Red Wings-Penguins wrap-up: Fast-starting Wings earn McLellan’s 600th win, but coach defers credit

The Detroit Red Wings ground out a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night, wrapping up 2024 with a two-game winning streak.

Now they head to Columbus on Thursday and face the mighty Winnipeg Jets on Saturday to open the New Year.

The Red Wings were able to celebrate earning coach Todd McLellan his 600th NHL coaching win, they surrendered 1-0 (Jonatan Berggren) and 2-1 (Patrick Kane) leads before J.T. Compher’s power-play marker at 14:26 of the 3rd helped the Red Wings avoid overtime, and Dylan Larkin’s first-in-16-games empty-netter sealed the win for both McLellan and Alex Lyon, who made 23 saves on the night.

On the Penguins’ side of the ice, the resurgent Pens were a bit pissed off about not taking advantage of the Wings, but coach Mike Sullivan told Pittsburgh Hockey Now’s Dan Kingerski that he was satisfied with the team’s overall game:

“Barring the first ten minutes, I thought we played really hard. I thought it was a really good game–It was one of the faster-paced games that we played in the last little while,” Sullivan said.

“I thought we competed hard. Our intentions were in the right place. You know, give Detroit credit. They defended hard tonight, and they played a good game, too. I mean, the difference in the game is a power-play goal, but we also had some opportunities.”

We’ll debate whether a speedy game against Detroit is in the Penguins’ best interest. Note the low shot total for both teams—each had 25. The Penguins got back into the defensive zone and stayed between the puck and the net.

The Penguins’ goaltender, however, wasn’t satisfied with his performance, as he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Matt Vensel…

Sullivan rewarded Nedeljkovic with his second straight start after he played well in Sunday’s 3-2 win against the New York Islanders. He was solid again Tuesday despite giving up the winner with 5:34 left in the third period. Nedelkovic finished with 21 saves and helped the Penguins get through a poor first 10 minutes of the game.

Surprisingly, it was Jonathan Berggren’s breakaway score in the first period that Nedeljkovic was beating himself up about after the game. Berggren sneaked off the bench and cheated up the ice, and Vladimir Tarasenko threaded the needle to him. Berggren fooled Nedeljkovic with a fluttering shot that went in over his glove.

“I think tonight, if I can find a way to make that first save … then maybe that’s the difference right there,” Nedeljkovic lamented. “I wasn’t too happy with that one.”

Still, it was the fourth time in his last five starts he allowed three goals or fewer.

“I thought he played two solid games for us right in a row. He gave us a chance to win [on Tuesday]. He made some timely saves,” said Sullivan, who added, “He’s a consistent performer. You know what you’re going to get from him every night.”

The Athletic’s Josh Yohe felt that the Penguins should have exploited the Red Wings’ fragile psyche, and he offered the following observations…

The Penguins started slowly in Detroit and fell behind on two occasions, only to twice even the score thanks to Drew O’Connor, who scored twice to end his 32-game goal-less drought.

“I was happy he was able to break through,” Sullivan said. “I think it will be a big boost to his confidence.”

However, J.T. Compher scored the game winner with Erik Karlsson in the penalty box at the 14:26 mark of the third period. Erik Gustafsson’s shot clanged off the post and directly off of Alex Nedeljkovic’s back.

The puck squirted toward the goal line and was eventually knocked in by Compher in a bit of a bad-luck ending for the Penguins.

And there was this:

During the Detroit power play, Bryan Rust turned on the jets and torched Moritz Seider in one of the most impressive displays of speed I’ve seen from an NHL player all season. Seider, knowing he was beaten and fearing Rust was about to capitalize on the short-handed opportunity, pulled him down. It was a very, very clear penalty and an easy call, made easier by the fact the Penguins were short-handed. NHL refs love evening up the play.

Instead, nothing. The Red Wings scored 30 seconds later.

Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Rust were all furious with the officiating earlier in the evening. Malkin was cross-checked into the goal post, face-first, by Ben Chiarot in the second period. No call. Rust was also called for a slashing penalty that was eventually overturned after a conversation between officials because it was deemed that Seider and not Rust was doing the slashing.

Bad, bad night for the officials. The Penguins didn’t play a great game, and I don’t mean to suggest they deserved to win this game. They weren’t sharp. But they weren’t done any favors, either.

I won’t deny that Gord Dwyer and Eric Furlatt, two senior officials, did not paint a masterpiece. But there were missed calls on both sides, and quite a bit of obstruction and interference on both sides that seemed to go uncalled, as if the referees had a curfew or something.

NHL.com’s Dave Hogg will transition us from the Penguins’ perspectives to those of the Red Wings…

Drew O’Connor scored both goals for Pittsburgh (17-17-5) — his first two-goal game since getting the second and third goals of his NHL career in a 7-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 23, 2021.

“I told him before the game that his last game was the best he had played in months,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I said if he continued to play like that, he was going to score, so I was happy that he was able to break through.”

