First-period explosion carries Red Wings to first victory under Todd McLellan

Ted Kulfan, The Detroit News on Dec 29, 2024

Published in Hockey

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DETROIT — That new-coach bump that teams get, the Red Wings definitely got one game later.

The Wings rolled to a 4-2 victory Sunday over Washington, 48 hours after losing coach Todd McLellan's debut against Toronto.

All those areas the Wings wanted and needed to get better, for one game, they looked like an improved team while earning McLellan his first victory as head coach of the Wings.

They contained an offensively dangerous team like Washington. The penalty kill blanked Washington's potent power play twice. The Wings exploded for a season-high four first period goals, with Patrick Kane earning a goal and assist to give him 1,300 career points (the 38th NHL player to reach the milestone).

Alex DeBrincat scored two goals, and Lucas Raymond and Kane had the other goals, while goaltender Alex Lyon stopped 26 shots.

The victory ended a four-game losing streak, and gave the Wings (14-18-4) some positive news after a tough week.

Washington's Alex Ovechkin opened the Capitals scoring with a first period goal, his 17th goal in 19 games this season (he returned from injury Saturday) and the 870th of his career. Ovechkin is 24 goals from tying Wayne Gretzky for the all-time record.

Nic Dowd added a third-period goal, at 10 minutes 27 seconds, cutting the Wings lead to 4-2.

McLellan replaced Derek Lalonde on Thursday and has been running a crash course, along with his assistant Trent Yawney, on how he wants the Wings to play.

"The situation, like I said (Friday) is brand new for me," said McLellan, who has never taken over a team in the middle of the season. "The foot is on the gas pedal right now and it hasn't come off. I'm trying to learn on the fly right now myself, like how much do we share with them, how much can they absorb before we are getting in the way and we're becoming a problem.? We can overload them and go the other way instead of moving the train forward.

"But we’ll figure all this out as we go.”

Saturday's practice was the Wings' first full one with McLellan. It was intense, educational, and McLellan definitely got points across loud and clear to a team that soaked in the knowledge.

Like McLellan alluded to, the last few days have been a whirlwind behind the scenes.

"The Red Wings have their video staff and we're trying to blend stuff together," McLellan said. "The amount of time it takes to flip stuff around, the video coaches did an unreal job (for Saturday's practice) in a stressful situation just to get us ready for a meeting. You don't have that when you're planning for training camp because you've got six month, three months probably, to get prepared.

"We had three hours. But the on-ice part of it was good."

The Wings came out flying Sunday against a Washington team that played in Toronto 22 hours before.

DeBrincat scored his first goal only 3 minutes 19 seconds into the game deflecting Ben Chiarot's shot from the point past goaltender Charlie Lindgren.

They quickly pushed the lead to 2-0 on Kane's power-play goal at 6:44. Kane got the puck on the flank and cleanly beat Lindgren.

Kane earned point No. 1,300 at 12:35, assisting on DeBrinat's second goal, and 15th of the season. Kane found DeBrincat alone out front, and DeBrincat buried the puck past a beleaguered Lindgren.

Raymond capped the Wings' charge with his 15th goal, tying DeBrincat for the team lead, at 14:18 of the first period.

Raymond got the puck near the hashmarks with the Capitals (24-10-2), and Lindgren, scrambling. Lindgren was prone on the ice and unable to get himself up, Raymond patiently snapping a shot over Lindgren.

The Wings killed two Washington power plays in the second period, which were prime opportunities for the Capitals to get back in the game.