DETROIT – Coaching against your former team for the first time can be a strange feeling, one Todd McLellan knows all too well.
He’ll experience it for the third time tonight when the Detroit Red Wings host the Los Angeles Kings (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Extra).
McLellan has put his stamp on the Red Wings a month into his tenure. They’re playing faster. They’re scoring more. They’re outshooting opponents most nights because of better puck possession and a newfound shot mentality.
The Red Wings (23-21-5, 51 points) are 10-4-1 since he arrived. They’ve ascended from a tie for the Eastern Conference basement to within striking distance of a wild card playoff spot (four points behind Tampa Bay).
Beyond the numbers, the mentality has changed for the better.
“The biggest thing is they have a sense of belief,” McLellan said. “How we got to believing where we can play with anybody, I’m not sure. We just started chipping away at different things and working at it. … Then all the structure stuff, whether it’s D-zone, penalty kill, power play. We haven’t changed everything. Just little things we’ve tweaked. The guys have bought into it, so I tip my hat to them.”
If there was a turning point, it happened during McLellan’s second day on the job, following a 5-2 loss to Toronto, when he shouted midway through practice, “Play (bleeping) hockey, you’ve done it your whole lives!”
The team responded with a seven-game winning streak. There have been highs and lows since, but the outlook is imminently more positive than it was before.
“In Day One we asked them to play faster and harder and a little bit smarter and there wasn’t really any X’s and O’s or anything like that,” McLellan said. “And we went and played and maybe the best thing that happened is we got spanked against Toronto because the next day it was, ‘OK, let’s go. What do you have for us?’ And from that day on, they’ve been a pretty good group.”
The biggest difference individually has been the confidence and growth displayed by younger players like Marco Kasper, Albert Johansson and Jonatan Berggren.
“I think we had some intense practices that translated to our games and I think we’ve had better starts,” Kasper said. “Also, we’ve worked on playing full 60 minutes and I think we’ve done a good job of that.”
McLellan is high on the group of players 24 and under, which also includes Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, Simon Edvinsson, Elmer Soderblom and some promising prospects in the system.
The youth that’s here and I think the youth that’s coming … I think it’s a bright future,” McLellan said. “Patience is going to have to be part of it so that they can continue to develop. And then there’s some real good veterans that provide leadership. Real good leaders. I like the group.”
Injury updates
J.T. Compher (upper-body injury) is out tonight after a hit from Tampa Bay’s Emil Lilleberg during the second period Saturday. Compher finished the game. Lilleberg is having a hearing with the league today.
Vladimir Tarasenko is questionable due to an illness. Michael Rasmussen is good to go, after being shaken up a bit when tripped by Nikita Kucherov and crashing into the net during his empty-net goal Saturday.
Tyler Motte, out since Jan. 14 when he crashed face-first into the boards, has been cleared to play.
Patrick Kane (upper-body injury) will miss his third consecutive game and has not started skating since being out.
Cam Talbot will make his third start in a row, facing his former team.
