Red Wings-Blackhawks wrap-up: a (mostly) satisfactory 6th straight win

The Detroit Red Wings took a 5-3 decision over the plucky Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night, earning their 6th straight win under coach Todd McLellan, and this one got hairy at times, but Detroit held the fort and learned…

Perhaps some difficult lessons in terms of underestimating their opponent at times. Given that Detroit remains a point behind the Canadiens for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, Detroit will have to continue battling hard as they conclude their home stand with a Sunday matinee against Seattle and a Tuesday night tilt against San Jose.

For the Red Wings, at least, there’s hope of some sort of salvaging of their 2024-2025 season, however.

The Wings stand at 19-18-and-4, which isn’t altogether that terrible, and things are looking up; for the Blackhawks, who are 14-26-and-2, they’re definitely in the middle of a rebuilding season.

As the Blackhawks head home to play the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Ben Pope reports that the Hawks were feeling gloomy after Friday night’s game:

All the Hawks probably felt some deja vu Friday during a 5-3 loss to the Red Wings. They played far worse than the final score suggests, and outings like that — regardless of the score — have been all too common since the holiday break.

The Hawks were not only outskilled — a constant reality against most opponents — but also thoroughly outworked. The second period was so lopsided it defied imagination; the Wings attempted 32 shots to the Hawks’ two.

Teuvo Teravainen scored two late goals to pull the Hawks within 4-3 and somehow made things interesting, but there’s no argument they deserved anything better than a regulation loss. On the Wings’ side, Patrick Kane led the way with three points.

“It seems like there’s always one thing that’s, ‘Oh, what can we do that’s going to be the answer [to our problems]?’ ” Ryan Donato said. “If we had the answer, we would’ve done it.”

Interim coach Anders Sorensen, a man of few words, was a man of so few words after the game it belied his anger.

“[I] expect better,” Sorensen said.

Donato told NHL.com’s Dave Hogg that Petr Mrazek’s 23-save performance buoyed the team…

Chicago was outshot 18-2 in the period.

“If we had the answer, we would try and fix it right away,” Donato said. “They had us hemmed in on every shift, and Petr really kept us in the game with some big saves.”

And the Hawks’ coach felt similarly, as he told the Chicago Tribune’s Phil Thompson:

“Today was self-inflicted wounds,” interim coach Anderson Sorensen said. “If it was turnovers or just a reaction to transitions and just being on our toes a little bit more, some of those things that we did at home (in wins) against Montreal and Colorado” weren’t present.

It was a stunning lack of effort after all the talk this week of carving out an identity — “hard to play against,” “simple,” “relentless” and plenty of other descriptors were thrown around.

They weren’t relentless Friday; they were run down.

“You can talk all you want but you’ve got to show up,” said Ryan Donato, who scored the Hawks’ first goal.

For the Red Wings, as NHL.com’s Hogg noted, “the process” is working…

“You never stay in the same spot from game to game, and tonight we moved it forward,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “The start wasn’t what we wanted, but they did a good job of adjusting.”

Kane, who played 16 seasons with the Blackhawks to start his NHL career and won three Stanley Cup championships with them, faced Chicago for the third time. He has five points (one goal, four points) against the Blackhawks, including an overtime goal in his first return to the United Center on Feb. 25, 2024.

Lucas Raymond, Marco Kasper and Alex DeBrincat each had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings (19-18-4). Cam Talbot made 12 saves.

“This was a good game for us,” Raymond said. “I think we gave them a little too much momentum in the first period, but we cleaned that up in the second and closed it out in the third.”

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan found that coach McLellan still isn’t satisfied with the Wings’ unfinished product…

With the victory, the Wings moved to within two points (44-42) of an Eastern Conference wildcard position. All the while, coach Todd McLellan still feels the Wings haven’t put together a complete 60-minute performance in any of the six victories.

“We’ve won six games but really haven’t put together a true 60-minute effort,” McLellan said. “We’re still in waves, up and down. But the ability to go grab momentum now, they understand they can do that by doing certain things, which is a good sign.”

And the coach is equally marginally satisfied by the power play thus far…

The Wings broke a 1-1 tie when Raymond scored a power-play goal 41 seconds into the second period.

