Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff took note of Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin’s comments made about the team’s 7-game winning streak:
“The way the guys have responded post-Christmas and the way things are going, you almost don’t want it to stop when you get on a roll like this,” Larkin said. “I think the break will be good for guys, but when we’re playing this well, you almost want to keep it going and keep playing.”
Twenty games into McLellan’s tenure, this Detroit turnaround can’t simply be chalked up to the new coach bump. There’s a different feeling about the club, a resiliency and a resourcefulness not witnessed for long stretches of time in past seasons.
“I saw something the other day that, with the (club’s) two seven-game winning streaks, it’s kind of been a tale of two different teams,” Larkin said. “The first one was power play and a few guys really taking charge. And this last seven games, the one we’re on now, it’s been by committee and that feels sustainable. And we’ve been getting unbelievable goaltending and we’ve been wearing teams down.”
He cites the addition of 6-foot-8 Elmer Soderblom to play alongside 6-foot-6 Michael Rasmussen as giving the club a heavy line. They’ve become hard to play against.
“I haven’t been able to say that for too many teams I’ve played on, but with the size, with Elmer coming in and Ras playing well, (and) the size we have on the back end,” Larkin said. “I look at that LA game (4-2 2win). It really felt like we just – it was a fast playoff style game. But we wore them down and that’s a big fast team as well.”
