHL through that span.#NHLStats: https://t.co/PGEW6tUBTR pic.twitter.com/YqBxXG4PMp

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 1, 2024

“I wouldn’t say we were great tonight,” Lalonde said. “…A little credit to the opponent. I thought they played a very strong game. Good thing is that’s the really good team that’s going to beat a lot of teams we’re probably going to be battling with for those spots down the stretch. Being down 2-1, I thought we could have found ourselves in a little better situation after the second. The reality was, we were down a goal going into the third, you guys now the numbers, it’s very hard to get points. Then we were down under 10 on the penalty kill, so found a way to get a point. We’d like to get a little greedy there and get that extra point, but in reality a pretty good point and obviously, a pretty good month.”

The post ‘Going to be Fun,’ Red Wings Arriving in Playoff Chase appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

In the past couple of seasons, when things are going south for the Detroit Red Wings, the Ottawa Senators are frequently the perpretators.

“We’ve had a history with them the past couple of seasons,” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin admitted.

Last season, it was consecutive losses at Ottawa in which the Wings were beaten badly on the scoreboard and physically between the boards struck a death knell to the team’s playoff hopes.

Fans view of the Larkin injury. Scary stuff pic.twitter.com/EdJYb0Zpd9

— Champagne Athletics (@champletics) December 10, 2023

Last month, a 5-1 home-ice loss to Ottawa in early December greased what would be a 3-9 skid over the rest of the month. Even more significantly, the game was the one in which Red Wings captain Larkin was rendered unconcsious after Ottawa forward Mathieu Joseph was punching him in the head. Detroit forward David Perron was also suspended six games for mistakenly retaliating against Ottawa’a Artem Zub after seeing his captain laying prone, face down on the ice.

On the eve of a home-ice rematch with the Senators, Larkin was loathe to talk about the last meeting between the two teams.

“I don’t want to go there,” Larkin said. “I don’t feel there’s a reason to dig up old stuff.”

Red Wings Need Win, Not Revenge

With Detroit on a 9-2-1 roll, the last thing Larkin wants is his team focusing on avenging him. He’d much rather they’d get even with Ottawa by whipping the Senators on the scoreboard.

It’s the same messaging that Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde is delviering to his team.

“I think the message is going to be manage your emotions,” Lalonde said. “Obviously, pushback and (don’t) take anything like that personal. It’s about winning the game and getting the two points.

Detroit >>>

See you Wednesday!
: https://t.co/bJfpCzovAi pic.twitter.com/e2WEVtGBKZ

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 28, 2024

“That was a very, very emotional game that night that even hung with us there for a while. Obviously, we did a good job of getting past it. Another hockey game that we want to compete in at a high level and that’s it.”

At some point prior to Wednesday’s game, Lalonde will gather his charges. At that point, he’ll remind them that settling scores is secondary to finishing the night with the larger digit on the scoreboard.

“I haven’t talked about it yet,” Lalonde said. “It was just a unique night. A lot of things went astray that night, so we’ll probably address it going into it.”

The post Red Wings Can’t Get Emotional About Looming Ottawa Rematch appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

David Perron is still appealing and the Detroit Red Wings are hopeful that his return to the lineup will also work out that way.

“He’s a naturally competitive guy, he’s an energy guy,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said of what Perron can add to his struggling club, losers of four in a row and seven of eight games. “When things aren’t going our way, the more of that you can have is a positive.”

David Perron on returning to the lineup tonight: "I'm just looking forward to get back honestly and help out any way I can." pic.twitter.com/zsgplHcp84

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 22, 2023

Perron is returning Friday to face the Philadelphia Flyers at Little Caesars Arena after serving his six-game NHL suspension for cross-checking Ottawa Senators defenseman Artem Zub in the face during a Dec. 9 game. He’s of the opinion that the punishment didn’t fit his crime.

“I understand that there was some discipline that needed to be done there,” Perron said. “I just felt like on my side that it was pretty excessive for the comparables, the history of my career, a lot of things that played into it. And we’re still going through that right now.”

Red Wings Perron Continuing Appeal Process

Perron is contining the appeal of his suspension, even though he’s served out its length.

“Right now it’s more for record and money,” Perron said.