Nedeljkovic made 21 saves against his former team.

“I thought it was a pretty good game,” he said. “We might have been a little slow to start, but it went back and forth. [Lyon] made some good saves at the other end to keep us just far enough away.”

Berggren gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 7:52 of the first period, taking a pass from Vladimir Tarasenko and beating Nedeljkovic on a breakaway.

“I forgot to change, so I was a little bit late,” Berggren said. “[Tarasenko] saw me coming there and made a really good pass, but I was lucky to score.”

And the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan found the Wings’ coach to be rather nonplussed by his milestone:

“It was more about this group then it is about me,” McLellan said. “There are so many excited guys in there and happy guys right now. Just the whole mood is different than when we started, and that means more than the 600. Some of those guys weren’t even alive (when McLellan started his career) so it doesn’t matter to them.”

Instead, Kulfan tells us that coach McLellan has a theory that it’s important to be the first team to win “the race to 3 goals,” and that the Wings’ goaltender is pretty certain that his coach is correct:

“I definitely think he’s right,” said Lyon of McLellan’s race to three goals theory. “But there’s a process. Getting that first one tonight is massive, and if you can put one on the board it creates a huge advantage. That’s the recipe in this league — you have to score and be smart and play the game the right way. A fine line of attacking but still playing smart at the same time.”

For the third consecutive game under McLellan, the Wings arguably had the better start. But they also were the busier team to begin the third period, which proved to be the difference.

“We’ve kind of set an early standing of coming out of the gate,” McLellan said. “We wanted to do it for the third time and it was just verbal (McLellan’s message), establish it and let’s go.”

Berggren had a goal and assist while playing 16 minutes, continuing a trend of more ice time under McLellan.

“I want to play more minutes, it’s fun to play a lot of minutes, but when you get more minutes you need to put pressure on (yourself) and I kind of like that,” Berggren said. “So keep it going.”

Lyon also had this to say…

“I just saw Mo make a big save, that’s pretty much it,” said Lyon of his angle on the play. “He saved a goal. Whenever a player sells out like that, helps me out, it’s just so appreciated. He does that all the time but all the guys laid it on the line and it showed up on the scoreboard.”

About this:

MORITZ SEIDER WITH THE… SAVE 😱 pic.twitter.com/r36ePsshyy
— NHL (@NHL) January 1, 2025

Again, the Free Press’s Evan Petzold found McLellan unimpressed with his milestone-marking win…

“I haven’t even put a lot of thought into it,” McLellan said. “It was more for this group than it is about me. There are so many excited guys in there, and happy guys right now. The whole mood is a little bit different from when we started. That means a lot more than 600.”

To get to 600, McLellan won 311 games with the San Jose Sharks (2008-15), 123 with the Edmonton Oilers (2015-19), 164 with the Los Angeles Kings (2019-24) and two with the Red Wings in 2024 before turning the page to 2025.

McLellan has been a head coach in 1,146 games throughout his 17-year career.

Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff shared the following anecdote…

During a live post-game interview on the Red Wings radio network, Lyon was unable to hold back a belch as he spoke to Daniella Bruce.

“Sorry, I burped,” he said.

Considering the way this team has been belching out failure for much of 2024, ending the year with a belch of success might be an omen of things to come.

“I think we’re just playing a good brand of hockey,” Lyon said. “I don’t know if it’s any one specific thing, but we just kind of got it to go in the right direction.”

Much like his burp, Lyon figures it’s best to let it go and keep moving.

“We just can’t sit back too much,” he said. “I think that’s the one trap that we could fall in. We gotta enjoy it for maybe an hour here. And then we got Columbus coming up (on Thursday). Every game is important.”

And among DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills’ post-game quotes:

McLellan on Tuesday’s start to the game

“We’ve kind of set an early standard for coming out of the gate. We’ve done it for two first periods now, so we wanted to do it for the third game. It was just verbal: establish it; let’s go. I thought we did a really good job and then around the 10-minute mark, we didn’t skate or forecheck and then all of a sudden, it’s coming back at us. For the most part, it was a good night.”

Lyon on if he’s seeing Detroit spend a lot less time in its own defensive zone

“I think we’re just playing a good brand of hockey. I don’t know if it’s any one specific thing, but we’re just kind of going in the right direction. Like Bergy said, Todd really stressed the start. After the second [period], he challenged us again to have another good start in the third and I think we responded both times.”

Lyon on the importance of holding opponents to under three goals

“There’s a process that it goes. Obviously, last game we scored four [goals]. That’s a huge advantage that doesn’t happen often, but getting the first one tonight was massive. If you can put one on the board first, it creates a huge advantage for you. That’s the recipe in this league – you got to score, then you got to be smart and play the game the right way.”

Berggren on his two-point night

“I want to play many minutes, so it’s always fun to play a lot of minutes. When you get more minutes, it’s more pressure on you. I kind of like it, so just need to keep going.”

Multimedia:

Highlights: Sportsnet posted a 10:22 highlight clip: