MLive’s Ansar Khan posted an article discussing the resurgent play of Jonatan Berggren as emblematic of the entire team’s renaissance under new coach Todd McLellan:
Berggren might the player who will most benefit from the coaching change. He came out of the penalty box to score on a breakaway with 32 seconds remaining in regulation to beat the Blue Jackets. It was his second breakaway goal in as many games.
“I’m feeling like there’s confidence in the game,” Berggren said. “We don’t want to sit back and watch the game. We want to attack and skate a lot. I feel that we’ve done a pretty good job with that.”
The Red Wings (16-18-4) suddenly are only four points out of the final wild card spot, though they’d need to pass five teams to get there, which makes it even more difficult.
They’ll face a bigger challenge Saturday at Winnipeg against the league-leading Jets (27-11-2).
McLellan during his first full practice with the team last Saturday told players to “Play (bleeping) hockey, you’ve done it all your lives).” They have responded.
James van Riemsdyk tied the game with 2:41 to play in the third period and the Red Wings needed to kill a delay of game penalty immediately after due to an unsuccessful challenge for goaltender interference. They didn’t fold, however.
“I think there’s no quit,” Alex DeBrincat told media at Thursday’s game. “We gave up that goal and our PK does a great job and Berggy scores right after that. We’re not getting down on the bench when we have a momentum swing. We just keep working to get that momentum back.”
Continued (paywall)
