About Last Night: Jakub Vrana skates into Red Wings history books

DETROIT --Joining the Detroit Red Wings with just 12 games remaining in the regular season, it would have been more than understandable for Jakub Vrana to slowly adjust to his new surroundings and integrate to the lineup. On Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena, Vrana shoved any of that sentiment aside with an offensive performance for the ages.

Vrana, who was acquired along with Richard Panik and a pair of draft picks in exchange for Anthony Mantha at the NHL Trade Deadline,
scored four goals in Detroit's 7-3 win over Dallas on Thursday
, becoming just the second player in Red Wings history to record a hat trick within his first four games with the team. He joins Jud McAtee in that elusive club, who accomplished the feat nearly 80 years ago on Nov. 2, 1944.
Vrana, who has raced to six points in his first four games with Detroit, became just the third player in the NHL to score four goals in a game this season. His scoring flurry helped the Red Wings produce their highest scoring output of the 2021 campaign.

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill often comments on the importance of his team scoring "dirty" goals, and being opportunistic in front of the net. Nearly every one of Vrana's goals on Thursday were of a different variety, utilizing his speed and instinct.
"He's fast and he can shoot it. Those two things are undeniable," Blashill said. "Tonight, the goals were goal scorer's goals. When you have that ability to finish, it can really alter a game."
And alter the game he did. Vrana's goals gave the Red Wings leads of 1-0 (9:50 1st period), 4-1 (6:50 2nd), 5-2 (10:09 3rd) and 6-3 (15:48 3rd), and often swung or maintained momentum despite Detroit being outshot, 46-23, in the game.
During both his postgame interview on Bally Sports Detroit and in addressing the media, Vrana was humble in his account of the historic offensive performance. But as he described the team celebration in the Red Wings dressing room, he couldn't help but crack a smile.
"The locker room, it was nice. It felt great," Vrana said. "There is a great group of guys here. We have been missing some big, key guys in the lineup. It's great to see the guys coming in, stepping up and play a great hockey game and help the team get a win. It's just all-around happiness here that the team got the win tonight. We're going to try our best to create momentum and create something for the next game."

Vrana's speed and ability to generate his own offense will undoubtedly lead to solid offensive production. But according to Blashill, Vrana has also been responsive to focusing on elements of his game beyond the box score that affect winning.
"Him and I have talked lots since he's been here of really honing in on winning stick battles and being strong on the stick," Blashill said. "I think that's a big area of focus for him, and I like the fact that the last two games, he's done a good job of it. And he seems to understand, be receptive to the coaching and getting better at it."
The 25-year-old Vrana has eclipsed 16 or minutes of ice time in three of his four games for Detroit (he logged just 15:07 of ice time in Thursday's game), and quickly developed a visible chemistry with fellow Czech native Filip Zadina. Over the final seven games of the regular season, Red Wings fans should have plenty of chances to watch Vrana's game develop, both individually and amongst Detroit's young and developing core.
"We're trying to build something here," Vrana said. "There is some young guys coming into the league, getting to know the league. They're learning here. We're trying to get better, trying to work on things we can do better out there. (There's) little details we can do out there for sure better. Everyone has work ethic here. Everyone is going out there, working hard and trying to win every battle. Trying to work for every inch out there. And that can create great momentum, like today it did."