Just when it looked as though the Detroit Red Wings were going to throw a win away, they got down and gritty. And that led to Jake Walman doing the Griddy.
Walman’s goal 54 seconds into overtime game Detroit a 5-4 road victory over the Montreal Canadiens in a game that saw the Red Wings squandering 3-0 and 4-2 leads.
“I think we got away from our game a little bit,” Detroit center Joe Veleno told Bally Sports Detroit. “Sometimes when we’re putting a couple of goals in early we tend to pick up bad tendencies and bad habits a little bit.”
The game was actually somewhat of a microcosm of the Red Wings’ season. There was a lot to like about it, with enough cause for concern mixing into the outcome.
Detroit was scoring on the power and while shorthanded. At the same time, the Red Wings were surrendering a shorty and a power-play tally. The Wings were netting 4+ goals for the 15th game this season. They’re 13-0-2 when scoring at least four goals in a game this season. On the other hand, they were coughing up 3+ goals for the 14th time this season.
Good And Bad In Detroit Win
A lot of good in our hockey, but there’s no doubt it needs to keep growing,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde was telling Bally Sports Detroit. The coach felt that the fact his team was playing for the third time in four nights and on a second road trip in that span was leading to some level of fatigue.
“That’s our league,” Lalonde said. “Everyone goes through it. We just happen to be going through it right now.
“We got to find a way and tonight we did. I still think we could have managed that a lot better. But all in all, when you look at it, it’s hard to win in this league, especially hard to win on the road. It’s a good two points for us.”
Lalonde gave starts to his three Quebec-born forwards in Veleno, Daniel Sprong and David Perron, with ex-Canadiens Jeff Petry and Ben Chiarot on defense. Veleno and Sprong were repaying him by both scoring to help Detroit fashion a 3-0 advantage. Christian Fischer’s second of the season and second against Montreal was also contributing to that lead.
Milestone For Red Wings DeBrincat
After Montreal narrowed the margin to 3-2, Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat was tallying his 200th NHL goal. He’s the 12th-youngest American-born NHLer to achieve the milestone.
It was former Red Wings defenseman Gustav Lindstrom who would score with 3:49 left in regulation to force OT. Ville Husso got the win for Detroit, improving to 4-0-2 vs the Canadiens.
Captain Larkin Back For Red Wings
Returning to the lineup after missing two games following his family’s loss of their unborn daughter, captain Dylan Larkin set up Walman’s OT winner.
“He’s our leader,” Walman said. “We’re always there for him. We’re gonna support him every step of the way.
“He showed it tonight. He’s a dog, he’s a beast. He leads our team. I’m so happy that he’s back and we got him all the way.”
More must-reads: