DETROIT \u2014 For the first 23 minutes Saturday night, Little Caesars Arena was in misery.<\/p>\n
With the Detroit Red Wings coming off a woeful 7-2 loss to the New York Islanders two days prior, Detroit once again dug an early hole \u2014 letting the St. Louis Blues jump out to a 2-0 lead in the first period, and getting booed off the ice at the first buzzer. Then, the Red Wings dug that hole even deeper, taking a penalty to begin the second, and giving up two more goals in the first 3:12. It was the sixth consecutive period in which the Red Wings had allowed two or more goals, and down 4-0, it looked like destined to keep spiraling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had absolutely nothing going on,\u201d Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. \u201cIt looked like we were discombobulated all over the rink. Anything we did \u2014 we were in the wrong spot, we checked poorly, we didn\u2019t pick up the right people. It was borderline disaster.\u201d<\/p>\n
How then did the Red Wings skate off their home ice Saturday night with a 6-4 win?<\/p>\n
It all started at a timeout McLellan took right after the Blues\u2019 fourth goal \u2014 delivering a message no one was inclined to reveal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s probably a message we\u2019ll keep between us,\u201d the head coach said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust challenged us,\u201d forward J.T. Compher said. \u201cKind of leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCouple tough words,\u201d winger Jonatan Berggren added.<\/p>\n
The particulars notwithstanding, though, it\u2019s not too hard to guess the meeting\u2019s thrust. The Red Wings looked awful. Again. And something had to change.<\/p>\n
And then, a funny thing happened: It did.<\/p>\n
Some 4 1\/2 minutes later, Berggren got Detroit on the board with a power-play tally. Then, Emmitt Finnie buried one at the net in the final two minutes. Compher deflected in a Travis Hamonic point shot 27 seconds after that. Suddenly, the Red Wings were back in it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked in the locker room going into the third that we had to keep the foot down, and everyone responded,\u201d Compher said. \u201cEvery guy on the bench was up and lively, and believed we were going to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belief, it turns out, can be a powerful thing.<\/p>\n
No Red Wings player had been more snakebitten through the first eight games and two periods than Alex DeBrincat. The team\u2019s leading scorer last season, with 39 goals, DeBrincat entered Saturday\u2019s game with zero on 28 shots. He hit two crossbars in Saturday\u2019s first period alone. He could have been forgiven for getting a bit discouraged.<\/p>\n
Instead, midway through the third period, he took a puck at Detroit\u2019s blue line and skated it himself through the neutral zone. He looked off a potential drop pass and held onto it while cutting back to the slot. And then he ripped one past Jordan Binnington to end his drought and tie the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a scorer,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cAnd scorers shoot the puck. He\u2019s not going to defer and dish it off. He\u2019s scored many goals like that already, cutting across and shooting against the grain. He knew what he was doing as soon as he began to cut. And good for him, he got rewarded.\u201d<\/p>\n
The breakthroughs didn\u2019t stop there. Thursday on Long Island, McLellan held defenseman Simon Edvinsson out for the game\u2019s final 12 minutes. And Saturday morning, Edvinsson didn\u2019t run from that one bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last two games, I\u2019ve probably played my worst hockey that I\u2019ve (played) in four years, or that I can remember, at least,\u201d Edvinsson said. \u201cSo, that\u2019s all I\u2019ve got to say because I can\u2019t speak of the team\u2019s performance. I was probably one of the worst players on the ice in both of those games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edvinsson missed the early portion of camp due to injury and hasn\u2019t fully looked himself yet this season. Those two road trip outings were the nadir of that.<\/p>\n
And yet, there he was in the third period Saturday, scoring the winning goal on a shot sifted through from the point, and then adding the final dagger from 200 feet away into an empty net.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimon responded with a real good game,\u201d McLellan said after \u2014 and the Red Wings needed it.<\/p>\n
EDVINSSON PUTS THE WINGS AHEAD 5-4 \ud83d\ude31<\/p>\n
They were down 4-0! pic.twitter.com\/oVLyqP6fGz<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 NHL (@NHL) October 26, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n When you win, all of those things get their due. And after coming back from four goals down, Edvinsson and the Red Wings certainly deserve their credit.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s also impossible to forget what the first 23 minutes of that game looked like. And the 60 on Long Island before that. And most of the game in Buffalo, too.<\/p>\n In just nine games, this Red Wings team has already shown it\u2019s capable of some wild swings \u2014 and Saturday\u2019s game showed the full range of them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to figure this thing out,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cWe can\u2019t be a yo-yo like that. I believe we\u2019re closer to the second-half (of the game) team than we are to the first half. But the proof is in the pudding. It has to show up over and over and over again. We can\u2019t pick and choose fractions of the game or segments of games where we want to play to our identity, and then it just disappears.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s why it\u2019s hard to know what to make of these Red Wings nine games in. They\u2019re now sitting at 6-3, and once again riding a high, but have shown plenty of reasons for concern, too. And there are a few key trends factoring into that.<\/p>\n Response to challenges<\/p>\n Say what you will about this group, you can\u2019t really knock the way they have responded to challenges from their coach.<\/p>\n McLellan called them out<\/a> after opening night. They responded<\/a> with a five-game win streak. He clearly lit into them Saturday. They came back from four goals down to win.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes those things need to be done, and need to be said,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cThe night on a whole, you couldn\u2019t be more disappointed early, and more full of joy at the end. It\u2019s amazing how that game went, and how it felt, pre-timeout (and) post-timeout.\u201d<\/p>\n So, yes, they\u2019re certainly showing something there.<\/p>\n But isn\u2019t it also a bit concerning that we have this much data on them responding to challenges from their coach, before the calendar even hits November?<\/p>\n It\u2019s an important trait to be able to respond to that kind of messaging, but it\u2019s also important not to let it get to points that call for moments like Saturday\u2019s timeout. The Red Wings realistically should have had all the fire they could have needed after giving up seven goals Thursday and losing back-to-back games.<\/p>\n So while you\u2019d certainly rather have a resilient team than the alternative, the Red Wings can\u2019t really afford to be needing this level of resilience as often as they already have.<\/p>\n Youthful energy \u2026 and mistakes<\/p>\n So many of the early-season narratives have revolved around the young players who made the team out of camp.<\/p>\n Finnie has been one of the best stories in hockey as a seventh-round rookie playing on the first line. His goal on Saturday gave him eight points in nine games, second among all NHL rookies so far. He forechecks. He blocks shots. He kills penalties. He\u2019s brought a spark. And that energy is bolstered by fellow 20-year-old rookies Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Michael Brandsegg-Nyg\u00e5rd playing as well.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s face it, the Red Wings have looked a bit inexperienced at times so far, too. Sandin-Pellikka got beaten by Buffalo\u2019s Tyson Kozak on a goal earlier in the week. Brandsegg-Nyg\u00e5rd has brought physicality, but his pace hasn\u2019t always looked up to the charge \u2014 he finished with less than seven minutes Saturday.<\/p>\n