Red Wings-Blackhawks wrap-up: From Raymond to Nedeljkovic, the Red Wings were solid all over the ice vs. the hapless Hawks

The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 6-3 on Sunday night, with Lucas Raymond scoring a hat trick on a 4-point night:

The Red Wings’ victory was a wild, up-and-down emotional affair, one in which Raymond wasn’t the only Red Wings player who displayed jaw-dropping athletic abilities…

And on a night that Nedeljkovic had 32 saves, Dylan Larkin had 3 assists, Tyler Bertuzzi had a goal and 2 assists, Mitchell Stephens of all people had 2 assists, Vladislav Namestnikov and Carter Rowney scored and Filip Zadina, Michael Rasmussen and Moritz Seider all had assists, well…
*takes deep breath*

There weren’t many passengers in the Red Wings’ lineup as the now 3-2-and-1 team both attacked the hapless Hawks and stood tough as the still-dangerous denizens of Chicago made the game a little too close for comfort on several occasions.

The result was simple: Detroit snapped a 2-game losing streak, and salvaged a weekend of back-to-back games; for the Blackhawks, who are now 0-5-and-1, things got worse, and the team’s sellout streak ended on a night where the, “Let’s go Red Wings!” chants out-fought the derisive, “Detroit sucks!” chant.

The Hawks were clearly less than 100% without Patrick Kane, Jujhar Khaira and Riley Stillman, who were all in COVID protocols, but the Hawks weren’t about to use their absences as an excuse, as they told NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis:

Less than 24 hours after the Detroit Red Wings were routed 6-1 by the winless Montreal Canadiens, the Blackhawks were run out of their own building for their sixth consecutive loss and booed off the ice on a night the home sellout streak ended at 535 games. The Arizona Coyotes are the only other team without a win this season, and the frustration is growing by the second.
“It’s a horrible feeling,” Jonathan Toews said following a 6-3 loss. “I don’t think there are many guys who have been through anything like this before, especially to start a season.”
The Blackhawks were able to take away some positives in their previous two games, whether it was a strong defensive effort or a special teams unit that continues to have success. They couldn’t do that after Sunday’s performance. It was a deflating loss, and head coach Jeremy Colliton looked as dejected and disappointed as ever.
“It’s a step back from the last two games,” Colliton said. “Too much of tonight is a slip back into things that got us in trouble on the road trip and we paid the price. There’s no secrets as far as what we have to do. I think everyone knows. We have to find a way.”
The Blackhawks are desperately searching for answers, and that dialogue appeared to continue immediately after the game. Toews was the first player to speak to the media, but it took an unusually long 25 minutes from the time the final horn sounded to when he stepped to the mic, which indicated some sort of meeting happened behind closed doors. Advertisement
“Specifics of what’s said in the locker room always stays in the locker room,” Toews said. “But you could imagine we’re just trying to dig ourselves out of the hole that we’ve gotten ourselves in for six games here. It’s not a good feeling. At the end of the day, the solution’s in our locker room. It’s everybody. So I think everyone’s trying to take responsibility on how they can be better and help our team and get the win column.”

The rebuilding Hawks told ChicagoBlackhawks.com’s Carter Baum that they gave Detroit far too easy a route to the front of their own net…

On Sunday night, four of the six Detroit tallies came directly from Red Wings crashing the net and connecting on rebounds near the blue paint. Another came from a defensive zone turnover without numbers back and the sixth off a one-timer on a power play.
“I just think we’re not consistent enough with how we’re playing defensively and how hard we’re making it for teams to get in our zone and create scoring chances,” Toews said. “Top to bottom, I think our forwards have to help our D-men. We’re just making it too easy for teams to walk into our zone, get possession, stay in our zone, generate shots, win battles. It’s not the most complicated issues, it’s just finding that consistency and not getting frustrated and staying with our game plan when things aren’t clicking, when another team’s coming at us.”
“I just think we need to be a harder team to play against in all areas,” [defenseman Seth] Jones said. “We leave Flower out to dry in a lot of situations, situations that goalies shouldn’t be in all game. We need to do a better job of our defensive coverage, our rush coverage and not giving up so many odd-man rushes. It seems like right now they’re getting free chances off our mistakes. It sucks losing that way when you’re shooting yourselves in the foot and you’re not making the other team earn every goal they get or every chance they get making them come 200 feet.”

