The Detroit Red Wings picked up a valuable two points in the standings with their 5-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Monday evening, rebounding from Saturday's 4-1 loss to the Penguins.
Following a listless 4-1 setback to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon, Detroit Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan put his line combinations into a blender in their subsequent practice.
While it wasn't a perfect outing on Monday evening against the Ottawa Senators, the Red Wings did put five goals on the board while getting another top-notch performance from goaltender John Gibson, all of which equaled a 5-3 victory.
The Red Wings are now back into the top spot not only in the Atlantic Division, but in the Eastern Conference.
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Forward James van Riemsdyk, who continued his fine first campaign with the Red Wings by scoring his 11th goal of the season, said that he and the rest of his teammates had the right mindset coming into the contest with the new-look line combinations.
“Anytime the coach kind of shuffles up the lines a good amount like that, he’s probably just trying to get the team’s attention,” he said. “I think he (McLellan) definitely did that, and I think we came in with the right mindset as a team. We had guys contributing all over the place tonight, and that’s what it takes to win.”
After a slower start to the season, van Riemsdyk has caught fire for the Red Wings. Last month, he scored in four straight games, a new career high, and continues to provide not only veteran leadership but also an imposing presence around the net.
“Anytime you’re with a new team, as much as you’d like it to be seamless, sometimes it is kind of a process to find how you fit within the group and find some chemistry with some guys,” he explained. “I’d like to think I just continue to get better as the year goes on and have that same approach every day.”
McLellan, who put recently recalled forward John Leonard onto the club's top line, appreciated how they responded to Saturday's setback.
"We needed to recover from the Pittsburgh debacle," McLellan said. "We were about as bad as you could be in that game, probably our weakest effort of the season, and sometimes those happen. We weren’t going to let it slip.”
The Red Wings will now begin preparations to face the Vancouver Canucks at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday evening.
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