from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,
The telling part for the Detroit Red Wings will be how they handle their next game.
They enter Sunday's matchup with the Anaheim Ducks smarting, looking more like last season’s team that mustered points in just over half their games than the up-and-comers they appeared to be this season. Although they have points in four straight games, gaining only one from their 4-3 overtime loss at the Chicago Blackhawks was a disappointment after their two-goal lead in the third period.
Friday’s events were a reminder how tough it is to become a better team.
“It’s been an emphasis all camp, all going into this season,” Dylan Larkin said. “If we want to make a turn, all the good teams manage the puck well. All the good teams bear down in battles.
“Right now, we’re a little bit hyper in certain situations, and we just need to settle down.”
from Nate Brown of Detroit Hockey Now,
via NHL.com,
Derek Lalonde can extend a record when the Detroit Red Wings host the Anaheim Ducks at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday (5 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN NOW). He already is the first coach in Red Wings history to earn a point in each of his first four games (2-0-2), passing Jeff Blashill (3-0-0 in 2015-16), Mike Babcock (3-0-0 in 2005-06), Jimmy Skinner (3-0-0 in 1954-55) and Tommy Ivan (2-0-1 in 1947-48). It has been a promising start for Detroit, which has not qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for six straight seasons. But the Red Wings have things to work on. They blew a 2-0 lead in a 4-3 overtime loss at the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday and rank last in the NHL in face-off percentage (40.1). The Ducks (1-3-1) defeated the Seattle Kraken 5-4 in their season opener but have not won since. -- Nicholas J. Cotsonika, columnist
from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,
It was likely done on purpose, set up perfectly in a lefty-righty sort of way, and it's working out as well as the Wings could have hoped for.
A veteran left-handed shooter, all acquired this past summer in Ben Chiarot, Olli Maatta and Robert Hagg, paired with a young right-handed shot correspondingly, Moritz Seider, Filip Hronek and Gustav Lindstrom.
All three veterans play and are known for a defensive-first type of game, which allows the younger defensemen to roam and be more offensive-minded if the opportunity presents itself.
"Those three vets, their purpose is to be simple," Lalonde said. "Even in the recruiting process during free agency, we wanted simple, predictable, safer (defensemen) committed to keeping it out of our net more so than putting it in the net and they have fit that role."
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