Red Wings-Canucks wrap-up: Lyon, DeBrincat deliver as Detroit defeats Vancouver in overtime

The Detroit Red Wings earned one point and then two on Sunday night, defeating the trade-revamped Vancouver Canucks 3-2 in overtime.

As such, the Red Wings earned their 6th straight victory, and they swept Western Canada, and the Wings can go 4-for-4 on their 4-games-in-6-nights road trip if they defeat the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday evening.

The other “big deal” about Sunday’s win is this: the Red Wings sit in the Eastern Conference’s first Wild Card spot for the first time since what feels like forever:

The Red Wings also sit 1 point behind the Ottawa Senators for 3rd in the Atlantic, and 5 points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for 2nd. Detroit’s still a full 8 points behind the Atlantic-leading Florida Panthers. They’re unlikely to close that particular gulf, but the actual hope that is behind the Red Wings’ attempt to remain at least playoff-relevant is real.

The Wings are 14-4-and-1 under coach Todd McLellan, and the expectations of excellence aren’t going to wane as the season progresses. That’s a good thing.

Now the Red Wings played anything but an elegant game on Sunday night–they were pretty evidently gassed at times, mentally as well as physically, from the 3-games-in-4-nights grind…

But arguing over who the “better team” was when Detroit got the result is like arguing as to whether the Canadian fans who booed the U.S. national anthem were of poor taste, or were simply exercising their right to free speech (though you have to feel bad for the anthem singer in this instance; sounds like she’s a nice lady). It’s a zero sum game, and there are no winners in this instance.

With all of that being said, Canucks coach Rick Tocchet was pretty sure who should have won the game, as he told the Vancouver Province’s Ben Kuzma:

“I thought we controlled the game,” said Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet. “The new guys played well and a lot of positives tonight. Chytil controlled play and wanted the puck and he can make plays off the rush. And, obviously a big goal and a good debut for him.”

The Red Wings were more than willing to agree with Tocchet–to an extent–while speaking with NHL.com’s Kevin Woodley:

Alex DeBrincat scored his second goal with 42 seconds left in overtime and the Detroit Red Wings won their sixth straight game, 3-2 against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Sunday.

DeBrincat converted a cross-ice rush pass from Lucas Raymond, who will represent Sweden in the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20, with a one-timer past a sprawled Kevin Lankinen from the bottom of the left circle.

“Their guy got lost in our zone when we picked it up and saw it was going to be a long 3-on-2 and ‘Ray’ was the late guy, so I gave it to him, and he made a great play back to me,” DeBrincat said.

Alex Lyon made 25 saves for the Red Wings (27-21-5), who were coming off a 3-1 win at the Calgary Flames on Saturday and have won the first three of a four-game trip that concludes at the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday.

“It’s a tough back-to-back,” said Detroit forward Patrick Kane, who returned after missing five games with an upper-body injury. “Less than 24 hours in between and we knew it was going to be a little bit of a grind. So yeah, found a way to get it done. Obviously, you need wins like that when you not at your best.”

Detroit is 14-4-1 since Todd McLellan replaced Derek Lalonde as coach on Dec. 26.

“Everybody around the team has a sense of belief now,” McLellan said. “When you come in and try to create an environment and you try and introduce new concepts for the players, they’re either going to accept them and make it work, or they’re going to poke holes in it and say it doesn’t work. All of our players have chosen to try and make it work, and the longer it goes, the more they believe but we have some things to clean up and we have some things to advance in too.”

Check this stat out:

DeBrincat has 50 goals in 135 games with the Red Wings, becoming the fastest player reach that mark with the team since Brett Hull did it in 130 games.

DeBrincat was the first to admit that the Red Wings did not play a polished game on Sunday, as Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen noted…

“I think today wasn’t our best game,” DeBrincat told FanDuel Sports Network. “The third period we sat back too much and obviously gave up that goal to tie, but to get the win and get two points is huge.”

The Red Wings have now won six in a row and are 6-0-1 in their last seven. They have given up only 11 goals in those seven games. Detroit hasn’t surrendered more than two goals in any game during the past seven games. They are also 3-0 on this 4-game road trip, which wraps up Tuesday in Seattle.

When GM Steve Yzerman offered McLellan the job at Christmas, Detroit was eight points out of a playoff spot. But the team is 14-4-1 since McLellan took over.

