On Monday, prior to their 4-3 overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, the Red Wings retired Sergei Fedorov’s No. 91 jersey in a special ceremony.
“You see how big he was here,” Edvinsson said of Fedorov. “He made a good impact on everybody here. I feel like a player like that should actually have a whole week to be appreciated because now, when you actually really start to learn about what he did for this organization, it’s a great honor to play for the Winged Wheel like he did.”
Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said his players were excited to watch Fedorov’s number ascend into the rafters and not only be part of but learn more about the franchise’s rich history.
"For the individuals that are sitting there, we talked about this [on Monday morning], the history of the game is really important,” McLellan said. “I think you're a better player when you understand history, you know what happened, how things happened and why they happened…To sit there and watch that type of player in Sergei be honored by who we play for now, not just the organization but the fans, is pretty special."
As far as the Eastern Conference matchup itself, James van Riemsdyk, Albert Johansson and Alex DeBrincat helped Detroit to a three-goal advantage by the end of the second period, with the last-mentioned skater grabbing the team lead in goals (24). The third period would belong to
“A good result, but a mixed bag during the game,” McLellan said about Monday’s win, which was Detroit’s fourth in a row. “Fairly good start, to get the power-play goal early against a penalty kill that’s real aggressive was a good thing for our hockey club. We forced them into a couple other mistakes, but never really had control of the game. That’s usually how it is when you play against the Hurricanes. They get rolling around in your end, they volume shoot and get it back a lot…But at the end of the night, we found a way to win in overtime which is important. Put the points in the bank and got to move on now.”
Riding a three-game winning streak and having won five of their last six contests, the Bruins are coming off a 1-0 shutout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.
“We haven’t played them for a good month,” McLellan said about the Bruins. “At that point, they were missing a few players and still gave us a really tough night. Now, they have some people back in their lineup. They’ve played very well lately. They’ve been able to score a lot of goals some nights, but also prevent. Seem to be a little more disciplined, not taking as many penalties which takes a little pressure off their penalty kill and gets more players involved.
David Pastrnak leads Boston with 55 points (19 goals, 36 assists), followed by Morgan Geekie with 41 points (25 goals, 16 assists) and Pavel Zacha (13 goals, 18 assists). As for netminder Jeremy Swayman, who is expected to start against Detroit, has a 17-11-2 record with a 2.88 goals-against average and .903 save percentage in 31 games this season.
“I think these are the nights when you can grow as a hockey club, get mentally and physically stronger, and push the limits of what the group can do as a whole,” McLellan said. “We’re looking for real good results.”