Here’s the problem he faces in that regard. Once Perron was opting to utilize his stick as a weapon against Zub, it became a sticky situation.

David Perron gets 5 and a game for cross-checking Artem Zub pic.twitter.com/y3vAgDAfZM

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) December 10, 2023

Unlike society in general, the NHL is quite comfortable with a certain level of frontier justice.

“I think they do understand that a response in the league, the way things are right now, right or wrong, there’s a response that needs to be done there right away,” Perron said. “We assume that all 31 other teams would do something there for sure.”

He’s right, to a point. Had Perron chosen to take the route that was starting the whole incident – Ottawa’s Mathieu Joseph punching Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin in the head from behind, rendering him unconscious – things certainly would’ve turned out differently.

Remember, the only time Joseph did for his crime was two minutes in the sin bin.

If Perron had merely thrown hands at Zub instead of his twig, then the disciplinary action would’ve been much less harsh.

Just look at the history between Joseph and Larkin and you know that this is true.

Larkin Sat One-Game Suspension

In 2021, Joseph was with the Tampa Bay Lightning. In the season opener, he thundered Larkin head first into the boards with a check from behind. It was Larkin’s first NHL regular-season game since his previous campaign was halted by a neck injury. Larkin didn’t take kindly to Joseph’s welcome. He rose to his feet and drove a gloved punch into the face of his assailant.

the NHL would also be issuing Larkin a suspension for his response – one game.

Anyone who’s played the game of hockey can understand Perron’s heat of the moment response to seeing Larkin laying motionless on the ice.

“Definitely not easy for me to go through that, turn around and see my captain down on the ice,” Perron said. “I think as a whole throughout the league, you’re trying to respond to these types of incidents.”

The message delivered by the NHL to Perron, and every player for that matter, is obvious.

When seeking retribution, drop the stick, then the mitts, and have at it.

If you’re taking that route, almost all will be forgiven.

The post In Retrospect, Red Wings Perron Should’ve Punched Zub appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

Back home from their stint at the NHL Global Series in Stockholm, Sweden, the Detroit Red Wings are left licking their wounds. They lost 5-4 in overtime to the Ottawa Senators after clawing back from a 4-0 deficit. Then in their second game, the Wings bumbled away a 2-0 third-period lead and fell 3-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Over the years, from Nicklas Lidstrom to Henrik Zetterberg to Niklas Kronwall, Swedes have been very good to the Red Wings.

Sweden? Not so much.

Home cooking! Swedish native Lucas Raymond does it again in front of family and friends, opening up a 2-0 @DetroitRedWings lead! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/fJUaVzKhxM

— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) November 17, 2023

Detroit has now played four NHL regular-season games in Sweden. And the team is 0-3-1.

In 2009, Detroit would face the St. Louis Blues in a pair of games, like these two also contested in Stockholm. The Blues would edge Detroit 4-3 in the first game. St. Louis was a 5-3 winner in the second game.

Perhaps the next time the NHL is calling to sell the Red Wings on the value of playing games in Sweden, the Detroit brass should just tell them no thanks.

Red Wings In Case You Missed It

• Detroit 2023 first-round draft pick Axel Sandin Pellikka is on a record pace in the SHL.
• The Maple Leafs won’t be playing a regular-season game in Detroit this season
• Red Wings legends Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterbrg believe that the NHL should be moving to make neck guards mandatory
• Will the Red Wings be playing an outdoor game next season at Ohio State against Columbus?

Red Wings Next Game

Detroit gets back in action on North American ice at home on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET) against the New Jersey Devils. The Devils have won three in a row over the Red Wings by a combined score of 15-6.

Atlantic Division

Boston: As an organization, the Boston Bruins are maintaining radio silence when it comes to discussing the domestic assualt charges that Bruins forward Milan Lucic is facing.

Florida: Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov is day-to-day with a knee injury.

Montreal: Another member of the Xhekaj family, Florian, is making noise as a Montreal Canadiens prospect in the OHL.

Hockey Now Network

Pittsburgh: In his first game back from a stint on LTIR, former Red Wings goalie Alex Nedeljkovic was shutting out the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights.

