DETROIT – Ken Holland was back in town Tuesday as general manager of the Edmonton Oilers and saw the kind of performance from the Detroit Red Wings and excitement from their fans that he was accustomed to seeing during much of his three-plus decades with the organization.
The Red Wings defeated the Oilers 4-2 at Little Caesars Arena, their season-high third consecutive victory.
Sparked by a pair of goals from Vladislav Namestnikov, the Red Wings led 3-0 until the final minute of the second period. Then, keyed by several big saves from Alex Nedeljkovic, they protected a one-goal lead for most of the third period and handed the Western Conference-leading Oilers, the high-scoring team in the NHL, just their second loss (9-2-0).
“The arena was buzzing, the fans were great,” Namestnikov said. “We kind of let them come back, but for sure it was a fun game to watch for the fans.”
Less than a week ago, the Red Wings were mired a four-game slide (0-3-1), having trouble scoring and out of sync without their top two players, Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi, for a few games.
A few days has made a big difference. They are now 7-5-2.
“The mood is good,” Namestnikov said. “Even when we were losing everyone was in good spirits. Everyone believes in each other; we have a good team. When we roll four lines it’s hard to play against us. We want to be that team that when teams come in here, they say, ‘Wow, it’s hard to play against these guys.’ Hopefully we can keep rolling and keep winning.”
The Red Wings host Washington (6-2-4) Thursday, looking to win four in a row for the first time since they reeled off six consecutive victories from March 23-April 2, 2019.
“It’s important for us to win games where you just have a one-goal lead for a long period of time, because that’s the learning process,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “We got to be able to win 2-1 and we got to be able to win 6-1. We’re going to continue to get better as a group defensively, we’re going continue to make sure our puck management’s good, and I thought it was a good step in the right direction.”
The Oilers are led by the league’s two-leading scorers, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. McDavid scored 38 seconds into the third period to trim his team’s deficit to 3-2, but the Red Wings did a good job containing that dynamic duo.
“Obviously, it’s hard to shut those guys down,” Namestnikov said. “They’re so quick and make different plays. I thought we kept them to the perimeter and that worked today.”
Blashill said his team’s battle level was extremely high throughout the night.
“Even at the end there, five on six, I thought our battle level around the net was really high,” Blashill said. “We weren’t perfect defensively. We need to get better. Some of that is McDavid can break you down, Draisaitl can break you down and result in a little bit of a scramble.”
When the Red Wings were broken down, Nedeljkovic (31 saves) stepped up, especially after McDavid’s goal.
“He was unreal,” Namestnikov said. “If it wasn’t for him at the end who knows how the game could have went. He stood on his head.”
The Red Wings did well to take only two penalties against a power play that was clicking at 50 percent (15 for 30). They killed both.
“You tend not to take as many penalties when you have the puck and I thought we had the puck a good amount the first two periods,” Blashill said. “I think some of it is how the game is called. The thing we talk about is don’t give the refs a chance to make an easy call. Don’t have your stick in someone’s gut. Don’t have your stick up high. Make sure that you’re moving your feet and not reaching and tugging. I thought we did a good job of that.”
