{"id":354418,"date":"2025-12-17T16:45:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T16:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/354418\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T16:45:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T16:45:09","slug":"alex-debrincats-scoring-tear-axel-sandin-pellikkas-growth-five-red-wings-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/354418\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex DeBrincat\u2019s scoring tear, Axel Sandin-Pellikka\u2019s growth: Five Red Wings thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"

DETROIT \u2014 Todd McLellan has had some fiery postgames early in this Detroit Red Wings season. He\u2019s called out his team<\/a> on multiple occasions, including on opening night<\/a>, wondering when exactly they would learn their lesson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So it was notable on Tuesday night to hear a decidedly different tenor from the Red Wings\u2019 head coach, on the heels of a tight, back-and-forth 3-2 win over the New York Islanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we came off after the game,\u201d McLellan said, \u201cI said, \u2018Maybe we\u2019re finally getting it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

What a thought that could be for a Red Wings team that ended Tuesday night atop the Atlantic Division after what\u2019s been a roller coaster first 34 games. There\u2019s a lot of proving left to do, of course. And it wouldn\u2019t be the first time this Detroit group has shown a spark of poise, only to let it slip.<\/p>\n

But on Tuesday, it was the way the Red Wings found a win that left McLellan so encouraged.<\/p>\n

Detroit got out to a ho-hum start, without a shot on goal in the first eight minutes. This was the Red Wings\u2019 first game back from a six-game road trip, mind you, but McLellan has been pretty clear about what that should mean for a team. Asked Monday about the challenge this type of game can present to teams, he shot it down preemptively.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I think it\u2019s because we do exactly what we\u2019re doing right now,\u201d he said. \u201cWe talk about it, and we plant it in between our ears, and we begin to believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether it was a legitimate cause for the Red Wings\u2019 sluggish start Tuesday or not, the important thing was what came after. The Red Wings found their legs. Even when they allowed the game\u2019s first goal, and ran into a hot goaltender in Ilya Sorokin through 40 minutes \u2014 putting all kinds of pressure on the Islanders, only to come up empty \u2014 they didn\u2019t go away.<\/p>\n

And when they took a 2-1 lead early in the third period, only to then let New York tie it up soon after, they didn\u2019t panic then either. They waited it out, retook the lead on a late power play goal, and then skated out with a hard-fought 3-2 win.<\/p>\n

So you can see where McLellan allowed himself to believe that his team might be having a light-bulb moment \u2014 especially when you consider the last two weeks as a whole, with the Red Wings 6-1-2 in their last nine.<\/p>\n

That thought still came with a dose of caution.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust when you think you\u2019ve got it, though,\u201d McLellan said, \u201cyou can\u2019t give it back.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where Detroit finds itself approaching the season\u2019s midpoint. For all their faults, the Red Wings have indeed looked like a team starting to figure some things out.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to know how to factor the Red Wings\u2019 recent run of success with the schedule it\u2019s come against, with their strong trip through Western Canada, including trips to some of the league\u2019s bottom-dwellers, but the Islanders \u2014 even without Bo Horvat \u2014 represented a team that has given Detroit fits in two prior meetings this season. Those games went in New York\u2019s favor by a combined 12-2 margin.<\/p>\n

So, yes, to see the Red Wings grind out a late regulation win, while missing Patrick Kane to an upper-body injury, is promising.<\/p>\n

But as anyone who has watched this team over the past few years can tell you, the most important tests are still to come.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s else what stood out Tuesday:<\/p>\n

1. Alex DeBrincat gets plenty of attention as the Red Wings\u2019 leading scorer, but it still might underrate how clutch his scoring ability has been for this team.<\/p>\n

That was on display twice on Tuesday, both times on the power play.<\/p>\n

First, shortly after Detroit had tied it, he ripped home a rocket past Sorokin to give the Red Wings their first lead. But it was his second goal that perhaps better captured his value, following his own puck after the Islanders\u2019 Ryan Pulock blocked his first attempt and burying the second effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust putting it to the net, honestly,\u201d DeBrincat said. \u201cHe blocks the first one and slides out of the way, so just trying to get it to the net as quick as I can, hopefully catch the goalie off guard. Luckily it went in.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was DeBrincat\u2019s third multi-goal game in his last four outings, and notably, this one came without Kane, his frequent linemate and set-up man. As of late Tuesday night, his 20 goals were tied for third in the NHL.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis competitiveness rubs off on everyone else, and then his ability to shoot it in the net\u2019s second to none,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cThat combination is great. Sometimes those scorers don\u2019t \u2014 they score, and that\u2019s basically it. He does so many other things that he almost drags the rest of the group into the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Red Wings rookie defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka had his bumps early but has played more confidently lately. (Rick Osentoski \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

