EDMONTON — Following their 3-2 shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Thursday night, the Detroit Red Wings finished the month of January with a 10-3-1 record and a four-game winning streak, marking the first time since January 2012 that the club has won 10 games in a calendar month.
Detroit also collected 21 points over its last 13 games, which is tied with Edmonton for the third most behind the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes (22 points apiece).
“I think there’s been progress in a lot of areas of our game,” head coach Todd McLellan said after the Red Wings’ practice at Downtown Community Arena attached to Rogers Place on Friday afternoon, before they departed for Calgary. “There’s still plenty of room for improvement and introduction of some other concepts. Right now, we’re trying to get healthy, rested and ready to play.”
Michael Rasmussen believes Detroit will continue to find success if it keeps playing the right way, like how the team did for most of the night in Edmonton
“We’re shooting the puck a lot more,” said Rasmussen, who scored his eighth goal of the season on Thursday. “We’re playing better defensively, playing quicker. Penalty kill has been a little bit better. Those are some of the positives. I think we need to get a little bit better on our starts and just the consistency with that. Just keep building with that and sticking with the things that are making us successful.”
Friday’s practice offered an opportunity for the Red Wings to keep building on their game, as McLellan said the coaching staff emphasized execution to the group and “picked two or three things to work on.”
“We have the luxury of staying overnight [in Edmonton], so everybody got a pretty good night’s rest,” McLellan said. “We know there were some players that were run pretty hard last night with high minutes, so we have to manage that a little bit.”
McLellan didn’t have any post-practice lineup updates for his club, which will face the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night to open a weekend back-to-back set as its four-game road trip continues.
“We’ve got to figure out where everybody is,” McLellan said. “Guys are working hard to get healthy again. We’ve got to get some practice time in with a couple of them, but we’ll make lineup decisions tomorrow.”