The Hawks also addressed the end of their sellout streak with the AP’s Jay Cohen…

Short-handed Chicago dropped to 0-5-1 in a nightmarish start for a team with playoff aspirations. It has yet to lead this season; at 360 minutes, 57 seconds, it’s the NHL’s longest such streak to open a campaign since at least the 1979-80 season, according to Sportradar.
“It’s a horrible feeling,” Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said after the loss. “I don’t think there’s many guys that have been through anything like this before, especially to start of a season. … We haven’t found a way to generate any offense and get on the scoresheet, and when things go bad for us it just seems to snowball. But again, we only have ourselves to blame for that. It’s up to us to find solutions and find a way out of it, just one shift at a time.”
The crowd of 19,042 stopped the Blackhawks’ sellout streak at 535 games. There were periodic boos the whole night, broken up by an occasional “Let’s go Red Wings!” coming from a vocal group of fans in the upper deck.
Coach Jeremy Colliton wasn’t surprised by the sellout streak’s end.
“When you’re not playing well, that’s not a surprise,” Colliton said. “It’s up to us to play better. I believe we have the makings of a good group. We haven’t put it together yet. We need to. We can play a brand of hockey and be a team Chicago can be proud of. But we have to deliver.”

And the Chicago Sun-Times’ Ben Pope suggested that Blackhawks fans have every right to be upset:

The anger is justified. So is the frugality. The Hawks have given zero reasons why fans should pay to see this current production. An increasingly sizable number of those fans — severely understated by the mere 675-person difference between Sunday’s announced attendance and capacity — have noticed and are making decisions accordingly.
Those who showed up Sunday did at least get to witness history. The Hawks broke the NHL record for the longest time without a lead to start a season. They sit at 360 minutes, 57 seconds and counting, topping the 2000-01 Capitals’ previous 350-minute record.
The Wings ensured that by scoring four times in the second period to run away with the game. The Hawks have now been outscored 25-6 at even strength this season.
In postgame interviews, both Jonathan Toews and Seth Jones backed Colliton but at the same time alluded to a disconnect in mindset and lack of unity among the team itself.
“This isn’t a coaching problem,” Jones said bluntly. “This is a locker room thing. Players are on the ice, playing the game. We have to find a way to get on the same page and have a common goal on how to play and what our identity is.”

The Chicago Tribune’s Phil Thompson worked toward a game narrative…

Red Wings winger Lucas Raymond had a hat trick and added an assist. The visitors pounded Fleury with four goals in the second period, capitalizing on their 19-6 advantage in shots on goal during the period.
The Hawks played without Patrick Kane, one of five Hawks players who have entered the COVID-19 protocol since Saturday. Ryan Carpenter and Erik Gustafsson returned in time for Sunday’s game, but Riley Stillman and Jujhar Khaira went on the list.
“Patty’s a great player, no question,” Colliton said. “I don’t want to discount the hole he leaves, but ultimately that’s not why we lost.”
The Hawks kept up their appalling penchant for letting opponents score quickly. Tyler Bertuzzi picked off Calvin de Haan’s board pass in the defensive zone and centered it to a streaking Raymond, who swept it past Fleury for a 1-0 lead 5:41 into the game.
Tyler Johnson answered about 7 minutes later in the first.
Dominik Kubalík added a power-play goal in the second, and Henrik Borgström scored his first goal in the third.
With 9 minutes left, Toews appeared to have finally scored his first goal of the season, but the Red Wings challenged based on goalie interference and the goal was overturned.

