The Detroit Red Wings keep paving their new coach’s road map with victories.
Since Todd McLellan arrived Dec. 26, the Wings have gone 7-1, most recently rattling off a seventh straight victory in dispatching the Seattle Kraken, 6-2, Sunday at Little Caesars Arena. There may not be a player for whom that is more gratifying than captain Dylan Larkin, whose body language entering the Christmas break showed every bit of how bleak things had gotten.
Earlier in the season, I kept saying that I believe that there’s more in that locker room,” Larkin said. “Unfortunately it took a coaching change to get that going, but that’s the business of our sport. It’s exciting to see that the answers were in there. Now we’re on a roll and it’s how we can keep that going and capitalize at home.”
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It’s the first time since Jan. 12-23, 2012, that the Wings (20-18-4) have won seven consecutive games, but there’s still a gap to close to reach a wild-card spot, because of the compact NHL standings. But compared to where they were two weeks ago, dejected and booed by fans at home, the atmosphere stoked by McLellan and new assistant coach Trent Yawney is filled with confidence and cheer.
Todd has come in and we’ve worked on a lot,” Larkin said. “It probably starts with practice and his intensity and how we practice — we’re up and down, we’re moving. There’s a lot of pace, there’s a lot of teaching moments and then we’ve been tested in games.
“With every game, there’s been lessons within those games, and we’ve answered every time. It’s good to see and good to get some wins.”
McLellan downplayed his role, pointing instead to the players. “I don’t know if Todd and Trent just coming in lifted the spirit — we had to kind of map out a bit of a plan,” he said. “But they’ve lifted their own spirits, really, with the way they’ve played and the way they’ve bought in. We’re just trying to guide them through it all. But you win seven games in a row, you’re feeling pretty good and the spirit is really good right now, it’s high. We’re in a good spot, but all we did was crawl back into it. We still have a lot of work in front of us.”
