As the Red Wings look to kick start a winning streak, the challenge will be getting everything to click together against a "tough, hard" Flyers
As the Red Wings look to kick start a winning streak, the challenge will be getting everything to click together against a "tough, hard" Flyers
The task at hand for the Detroit Red Wings tonight in Philadelphia against the Flyers, is, according to their head coach Derek Lalonde, "a matter of putting it all together." The Red Wings snapped a five-game losing streak Monday night in Buffalo, but in so doing, the defensive strides Detroit took—perhaps counterintuitively—during its skid gave way to a wide open 6–5 shootout victory, with firepower and persistence enough to overcome what was, for long stretches, porous defending. Now, as the Red Wings look to establish a winning streak and, with it, the traction that has alluded them throughout the season, Detroit's job is to combine the best of the losing streak with the offense that emerged victorious in Buffalo.
"It wasn't us in terms of how we how we like to play defensively in Buffalo," forward Joe Veleno told The Hockey News after yesterday's practice, before the Red Wings traveled back east to Philadelphia for tonight's game. "I think we got away from our game a little bit. And, you know, look at the positive though we had opportunities to generate offense and to capitalize, which we did. But I don't think we should be too concerned about it, because, you know, we know that's not us. We know we haven't really given up five goals regularly as of late. So I think we've just got to settle down a little bit, relax and go back to what we were doing defensively that was giving us a lot of success—execution in our end, breaking pucks out quick, protecting the dangerous ice in the D zone. And I think we got got away from that a little bit last game."
Detroit hasn't faced the Flyers in nearly a full calendar year (the last meeting, a Jan. 25 3–0 Red Wings win at Little Caesars Arena), but they are nonetheless a familiar opponent. There is little mystery to a John Tortorella–coached team: hard defense and shot blocking to feed just enough offense to get the job done. As Lucas Raymond put it yesterday, under Tortorella's leadership, "they play a tough, hard game. They're really hard working and tough to play against...So just about sticking to our game, trying to keep the offensive firepower and keep the tight defense."
In some sense, Detroit's last tangle with Tortorella was a proxy war, an indirect collision by virtue of last spring's wild card chase. Needing a regulation win to stay alive and unaware that quite literally just minutes before the Red Wings had tied their game in Montreal en route to making Philadelphia's result irrelevant, Tortorella pulled his goaltender in a tied game, allowing the Washington Capitals to get the rare game-winning empty net goal. The Capital victory rendered Detroit's Montreal miracle moot, securing Washington the final wild card berth in the East.
Lalonde revealed yesterday that the morning after that topsy turvy conclusion to the wild card race, he received a text of apology from Tortorella—whom he described as "a big-time human being"—expressing that there had been nothing personal in his tactics, he simply wanted the best outcome for his team. "People don't see those things in him," Lalonde said of Tortorella, having referred to his reaching out already as unnecessary but clearly appreciated. "They see the brash, the hard. Obviously, he's someone I look up to in our profession—the kind of career he's had and obviously being an American coach too is exciting."
The Red Wings can't reverse last Spring's result with a win tonight in Philadelpha, but perhaps with a win, Detroit can begin to pave the path toward more meaningful Springtime hockey.
Where to Watch
The puck is scheduled to drop on tonight's game at 7 pm. It will be on its usual broadcast homes: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit (TV and streaming, in-market), ESPN+/Hulu (out-of-market streaming), and 97.1 The Ticket (radio).
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