Prior to Wednesday night's game against the Capitals, Jeff Blashill was reminded of the last time he was in D.C., preparing to face the Caps on the day COVID-19 wrecked the 2019-20 season. It was a merciful end for the Red Wings, who were mired in one of the worst seasons in franchise history. The mood in the locker room now, Blashill said with a well-of-course smile, is "significantly better."
"We had gone through as hard a year as I'd been through professionally," Blashill said. "We were at a spot where we all hope we look back and say, 'That was rock bottom.' And then organizationally we started to trend in the right direction. So from an atmosphere standpoint, that was really, really difficult on all of us that were there. And it’s definitely way better (now). You just have more enjoyment in what you do when you have success."
A few hours later, the Red Wings fell behind the Capitals 2-0 in the second period. Not a good place to be against one of the best teams in the league. Then Adam Erne scored to make it 2-1. Then Robby Fabbri scored to tie things up early in the third. And then Thomas Greiss came up with a number of big saves to send the game to overtime.
"It’s hard to win in this league without really good goaltending," Blashill would say afterward. "It’s the reality of it. Look at the defending Stanley Cup champs: they got probably the best in the league. They’re a great team, but they need really good goaltending, too. I thought Greisser really stepped up big in the third."
On the second shift of overtime, after the Wings survived the Alex Ovechkin-Evgeny Kuznetsov duo with the help of veteran trade acquisition Nick Leddy -- and isn't Leddy steady? -- Blashill sent Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider onto the ice. Two rookies and a 25-year-old captain, three homegrown first-round picks. They grabbed the puck and didn't give it up until Larkin took a pass from Raymond above the left face-off circle and wired a wrist shot past Vitek Vanecek.
"We’ve infused more talent (into the roster)," Blashill said. "We have a better hockey team, which gives you a chance to come back. And with that, you have more belief in those type of situations (when you're trailing). I didn’t sense any frustration or panic on the bench at all. We just kept playing."
Across the way, the Capitals could tell. They're used to watching the Wings wilt, 8-0-2 against Detroit since 2016-17 (16-2-3 since 2011-12). Lars Eller arrived in Washington the year the Red Wings' playoff streak came to an end. For the past five seasons, he hasn't known them as anything but a bad team. That's not how he knows them now.
"They are a good team," Eller said. "They're probably better than people give them credit for. Could we have played better? Yeah. Did we play poorly? No. Even when we were up 2-0 it was a game. They kept playing and we weren't good enough to close it off today."
Seven games into the season, the Wings are 4-2-1 -- tied for second place in the division with the Sabres. Which is an apt reminder that the season is young. That a lot will change. But things are changing for the better in Detroit. This is the team's best seven-game start since 2016-17, when everything crumbled. Those Wings were growing old. These Wings are growing up.
"We’ve been in situations where we’ve found our way to wins, and I think that breeds confidence," Blashill said. "That’s part of it. I also think we have some guys that have matured over the years in terms of living through some of that. As hard as those moments are to live, I think a number of our guys have grown through some of the difficulties we’ve faced. And then I think we have some new faces that have a calm demeanor to them and just keep playing."
The newest faces picked up the assists on Larkin's game-winner. Raymond leads all rookies this season with four goals and eight points. The three players picked ahead of him in last year's draft, in the lottery the Wings may have won by losing, have one goal and five points combined -- not that we're keeping track (yet). Seider leads all rookies with six assists and, not for nothing, 21:50 of ice time per game.
"We had them on (in OT) because we think that they’d give us a chance to make a real good hockey play, and they did," Blashill said. "Both guys have played good hockey for us and deserved the opportunity to go out there."
The Wings would have lost this game last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. Down 2-0, they would have never had a chance. But "the more talent you add," said Blashill, "the more you can stay in games." Young talent can be tricky, tantalizing but hard to trust. There was plenty of it here that now resides elsewhere, like No. 39 in red who finished minus-two Wednesday night. The talent in place has the tint of a team, like the lights growing brighter in Hockeytown.