2. As good as DeBrincat has been recently, just as important a development for the Red Wings has been the play of Tuesday\u2019s other goal scorer: rookie defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka.<\/p>\n

Sandin-Pellikka certainly had his share of bumps early this season, and realistically, he probably isn\u2019t done with them. But over the last two weeks, it\u2019s been impossible not to notice the confidence he\u2019s playing with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Axe played better defensively on this trip than he has (previously),\u201d McLellan said Monday. \u201cAnd lo and behold, his offense opened up. We sometimes forget that this guy\u2019s only 20 years old. \u2026 That was a big trip for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

That jumped out once again on his goal Tuesday, as he worked down the right flank off a face-off and then snuck one past Sorokin, who he had seen \u201ccheating a little bit for the back-door tap-in.\u201d That tally gave him his seventh point in his last seven games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been great,\u201d DeBrincat said Tuesday night. \u201cHe\u2019s defending well, and he\u2019s playing well with the puck. So, you know, all we can ask from him, and he\u2019s playing strong in our own zone. And when he gets the puck in the O zone, good things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandin-Pellikka is most likely always going to be more offensively tilted. But he\u2019s smart enough and competitive enough to think that he doesn\u2019t need to be a true specialist, either. That he\u2019s starting to put those tools together into more complete performances bodes well for the Red Wings, and the results he\u2019s getting now are almost certainly a product of that confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s wavered at times,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cEven with the coaches, it\u2019s wavered with him at times. But we\u2019ve all stuck with it, and we\u2019ve tried to guide him through some of the rough patches and push him a little bit, and he\u2019s broke through a level. And now he\u2019s got to work to that next level, and do that throughout his career.\u201d<\/p>\n

3. It wasn\u2019t the busiest game John Gibson will see this year, with the Islanders mustering just 18 shots on the night, but he stopped 16 of them for his sixth straight win in net.<\/p>\n

Just like the team as a whole, it\u2019s too early to say Gibson\u2019s out of the woods from his early-season struggles, but there\u2019s no doubt a run like this changes the outlook for a veteran goaltender Detroit is counting on.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just looks bigger, more confident, relaxed,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of garbage lying around. Makes all the saves right now that he should be making. So he\u2019s settled in, which is a good thing for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. The Red Wings had some roster news prior to Tuesday\u2019s game, with forward Jonatan Berggren being claimed off waivers by the St. Louis Blues.<\/p>\n

Once a source of excitement after a 15-goal rookie season in 2022-23, Berggren had played in less than half of Detroit\u2019s games this season, getting just under 12 minutes a night, and didn\u2019t seem to have a real path to meaningful playing time anymore.<\/p>\n

When Kane went down with his injury, the Red Wings instead called up John Leonard, the AHL\u2019s leading goal scorer, to fill in for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBerggy\u2019s a real good hockey player,\u201d McLellan said Tuesday, before the claim was official. \u201cHe\u2019s a good human being. And when opportunity dries up in one spot, you\u2019ve got to think about the individual a little bit, too. Maybe he\u2019ll get an opportunity. \u2026 He\u2019s an offensive producing player that probably hasn\u2019t produced enough offense when we\u2019ve put him in the lineup. He\u2019s been somewhat reliable, though, defensively, and sometimes these things just happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. The Red Wings\u2019 task of staying hot will be tested going into the Christmas break.<\/p>\n

They may be catching the Utah Mammoth shorthanded, with star forward Logan Cooley out, but the Mammoth still have plenty of firepower up front that Detroit will have to contend with, with Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, Nick Schmaltz and J.J. Peterka.<\/p>\n

And after that, they\u2019ll see last year\u2019s Eastern Conference top-seed Washington Capitals twice, followed by the powerhouse Dallas Stars.<\/p>\n

In other words, as encouraging as the last two weeks have been for Detroit, McLellan\u2019s comment about not giving it back is about to be tested.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 Todd McLellan has had some fiery postgames early in this Detroit Red Wings season. He\u2019s called…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1786,385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-354418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-detroit-red-wings","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}