Another shining performance from Lucas Raymond propels Detroit from a despondent first period to overtime victory against the Blue Jackets
Another shining performance from Lucas Raymond propels Detroit from a despondent first period to overtime victory against the Blue Jackets
Detroit, MI—At the end of a chaotic, come-from-behind 4-3 overtime victory over the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets, coach Derek Lalonde said what every Red Wings fan was already thinking: "Credit to Lucas...he's been excellent of late. Thank God."
Against the Eastern Conference's cellar dweller and with its own playoff ambitions hanging by a perilously thin thread, Detroit opened the game with a lethargic and lifeless first period, which ended in an 0-2 deficit and boos raining down from the Little Caesars Arena crowd as the Red Wings retreated to the dressing room. Lalonde described himself "flabbergasted," "shocked," and "disappointed" by his team's effort to open the game.
In the second, Raymond breathed life into Detroit with an early power play goal, and Detroit caught the kind of break necessary to burst free of a funk when Erik Gudbranson kicked the rebound from a Moritz Seider shot into his own net a minute-and-a-half later to tie the game, but lucky breaks wouldn't be enough to get so much as a point Tuesday night. Instead, the Red Wings' needed Raymond's force of will.
With 19 seconds left in regulation, Detroit trailed 3-2 thanks to a Kirill Marchenko power play goal at the start of the third period. Boone Jenner had just taken a shot at the Red Wings' vacant net, which went wide for an icing. Lalonde called timeout, and his team gathered at the bench.
Detroit won the ensuing draw, and Shayne Gostisbehere sent a pass from the point to Patrick Kane along the right half-wall. Kane fired a puck to the net. Raymond fought through checks from Ivan Provorov and Boone Jenner to be first to the rebound, and he buried it without hesitation. Raymond dropped to a knee, pumped his fist, then leapt into the glass before being mobbed. The clock showed 12.6 seconds remaining in regulation.
"We drew up something like that," said Kane after the game. Then, with a wry smile, he continued: "I'm just trying to get the puck to the net, and Ray has been pretty automatic there in the middle, so I told him if he keeps scoring in there, he's gonna have to play there his whole career, so you better be careful."
In overtime, it was Kane's turn to play the hero—slipping a shot through Danil Tarasov 44 seconds into the extra session to clinch the victory. Though Kane delivered the final blow, the night belonged to Raymond, who had driven the Red Wings to overtime—at times as if against their will—not just with his finishing but also his refusal to accept what defeat might have meant for his team's playoff chances.
"Consistency, the hard play, getting to the hard areas—I mean both goals were low slot. But his battle, his compete—remember at this time last year, he was tiring," said Lalonde, when asked where he'd seen the most growth in Raymond's game. "It was not very good. We were worried how much we could play him down the stretch, and now with Dylan being out, he's literally driven us to stay in this battle."
Raymond's skill has been obvious from the moment he forced his way into the NHL as a 19-year-old to begin the 2021-22 season. This year—and perhaps most of all this trying, Dylan Larkin-less stretch in March—has brought out a different side of Raymond's game. There is the rugged determination Lalonde described—forcing his way into the NHL's premium real estate for goals, but there is also the less tangible notion of his drive.
Without Larkin, the Red Wings' forwards have appeared over-extended, unable to rise to the demands left to them without their captain available with one obvious exception: Raymond, who has scratched and clawed and fought and scored to keep his team afloat. While others have faded in Larkin's absence, Raymond has come closest to stepping into the void he left behind.
"He's our best player," said Seider this morning, before Raymond had the chance to add two more to his goal tally, when asked about his performance during Detroit's present skid. "Even in tough stretches, he finds a way to get on the board, stay in it, play the right way, and obviously he's a big key to our success five-on-five." Tonight's goals came at five-on-four and six-on-five, but Seider's point holds just as true.
The game's opening 20 minutes threatened to be the nadir of the season—a hapless performance at a critical moment against a team with nothing to play for. It probably would've been if Raymond hadn't forced it to be otherwise. Instead, as Kane said, "hopefully we can look back at this at some point and say this was a big turning point for our season."
Of course, the comeback doesn't erase the disastrous start. In Lalonde's words, "that first period was real, and it happened, and it's not good enough." But thanks to Raymond's heroics, that start is easier to stomach, and the Red Wings will go to bed this evening in a playoff spot.
When asked to explain the shift from the first period to the game's final 40 minutes and 44 seconds, Raymond downplayed his own impact, offering the humble assessment that "I think we just got back to the way we were supposed to play. I think in the first, we were hesitant, playing a little bit on our heels, playing slow, and that doesn't work in this league. Just full pace forward."
In truth, Lalonde's gratitude seems the best summation of the evening's events from a Red Wings perspective: Thank God for Lucas Raymond, without whom the season's bleakest stretch could only have been darker and because of whom Detroit's playoff dreams remain alive.
Also from THN Detroit
Simon Edvinsson Looking to Apply Improvements in Call-up to Red Wings Playoff Hunt
Redefining an NHL Factory: Kristy McNeil Revolutionizes Social Media for Michigan Hockey
Chaos at the Net Leads to Down Night for Red Wings’ Penalty Kill against Pittsburgh
Too Many Chances Surrendered: A Red Wings-Penguins Statistical Review