DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills asked Red Wings coach Todd McLellan and Simon Edvinsson about the challenges which lie ahead as the team faces the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight:
“There’s always going to be setbacks,” McLellan said. “There’s no such thing as a perfect group or player, but the challenges they’ve accepted and have tried to apply themselves. I think [on Saturday], we’ll have another big challenge: a very good hockey club on the road. Coming off a little bit of a high for the group, we’ll see how they respond.”
Third in the Atlantic Division, the Lightning improved to 3-1-1 in their last five games after outlasting the Anaheim Ducks in a shootout, 4-3, on Thursday.
Riding a seven-game, 11-point streak, Nikita Kucherov leads Tampa Bay and ranks third in the NHL in scoring with 65 points (20 goals, 45 assists). Brandon Hagel (20 goals, 29 assists) is second on the club with 49 points and Brayden Point is next with 48 points (26 goals, 22 assists).
In 34 games this season, goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has a 19-13-2 record with a 2.40 goals-against average and .913 save percentage with a pair of shutouts.
“They have some skilled players,” Simon Edvinsson said about the Lightning. “They have one of the best players with the puck and a great power play, so we’re going to play as we did last game. We need to win all our duels and just find a way to beat them, so it’s going to be a huge game for us [on Saturday].”
Edvinsson added that he’s excited for another chance to compete against one of his childhood NHL idols Victor Hedman. This season, Hedman has 35 points (seven goals, 28 assists) for Tampa Bay.
“I took some stuff from guys that I really like,” Edvinsson said. “Hedman was one of those guys. Just how smart he is with and without the puck, that’s something that I really want to take to my game as well.”