As did the AP’s recap…

Dominik Kubalik, Tyler Johnson and Henrik Borgstrom scored for Chicago. Toews had two assists for his first points since missing all of last season with what he described as chronic immune response syndrome.
The Blackhawks had a third-period goal waved off because of goaltender interference, and Alex DeBrincat was robbed on an outstanding stick save by a diving Nedeljkovic.
Rowney put Detroit ahead to stay when he banked the puck in off the left skate of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury 4:22 into the second – the first of four goals in the period for the Red Wings.
Namestnikov made it 3-1 when he jumped on a loose puck in front and poked it through Fleury’s legs at 7:33. Bertuzzi was credited with his sixth goal when Blackhawks forward Reese Johnson had one go in off his left skate at 9:19.
After Kubalik converted a power-play slap shot for Chicago, Raymond knocked home a rebound to make it 5-2 with 59.2 seconds left in the second.
‘He’s got an edge to him, for sure. He’s certainly not shy about going to the net,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said.

And NHL.com’s Bruce Miles’ recap will serve as our pivot point between the Blackhawks and Red Wings‘ perspectives:

Raymond was selected by the Red Wings with the No. 4 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. The 19-year-old is the second teenager to score a hat trick for Detroit (current Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman in 1983, 1985). He’s the third Red Wings teenager to have a four-point game (Yzerman, 1983; and Gordie Howe, 1947).
“It was fun for sure, first of all to get the bounce-back win after a tough night last night (6-1 loss at the Montreal Canadiens),” Raymond said. “Of course, to score my first career hat trick, it’s for sure a special night.”
…
Raymond opened the scoring at 5:41 of the first period when he took a pass from Bertuzzi in the left corner and shot it past Fleury from the slot.
“He’s getting … an opportunity, No. 1,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “And he’s earned some of it in the NHL at a young age, which not lots of guys get the chance to do. And No. 2, he’s playing with real good players on a real good line and getting important minutes. I think, obviously, he’s capitalized on that, and it’s great that he had the hat trick. There’s opportunities that he’s getting, and he’s got to keep making sure he does a real good job in the minutes that he gets.”
The Blackhawks had a goal by Jonathan Toews during a 5-on-3 power play overturned when Detroit challenged for goaltender interference. On the same power play, Nedelkovic made a sprawling stick save on a shot by Alex DeBrincat.
“That was a lot,” Blashill said. “Those aren’t easy. I don’t think you kill a penalty like that off without really good goaltending, and I thought ‘Ned’ raised his game to another level at that point once we got into that situation. He was excellent on the 5-on-3. And then we had some big blocked shots as well and some real smart play.”

DetroitRedWings.com’s Brett McWethy took note of Raymond’s performance…

According to Bally Sports Detroit, Raymond became the first Detroit skater age 19 or younger to score a hat trick since former captain and current Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman on April 30, 1985.
“It was fun, for sure,” Raymond said. “First to get the bounce back win after a tough night last night, and of course to score my first career hat trick. It was for sure a special night.”
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill continues to be pleased with Raymond’s complete game, and how quickly he has meshed with Bertuzzi and Larkin along the Red Wings’ top line.
“It’s a complete game, I think he does it right at both ends of the ice,” Blashill said. “I think the line’s a good line. They’ve got different pieces. Larks has that energy, can win puck battles. Tyler does a lot of everything, wins puck battles, is hard at the net, has skill to make plays and Lucas is a real smart player, good defensively and is in position to make offensive plays. Obviously the line was good from a production standpoint, but I don’t think they were alone. I thought it was a good team effort.”

As well as Nedeljkovic’s performance…

Raymond clinched the hat trick at exactly the 13:00 mark, seconds after the power play started. Moritz Seider and Larkin set up the play for Raymond, which was a one-time slap shot from near the left faceoff dot. Nedeljkovic made several key saves to protect Detroit’s lead in the third period, including fending off a 5-on-3 advantage.
“The third period was excellent for him (Nedeljkovic),” Blashill said. “I think anytime you go to a new team – I don’t care who they are – I’ve had guys that have been veteran players in this league – and they go to a new team, you wanna get comfortable, you wanna gain confidence, and certainly a period like he had in the third can really help him. I thought he was excellent in the third, I thought he did a great job, and hopefully he can build off it.”

Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen took note of Blashill’s own gutsy call in his “Five Takeaways”…

Chicago’s Jonathon Toews appeared to score a power play goal to make it 6-4, but it was waved off thanks to a successful challenge for goalie interference.
Blashill smiled when asked if the call was an easy one to make. “It was not a slam dunk ,” Blashill said. “It is a big decision at that point.”
Goaltender interference still has subjectivity attached to it. It’s not black and white. Five people can look at the video and see something different.
“If we are wrong on that challenge, they get another 5-on 3, and they just scored , and we are giving them an opportunity,” Blashill said.
When his video coaches L.J. Scarpace and Jeff Weintraube wanted to challenge, Blashill told them they had to be sure
“They told me: We are 100% right on this. We are not wrong. They felt we were going to win that challenge for sure,” Blashill said.

And Raymond told Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff that he’s a little overwhelmed by the historical company he now inhabits:

Netting a hat-trick and dishing out a helper during Sunday’s 6-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center, Detroit Red Wings rookie forward Raymond, 19, became just the third teenager in team history to collect four points a game.
Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman are the others to accomplish this feat in a Red Wings uniform. It was current Wings GM Yzerman who selected Raymond fourth overall in the 2020 NHL entry draft.
“It’s tough to take in,” Raymond admitted of his new-found place in Red Wings history. “Those are two of the greatest players who ever played in franchise history. I’m trying not to think about it that much.”
…
Raymond leads all NHL rookies with 4-3-7 totals. Even Raymond had to admit he’s not taken time to ponder his splendid start as an NHLer.
“I’ve only played six games in the NHL, so I’m playing on a lot of adrenaline,”Raymond said. “Everything’s new to me, so I’m trying to go out there every night and have fun and help the team win.”

Overall, the Red Wings were happy with their effort, in no small part because anything else would have been incredibly disappointing, as the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan noted:

“Wins in this league are hard to come by and we want to be a team that finds ways to be a more successful team and one of those things is to find away to net let losses snowball,” Blashill said. “We had two (losses) and it was a big game for us. We had to find a way to put our foot down and play better hockey.”
A four-goal second period for the Wings (3-2-1) snapped a 1-1 tie and ignited the Wings over the disheartened Blackhawks, who are winless in six games to open the season (0-5-1).
As a matter of fact, the Blackhawks have never led this season, a sign of their disappointing play. The Wings’ top line of Raymond (three goals, one assist), Tyler Bertuzzi (one goal, two assists) and Dylan Larkin (three assists) had a dominant night, leading the offensive barrage.
“That line was good from a production standpoint but they weren’t alone,” Blashill said. “It was a good team effort.”
Carter Rowney and Vladislav Namestnikov added goals, Mitchell Stephens had two assists and goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic had 32 saves for his first win as a Red Wing, as the Wings rebounded from Saturday’s 6-1 drubbing in Montreal. Rowney (first goal), Namestnikov (third) and Bertuzzi (team-leading sixth) scored goals 4 minutes, 57 seconds apart in the second period, snapping a 1-1 tie.
All three goals were near Chicago’s net, batting in loose pucks, as Blackhawks defenders left goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to fend for himself most of the game.
“We found a way to score dirty goals,” Blashill said.

That they did, and it was wonderful to see.

Now the Wings get two days off–they won’t practice on Monday–and they head to Washington on Wednesday, host the Panthers on Friday, and then kick off a 4-game road trip with a visit to Toronto on Saturday.

Multimedia:

Highlights: Sportsnet posted an 8:17 highlight clip: