James van Riemsdyk, who is playing his first season with the Red Wings, said he and his teammates have completely bought in to a team-first mentality in the absences of key players like Lucas Raymond and Patrick Kane.
The Detroit Red Wings are in the midst of a five-game winning streak, almost all of which have been over Atlantic Division opponents.
Their most recent win was a 4-2 triumph over the Edmonton Oilers, who have been the last team standing in the Western Conference in each of the last two seasons, thanks to the first two goals in the NHL career of Emmitt Finnie as well as a four-point performance from Dylan Larkin.
It was also the third consecutive game that they were without a top-six forward, as Patrick Kane was unavailable because of the lingering effects of crashing into the boards in overtime during Friday's overtime win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Lucas Raymond had missed the previous two games before returning in a limited capacity on Sunday.
Their absences haven't been as harmful as they could have been for the Red Wings, who have completely bought in to a team-first mentality as well as their next man up attitude.
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"That's what all good teams are able to do," forward James van Riemsdyk said about Detroit's ability to win without key players. "When we miss key guys, you don't really replace them with just one player, you have different guys playing in different situational stuff to help fill the role a little bit, but that just shows we've been committed to playing a team game."
"Guys have really bought into that, and that allows you to have success, even though you're missing some guys."
The Red Wings have confirmed that Kane will be unavailable for at least the next two games against the Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders, and that he'll be re-evaluated prior to Saturday's tilt against the St. Louis Blues in Detroit.
van Riemsdyk has now played in four straight games after having missed all of Training Camp, the pre-season, and the first two regular season contests after one of his newborn twins required extra care.
He made an immediate impact in his Red Wings debut, scoring a goal as part of Detroit's 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 13.
Closing in on the 1,100-game mark in his career, van Riemsdyk arrived in Detroit with a reputation for making his living in the immediate vicinity of the net, much like former four-time Stanley Cup-winning Red Wings forward Tomas Holmstrom.
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Not only did van Riemsdyk watch Holmstrom growing up and when he played locally in Ann Arbor for the United States National Development Program prior to the start of his NHL career, but he also took note of the playing styles of other similar players.
"I watched him a bit," van Riemsdyk said of Holmstrom. "Adam Graves a bit, John Leclair. There have been guys who have done it differently styalistically that you pick up different things from, but there's lots to learn from former generations of players who have had good success."
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