They were dead and buried by Christmas, and a rival danced on their grave in their debut under Todd McLellan. Now, the Red Wings are alive and well.
They went West last week for four games, and returned with eight more points. With the top Wild Card spot in the East. And with a bit of franchise history: for the first time in their storied existence, the 11-time Cup-winning Red Wings have ripped off seven straight wins twice in a 20-game span.
Can anyone stop them?
"Hopefully it’s only the beginning," Moritz Seider said after their shootout win over the Kraken Tuesday night. "Hopefully, there are many more to come."
The 23-year-old was talking about the goal he scored in the 300th game of his blossoming career, on a wicked wrist shot from the point -- one of two power play goals on the night for the third-ranked power play in the NHL. Really one of three, counting 23-year-old Elmer Soderblom's tally in the third that came seconds after a penalty expired.
Detroit also got homegrown goals from Jonatan Berggren, 24, and its 22-year-old rising star Lucas Raymond. Marco Kasper, 20, and Simon Edvinsson, 22, chipped in assists. Albert Johansson, the 24-year-old revelation, had another sturdy night on the blue line. The winner came off the stick of Hall of Famer Patrick Kane, who went bar-down on the backhand to set the NHL record for most shootout goals.
"It speaks to the organizational depth right now, to have those kids come up and find a way to contribute," said McLellan, who admits he knew little about them when he took over as head coach. "We don’t have any past experience (with them), so everything is brand new for us. We just play 'em and see what we get out of 'em, and they’ve responded. They’ve made good on their end of the bargain when they come up and play hard and keep themselves in the lineup, and the veterans around them have played real well, too. That’s why you win."
That's how you win. The Red Wings were second to last in the East and eight points out of a playoff spot when McLellan replaced Derek Lalonde the day after Christmas -- a move that, if anything, should've happened sooner. They were embarrassed the next night on home ice by the Leafs. They've been the best team in the NHL since, their 15-3-1 run rocketing them up the standings with contributions coming up and down the lineup.
Kane had to laugh and admit, "I’m not sure any of us really thought we’d be in this position right now, but what a spot we’re in."
"We’ve put ourselves there, and you gotta give Todd a lot of credit, too," said Kane. "He’s done a great job job of coming in and settling things down and making sure we’re playing aggressive. Even when we get back on our heels a little bit and things aren’t going our way, to keep pushing forward and try to turn the game in our favor."
The game turned against the Red Wings in the third period in Seattle. A 4-2 lead with under 10 minutes to go became a 4-4 tie when Cam Talbot allowed two goals that he'd probably like back. Panic might have set in for the fans watching at home. On the bench, the players remained calm, said McLellan. Kane pointed to Seider as one of the team leaders "coming up and down the bench telling us to stay confident, hang in there, we’re in a good spot."
"And that’s huge," he said. "That keeps us in the right mindset and wanting to play on the attack."
The line of Kane, Soderblom and center Joe Veleno responded with a strong shift, and the crisis was over. Both teams survived a hectic overtime, before the Wings got the goal they needed in the shootout. McLellan keeps going back to one word to describe Detroit's winning ways: "Belief."
"The spirit and the belief system has gone up," he said. "They’re playing to the structure that we put in. It’s easy when you’re winning. You can get people to believe in things a lot simpler than if you’re losing. They’ve been attentive, they’ve worked hard in practice and they want to win. They’re a hungry group."
Structure is sometimes overblown in the NHL. Most teams play similar systems at five-on-five; the good teams just play them more instinctually. The simplest adjustment the Wings have made under McLellan is funneling more pucks to the net, which as Andrew Copp noted last week has resulted in a "complete 180" in the shots-on-goal column. The Red Wings outshot their opponent in just 10 of their 34 games under Lalonde; they've done it in 12 of their 20 games under McLellan. "It's actually pretty insane," said Copp, who also said this:
"Everything on video makes total sense. And he’s the one doing the video every time, so he’s got the presence."
A follow-up with Copp does reveal some tweaks to Detroit's structure. He admits that when McLellan took over, there were "a few things that maybe systematically I didn't completely understand." Prior to the Red Wings' last loss -- which is now more than two weeks ago, in overtime to the Flyers -- McLellan gave Copp a couple areas of his game on which to focus in order to center an effective line between Kane and Alex DeBrincat. It started in his own end, by playing more freely.
"Most coaches say, like, ‘First forward back, be low.’ Not every coach means that," said Copp.
McLellan is one who does, even if the forward is a wing. That can lessen some of the burden on a center like Copp to have to play low from 200 feet every shift. And this is a defensive system in which Copp has thrived in the past, notably during his time with the Jets when McLellan coached against him frequently with the Oilers and the Kings: "Anticipate, anticipate, anticipate, play fast, close," he explained. "If they make three good plays through you and you’re playing fast, tip your cap."
"In our defensive system before Todd got here, it was a little bit more of, like, stay with your guy, don’t get beat. I don’t want to say passive, necessarily, but a little bit more, holding your guy's hand and like, 'If you have your guy, you have your guy' kinda deal. But we’re definitely changing that to the way I like to play a lot more, so just getting back to that anticipation and quickness," said Copp. "I feel like I’m a smart player, so I know where the puck’s going. It’s just a matter of being the first one there, or winning the battle there, anticipating, and letting that drive me instead of being hesitant."
Copp hasn't seen a marked uptick in his offense since McLellan took over, like Raymond, Kane and Dylan Larkin among others. But he's made a more noticeable impact, and he did win the face-off that set up Berggren's goal Tuesday night. His ice time has jumped to about 17 minutes a night during the latest seven-game surge. Copp agreed that he's playing a more instinctual game under McLellan, adding, "But our whole team is playing that way."
"I think when you’re entrusted to play that way, you play with more confidence and anticipation. You look faster, whereas if you’re not, then you look slow," he said.
With one more game before a break for the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Red Wings are riding high. They'd likely just as soon keep playing, but they'll take the two weeks of rest. A win Saturday against the Lightning would give them their longest streak since 2008, the last time they won the Cup. They ripped off eight straight wins three times that season, including rather ridiculously in the playoffs. They couldn't even talk about the playoffs this year, until they could.
"Ever since Todd came in, we’ve just proved that we’re a good hockey team," said Seider. "We knew we had it in the locker room and we just couldn’t find a spark. Obviously, he brought that extra spark, brought us back to life."