The Detroit Red Wings picked up a 4-3 victory over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday evening, but things got a bit too close for comfort in the third period.
Detroit Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan has spoken repeatedly about the importance of game management, and his club appeared to have gotten the message in the early goings of their season-high six-game road swing.
Their 4-3 victory over the Calgary Flames secured points six and seven of a possible eight up for grabs through the first four games of the trip, but they came dangerously close to disaster on Wednesday evening at Scotiabank Saddledome.
Detroit built a comfortable 4-0 lead by the end of 40 minutes of play, only to see the Flames score three unanswered goals in the game's final frame.
Veteran forward Andrew Copp, who is skating in his fourth season with the club, spoke about the importance of having a higher standard of play than what they showed.
“We’re not in the business of being mad about wins, but we have a higher standard than that,” Copp said. “We’re going to need to show it tomorrow night.”
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While the Red Wings ultimately picked up two points in the standings to move back into first place in the Atlantic Division, the way they go about winning games needs to shift, as Copp continued.
“A win’s a win," he continued. "Stacking wins at this point, you’re never going to turn down two points. Our process needs to be a lot better. After the first ten minutes, we stopped skating. We didn’t really have that much O-zone pressure. We kind of got some rushes and scored, but just our execution coming out of our zone wasn’t good.”
It was Copp who forced a turnover and fed teammate Alex DeBrincat in the second period for his second tally of the game, making the score 3-0 for the Red Wings.
Coming into the contest, Copp had scored in consecutive games, and he's now in the midst of a four-game point streak.
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