Alex Nedeljkovic:

– scored 2nd career goal two days ago, most in AHL history

– tonight he shuts out the defending stanley cup champions pic.twitter.com/WfDi6h7NS3

— ryan (@OTCellyy) November 20, 2023

Philadelphia: The Flyers beat Columbus and former Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov 5-2.

New Jersey: Getting star forward Jack Hughes back from injury, the New Jersey Devils went and blew a 3-2 lead in losing 5-3 to the New York Rangers.

Chicago: Veteran forward Nick Foligno thinks that the Chicago Blackhawks are a much better team than they’ve been showing of late.

Colorado: Colorado Avalanche Norris Trophy winner Cale Makar is the fastest defenseman to 200 assists in NHL history.

Nashville: What the underlying numbers are saying about the Nashville Predators.

The post The Daily: Maybe Red Wings Should Avoid Sweden; Nedeljkovic Blanks Cup Champs appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

Game Facts

Who: Red Wings vs. Senators

When: 2 p.m.

Where: Aviici Arena, Stockholm

TV/Radio: Bally Sports/97.1 FM

Records: Red Wings 8-5-2, Ottawa 6-7-0

Things to Look For

It’s the first of back-to-back games for the Red Wings in Sweden. They’ll be without No. 1 goalie Ville Husso, who’s at home due to the birth of his child this week. James Reimer will start in net today. Coach Derek Lalonde wouldn’t commit to saying backup Alex Lyon would start Friday’s game. …

Lucas Raymond, the 0nly Swede on the Red Wings roster, talked about the importance of the NHL  playing games in Sweden: “You read about the NHL, you see highlights and then for kids to actually be able to experience an NHL game, I think that will be special,” he said. “I’ll try to do as much as possible to participate in different events. I think that week is gonna do a lot for the NHL and also for hockey in Sweden and in Europe.”

The Ottawa Senators have struggled in the early going. The Senators have plenty of offense, but not much in the way of defense. The Wings are only slightly better on defense, which could mean a lot of scoring in Stockholm. The Wings-Senators matchup will be the latest installment is what’s becoming a rivalry between the teams.

While we bask in mid-November sunshine, here’s a po0stcard from Sweden:

Having ourselves a Swede ‘ol time!#NHLGlobalSeries pic.twitter.com/n5L6YubxAL

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) November 15, 2023

Coach Derek Lalonde, overall, seems pleased with his team’s start going into the games in Sweden. “We’re 8-5-2 prior to heading to Sweden,” he said after Saturday’s home win over Columbus. “If you would have asked anyone if we would take 8-5-2 before a little reset going to Sweden we all would have taken it. What we’re going to do with it? Continue to build our game.” …

The Red Wings have been in Sweden since Sunday, and Lalonde says the team should be ready to play. “(I’m) actually kind of excited about some of the reps we’ll get in there,” he said. “Also, it’s a good balance. The league did a really good job of having that balance, acclimating, having that experience away from the rink, giving you plenty of time to be ready to play.”

The post Red Wings in Sweden: What to Know appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

Michael Andlauer truly didn’t know what he was getting into when he recently bought the Ottawa Senators franchise. Andlauer said Wednesday that when he was negotiating the purchase, the league didn’t inform him that Shane Pinto would be suspended 41 games for a gambling rule violation. Nor was he informed the team would have to give a first-round draft pick for their mishandling of the Evgenii Dadonov trade situation.

The NHL ruled Wednesday that Senators must forfeit a first-round pick (in 2024, 2025 and 2026). This is particularly of interest to the Detroit Red Wings because they are Atlantic Division rivals. The Senators, Buffalo Sabres and Red Wings are in similar rebuilding periods.

Here’s the story: Ottawa dealt Dadonov to Vegas in 2021, stating that the player did not have a no-trade list. Dadonov was subsequently moved to Anaheim at the 2022 trade deadline – a deal approved by the league, but later rescinded because Dadonov not only had a no-trade list after all, but Anaheim was on that list.

Does this seem fair? Many in the hockey community seem to believe the penalty in the Dadonov situation was particularly harsh.

Red Wings’ Next Game

The Florida Panthers are in Detroit tonight to take on the Red Wings. Florida has won nine in a row against Detroit. The Panthers are 10-1 in their last 11 visits to Detroit.