Raymond had an easy tap-in after Kane and DeBrincat began the tic-tac-toe passing play, and Raymond open near the net for his 17th goal. It was the Wings’ seventh consecutive game with a power play goal.

“They should be,” said McLellan of whether the power play unit is going on the ice with overwhelming confidence to score. “They’ve done a good job and tonight’s goal, it was just work out there. Nothing fancy. It wasn’t puck movement or anything like that. It was just simple retrieval, strip and attack and that’s a good sign.”

And Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff noted that the Wings were penalty-free on Friday…

Detroit wasn’t assessed a single penalty during Friday’s win. While going penalty-free is a rarity in an NHL game, the style the Red Wings are playing under Todd McLellan – more puck possession, attacking with a shot-first mentality – is less prone to leading the team into committing infractions.

“We were able to suppress the number of times the puck got to Talbs (goalie Cam Talbot),” McLellan said. “Part of that was our checking skills. We used our legs really well. Got better as the night went on, I thought, and kept our sticks on the ice, skated when we needed to skate, managed the game fairly well. So we stayed out of the box. It was a good thing for us.”

With defenseman Albert Johansson earning his first NHL goal:

Every NHLer remembers and cherishes their first goal, but few are as memorable as the one Red Wings defenseman Albert Johansson was netting on Friday.

Pinching in from the point, the rookie took a cross-crease feed from Raymond and roofed it behind Mrazek.

“I will remember that one forever,” Johansson said. “And unreal pass by Lucas. So I say thank you.”

Raymond, though, was preferring to tip his cap toward his Swedish teammate.

“I just saw D activated back door,” Raymond said. “I didn’t know it was Albert and just tried to find him. So he did the work. Awesome moment.”

ALBERT JOHANSSON FIRST NHL GOAL! #LGRW pic.twitter.com/D3xGhWflBD
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 11, 2025

DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills found that coach McLellan wasn’t delighted by the Wings’ start, either, but Lucas Raymond’s performance has him…pleased…

“The start wasn’t what we wanted,” McLellan said. “I’m not sure that the players, and that’s probably on me, for not really getting them to understand how Chicago was going to play.”

However, carrying over a power play it earned in the final minute of the opening frame, the Red Wings grabbed their second lead of the night when Raymond found twine just 41 seconds into the second period. Snapping a shot past Mrazek to finish off a quick passing play between DeBrincat and Kane, Raymond recorded his 17th goal of the season.

It was also Raymond’s 88th career NHL goal, tying captain Dylan Larkin for the fourth most in franchise history among players age 22 or younger.

“I knew he was a really strong, smart, heavy and aggressive two-way player,” McLellan said about Raymond, who has four multi-point games in his last six contests. “And for his age, he’s just confirming that when he plays now. It’s not a surprise at all for myself, probably for [assistant coach] Trent Yawney as well. Hell of a player.”

And, among Mills’ post-game quote round-up are the following comments:

McLellan on Johansson scoring his first career NHL goal: “Anytime a young man scores his first goal in the League, everybody is so excited. Bench, trainers, coaches and certainly Albert. We’re really excited. Over above the goal itself, he had really good instincts to go to that hole, but I just think he’s been playing better, what, nine periods now? Every period has got better for him.”

Raymond on Johansson getting his milestone goal: “It’s special. Everyone is extremely happy for him. It’s a special moment and a big accomplishment, so it’s fun to see.”

Johansson on his rookie campaign so far: “Maybe a little bit of a slow start, but I’m just trying to work hard. Since Todd came in here, I’ve been playing with Simon. I know Simon really good since GR, so I think kept our chemistry from GR into here. Last couple of games have been good and real fun.”

Raymond on improving on their second-period play: “I feel like our game wasn’t where we wanted it to be after the first…It’s a setup period. You go out and continue the momentum, kind of try to kill theirs. It was a really good second and third today, and something to build off.”

The Red Wings will face a 17-22-and-3 Seattle Kraken team that’s playing in Buffalo at 4 PM on Saturday, at 3 PM on Sunday, and hopefully, the Wings will earn win #7 under coach McLellan.

Multimedia:

Highlights: NHL.com had a 10:01 highlight clip: