There’s a different feeling in the Detroit Red Wings’ locker room.
“For me, the biggest thing is the sense of belief,” said Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said, who is set to face his former team. “How we got to believing we can play with anybody, I’m not sure. We just started chipping away at different things and working at it.”
Detroit has a 7-2-0 home record since McLellan replaced Derek Lalonde. That’s why the Red Wings’ home game against the Kings on Monday looms large.
They’ll head out in the middle of the week on a four-game road trip and are set to play just one more home game before the two-week break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Detroit has won its last two games.
The Red Wings had a season-high 45 shots on goal in a 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday and a 2-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. That avenged a 5-1 loss to the Lightning a week earlier.
“It proves we can win games any way we need to right now,” said Cam Talbot, who recorded the 28-save shutout.
“We can put five or six on the board or we can make one hold up. That gives us a ton of confidence, especially against a team like that, coming back from what they did to us in their building last week. It shows a lot of mental fortitude in our group right now and you like to see that this time of year in a game we definitely needed.”
Another difference since McLellan took over is the expanded opportunities for younger players.
Rookie Marco Kasper was promoted to the first line. Over the last nine games, he’s produced five goals, including the game-winner on Saturday. Rookie defenseman Albert Johansson blocked seven shots versus Tampa Bay.
The Kings have gone 2-4-1 over their last seven games following their 3-2 overtime loss to Columbus on Saturday. That began Los Angeles’ five-game road trip.
Quinton Byfield scored with 1:05 left to force overtime.
“A game we should have won,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. “I thought we deserved to win, but we’ve had games like that. We’ve pulled the rabbit out of the hat before. Satisfied. We had a really good 6-on-5. Got one point. This is not what we wanted, but we’ll take it and move on.”
The Kings outshot the Blue Jackets, 33-24.
“It could have went our way for sure,” said Phillip Danault, who scored Los Angeles’ other goal. “I thought we had the best out of the game. But they have a good team too, have some good goal-scorers as well.”
The Kings, who own an 11-11-5 road record, reside in third place in the Pacific Division.
“I think we did a good way to play our way back into the game,” Byfield said. “I think there’s a lot of positives to take out of that game.”
The Kings won the first meeting with the Red Wings, 4-1, on Nov. 16 behind two goals from Adrian Kempe. David Rittich only needed to make 17 saves in a game Los Angeles dominated.
–Field Level Media