This certainly wasn’t Detroit’s best game under McLellan. Detroit managed only 15 shots on goal in regulation, coming up with only two shots in the third period. The Red Wings fell behind 1-0 at 4:19 of the first period. They gave up a tying goal to Filip Chytil midway through the third period.

The team wasn’t as effective offensively it has been throughout the surge, but goalie Alex Lyon stopped 25 of 27 Canucks shots to keep the Canucks from taking advantage of that. The Canucks were playing without No. 1 defenseman Quinn Hughes, the former University of Michigan standout who is sidelined by an upper body injury.

Playing their third game in four nights, the Red Wings seemed a bit weary. McLellan is big on his team winning the race to three goals. He believes if you win the race you most often win the game. Plus, having a winning culture means winning games on nights when you are not at your best.

“We were running on fumes, we got a few guys sick, back to back — you never use that as an excuse with the travel but I thought we checked real hard,” McLellan said. “We didn’t get a lot of scoring opportunities, a lot offensive zone time but we did check. And I think that’s as much a character win of any of them that we’ve had since I’ve been here.”

DeBrincat agreed, as he told the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan…

“It’s great, we knew we had it in this room,” said DeBrincat of moving into a playoff position. “It needed kind of a fresh start, kind of a restart, and it feels like a new season. We’re winning games when we haven’t played our best and that’s what good teams do. We have to keep it up.”

The Wings were playing their third game in four nights, all on the road, but dug deep in this 21-hour turnaround.

“It wasn’t maybe our best performance, maybe not the best legs on the back-to-back, and we were kind of sitting back in the third period,” DeBrincat said. “Once it went to 2-2 we got our legs back and started to push.”

The Wings (27-21-5) are 14-4-1 since Todd McLellan replaced Derek Lalonde as head coach on December 26, when the season was at its low point. Sunday’s victory, a testament to the Wings’ resiliency of late, pleased McLellan, although he’d also use another word.

“Probably ‘determined,’ too,” McLellan said. “With the circumstances, it’s taxing, but I give the guys a lot of credit for showing some character. It wasn’t real pretty but we found a way to scrap out a game.”

McLellan made sure to give a nod to Alex Lyon, too, for stopping 25 of 27 shots against:

“Three games in four nights on the road, that doesn’t get done without real good goaltending,” McLellan said. “He made some outstanding saves, and the players in front of him played fairly well. It was a team effort, but without Alex, if he has an off night, we don’t come away with points.”

Amen to that. Lyon and Talbot have constituted the Wings’ backbone of late, and without good goaltending, you don’t have a great team…And maybe the Wings are trending in that general direction.

Who would have thought as much on December 26th?

Update: Amongst DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills‘ post-game quotes:

McLellan on what the key has been to the Red Wings’ success

“Everybody has a sense of belief now. When you come in and you try to create an environment and introduce new concepts for the players, they’re either going to accept them and make it work or they’re going to poke holes in it and basically say it doesn’t work. All of our players have chosen to try and make it work. The longer it goes, the more they believe. We have some things to clean up and some things to advance in too.”

McLellan on Lyon’s night

“Three games in four nights on the road, that doesn’t get done without real good goaltending. He made some outstanding saves. I thought the players in front of him played fairly well though. For me it was a team effort, but without Alex, if he has an off night, you probably don’t come away with points.”

DeBrincat on the club’s confidence level right now

“We’re feeling good. We’re able to win games that maybe aren’t our best performances, and tonight was one of those nights. A back-to-back, not the best legs and we were kind of sitting back in that third period trying to protect the lead. I think that’s a recipe for disaster, so once we went to 2-2, we got our legs back and pushed a little bit. Would’ve been nice to just protect that lead.”

DeBrincat on Detroit’s defensive effort

“We’re doing a good job boxing out. Their shots are from the outside, for the most part. Obviously [Lyon] came up big for us a couple times with some slot chances or whatever it may be, but overall I think a good defensive game. But we’d like to have the puck more, get more offensive opportunities and put some more on the board.”

Kane on being back into the postseason picture thanks to Sunday’s overtime win

“That’s awesome. I knew we were one point out coming in, so big win. Obviously, wasn’t the pretties win but huge win for the team. We’re finding ways to win right now.”