Red Wings In Case You Missed It

• Red Wings prospect Dmitry Buchelnikov is thrilled to be in the Kontinental Hockey League
• Injured forward Robby Fabbri is ahead of schedule or returning to the roster. He practiced Wednesday with the team.
• Cross Hanas understands that he’s not going to get to wear No. 71 when he gets to Detroit.

Hockey Now Network

Boston: Mason Lohrei will make his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins Thursday in a game against Toronto.

Chicago: Could Logan Cooley vs. Connor Bedard be the next entertaining rivalry? Chicago Blackhawks

Florida: The Panthers will again be without Sam Bennett because of injury. Florida Panthers. 

Montreal: The Montreal Canadiens franchise is now valued at $2.5 billion.

Pittsburgh: Police in the United Kingdom are investigating the tragic death of former Pittsburgh Penguins player Adam Johnson.

Washington: Nicklas Backstrom, one of greatest players in Washington Capitals history, is stepping away from the game.

The post The Daily: Senators Forfeit 1st Rounder; Backstrom Steps Away appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

When Michael Rasmussen scrapped with Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk in the third period Saturday, it was a fitting exclamation point for what seemed like a perfect day of atonement for the Detroit Red Wings.

Almost eight months ago, the Red Wings traveled to Ottawa for a pair of important games against the Senators. The Ottawa group, led by Tkachuk, dominated the Detroiters physically and on the scoreboard. The Red Wings fell by 6-1 and 6-2 verdicts and those setbacks extracted the bits of optimism the Red Wings had for qualifying for the playoffs.

On Saturday, the Red Wings (4-1-0) made every chance count, scoring three power play goals, to beat the Senators 5-2 to become the first Eastern Conference team to reach eight points.

“We all remembered what happened last year when we came in here.” said Red Wings center Joe Veleno who had the first two-goal game of his NHL career. “We didn’t want to let that happen again. I think we came prepared. We knew what we were facing.”

Red Wings Had Poor Start

The game didn’t start well for the Red Wings who were out-shot 14-3 in the first period. At one point, Detroit went more than eight minutes without a shot on goal. But Shayne Gostisbehere‘s late first period power play goal, set up by Dylan Larkin’s masterful saucer pass, tied the score 1-1. It seemed to infuse the Red Wings with spunk. Larkin had a goal and two assists in the game.

“Just a good road win,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “I thought we handled some adversity well. When you play a good team on the road, there’s times you’re going to be on your heels. We were that early. Ville was excellent, up to the task. Very good special teams, which was a big part of the win, but I really liked our five on five game after the first two.”

One of general manager Steve Yzerman’s offseason missions was to upgrade the team’s offense, and he seems to have accomplished that. It’s been five games, but the Red Wings lead the NHL in goals (24) and power play efficiency (Nine for 18, 50%).

“Good habits on it,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said about the power play. “I loved the fact that all of our power play goals basically came off retrievals, either a loose puck or a 50-50 along the wall that we turned into some quick offense. It’s huge momentum. Even the one we didn’t score on in the second, we scored a five on five goal right after, so really important for momentum.”

Larkin Enjoying Strong Start

Captain Dylan Larkin is leading the Detroit’s offensive charge with nine points, including six in his past two games.  New Jersey’s Jack Hughes is leading the NHL in points with 10, and Larkin is second and Alex DeBrincat is third (at eight points). DeBrincat was shutout against his former Ottawa teammates.

No one on the Red Wings is claiming the team has finally evolved into a contender, but the early success is fueling confidence. You can see it in the Red Wings play. Last season, Detroit often struggled to score goals. This group, with half of the roster new this season, seems to expect to find the net.

The Red Wings also want to play with more pushback this season. They showed that against the Senators. They certainly didn’t physically dominate the Senators, but they held their own.

Rasmussen’s decision to fight Tkachuk was a statement. Tkachuk was engaged with Moritz Seider who would have been more than willing to defend himself. But Seider is Detroit’s No. 1 defenseman. The Red Wings don’t necessarily want him carrying the flag for Detroit when it comes to fighting. The 6-foot-6 Rasmussen decided if someone was going to stand up to Tkachuk it was going to be him.

The post Red Wings Earn Payback versus Senators With 5-2 Triumph appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.