Red Wings 4, Wild 1: Larkin, Lyon Lead Detroit to Third Straight Win Following Swedish Skid
On the strength of two more power play goals and 37 saves from Alex Lyon, the Red Wings earned their third straight win Sunday, beating Minnesota 4-1 at Little Caesars Arena
Detroit, MI—Through a bit more than 35 minutes of hockey Sunday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena, the Detroit Red Wings looked the better team to the visiting Minnesota Wild, but the hosts struggled to separate themselves. Then captain Dylan Larkin took it upon himself to create the difference between the two sides.
With Moritz Seider and Marco Rossi in the box for matching unsportsmanlike minors and the game at four-a-side, there was ample room for an intrepid skater to assert himself in what was a 1-1 game, and Larkin did just that.
He took the puck from defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere in his own end the rink, cruised through the neutral zone, gained the offensive zone, cut to the inside and fired. Filip Gustavsson made the initial save, but there was Larkin—still skating with purpose, first to the rebound—to bury the follow up as he dropped to his knees, giving his team a 2-1 lead it wouldn't relinquish.
Just 52 seconds into the third, Pat Maroon was sent to the box for tripping, and once again, it was the purposive Larkin who—through a blend of skill and sheer determination—helped Detroit cushion its advantage.
Larkin dove past Wild center Connor Dewar to win the puck back to Gostisbehere at the point, Gostisbehere played it straight across to David Perron, who one-timed the feed past Gustavsson to provide the Red Wings with a vital 3-1 lead in what would eventually become a 4-1 win thanks to an empty netter for Gositsbehere. Perron's finish (good for his 300th career NHL goal) was a mirror image of a goal he'd scored on the power play in the first.
"After that game in Sweden against Toronto, when you give up a two-goal lead in the third and end up not getting points out of it, Larks—the leader he is—we're getting undressed, and he just said 'keep getting undressed, but we need to figure out what team we're going to be,'" recounted Gostisbehere from the post-game podium.
If Larkin's performance Sunday afternoon is any indicator of what these Red Wings are, it's a team characterized by speed, determination, and skill—capable of doing whatever job needs to be done at a game's decisive moments.
"It's lead by example with him," added Gostisbehere. "He'll get on ya, if you're not playing the right way. He leads on and off the ice. Little things you guys don't see that [show] he's leading the charge for us. Just his work ethic, not only on the four-on-four goal but on that face-off to give us the opportunity to get that goal just shows what type of person and player he is."
Beyond Larkin, the obvious star of Detroit's 4-1 victory was goaltender Alex Lyon. The former Yale Bulldog has now played nine periods in net as a Red Wing, and he's conceded a goal in just two of them.
This afternoon, he stopped 37 of the 38 shots he faced. Lyon's only blemish came on a deflection late in the first period, when Kirill Kaprizov banked a shot in off Joel Eriksson Ek on the power play, a re-direct the goaltender had no chance of stopping.
"It's incredible," said David Perron of Lyon's performance since being thrust into the Detroit net in the second leg of the team's trip to Sweden. "We've seen since training camp the way he just stays on the ice, takes one-timers, takes shots from everyone. We saw how he's played in the past over his career as well. He's a great goalie, and you're only happy for him."
When asked what he likes best about Lyon's game, Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde replied "his calmness, quiet, handling the puck, there's a confidence." After pointing out that his goaltender had to deal with a much greater volume of chances than he had in his shutout win over New Jersey on Wednesday, Lalonde added, "when a goalie's just seeing it, you feel like it's not going in. I'm feeling that, so I'm sure it gives a little confidence to our group."
Another bright spot for Detroit came in the form of two more power play goals, a follow-up two two PPGs Friday against Boston (and a third goal scored moments after a power play expired). Lalonde credited his man advantage unit for providing his team with a "spark," while Gostisbehere (who assisted on both tallies with the extra man Sunday) lauded assistant coach Alex Tanguay for putting the Red Wings in the correct positions to thrive.
"I think it's a credit to Tangs, just sticking with it in the sense that he knows it's out there," said Gostisbehere. "We just have to go find it. And sometimes you gotta go through that. I think the quick puck movement, getting guys in certain spots, it's really clicking. Obviously teams are gonna defend it differently now, and it's up to us to keep it going and adjust to what they're throwing at us."
Though it ended as a three-goal game, it wasn't an easy ride for Detroit Sunday, even against a Minnesota team that has now dropped seven straight games. The Wild outshot its hosts 38-23. "There were some moments where it felt like more of a grind than what we saw in the last two games, so we found another way to win the game in a different game," noted Lalonde.
Nonetheless, the end result is three straight wins—all in regulation, all against teams that qualified for the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs—since returning from the disappointing trip to Sweden.
In his post-game comments, David Perron—who wears an "A" as an alternate captain for the Red Wings—spoke to the speed with which the feeling around a team can change. At this time last week, Detroit fans were despondent with sinking thoughts that this year's Red Wings would make no more progress than last year's; now, Detroit is 11-6-3, third in the Atlantic, and fourth in the East overall.
"It feels better than a week ago; it can change in another week," Perron said. "So it's up to us to keep finding ways to get points."