Todd McLellan’s first message to the Detroit Red Wings was to play harder, faster and smarter.
For the second year in a row, the Wings were booed on home ice, and their performance on Friday against the Auston Matthews-less Toronto Maple Leafs wasn’t much better than before the Christmas break. It was the fans in blue and white who cheered at Little Caesars Arena as their Leafs beat the Wings 5-2.
It was the first game since head coach Derek Lalonde was fired and McLellan was hired in hopes that he can turn the Wings around. To be fair, he had only been in office for a day. But things looked bad: four defeats in a row, five games in a row with at least four goals conceded. With the Buffalo Sabers’ win on Friday, the Wings (13-18-4) are just a few percentage points away from the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
Mitch Marner had a natural hat trick, helping to chase goalkeeper Cam Talbot after two periods and leaving Alex Lyon to clean up. Lucas Raymond converted on a power play and Simon Edvinsson also scored in the third period as the Wings finally showed a hint of energy.
FIRST WORDS: New Red Wings coach Todd McLellan’s message to the team: Play harder, faster, smarter
This is what Todd McLellan’s first cast looked like
The former Wings assistant’s first lineup looked familiar, which made sense. He had gone ice skating one morning to get acquainted with the players. So he used the same forward lines as Lalonde in Monday’s loss to the St. Louis Blues, keeping Dylan Larkin with Lucas Raymond and Vladimir Tarasenko, at least early in the game. In defense, the Wings benefited from the return of defenders Edvinsson and Ben Chiarot, who had to sit out due to upper body injuries. Edvinsson started the game with Moritz Seider, but Chiarot was moved to that spot and Edvinsson played with Jeff Petry.
What the start looked like
It took less than three minutes for the Leafs to gain a lead, with David Kampf scoring on a charge at the net front. Marner doubled that lead at 8:16. When John Tavares’ initial pass to Marner ended in the shot being blocked, Tavares grabbed the loose puck and made a blind pass between his own legs to where he knew Marner would be in the left circle; This time the slap shot landed in the Detroit goal. As is usual with the Wings, Marner also threw a penalty in the final minute, leaving the Wings with a three-goal deficit.
What the answer looked like
When Marner completed his natural hat trick at 16:23 of the second period, the Wings had only had three shots on goal in that span. So not much better than the three-shot affair in the first third of the Blues game on Monday. There was a lot of running around but the disruption was still there with players missing passes and not being in the right position. At least Leafs fans enjoyed the experience; There were a handful of hats that ended up on the ice, a testament to how well Leafs fans travel. They celebrated again in the final second when Nicholas Robertson made the Wings pay for Petry’s failure to clear the puck.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames .
Read more about the Detroit Red Wings and subscribe to our Red Wings newsletter. Her most recent book, The Franchise: Detroit Red Wings, A Curated History of the Red Wings, was published in October 2024. Her books On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft and The Big 50 : The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies are available via your email.
