PREVIEW: Red Wings hit the road for Monday matinee in Toronto

TORONTO – Hitting the road for the first time in their 2025-26 campaign, the Detroit Red Wings will go for a home-and-home series sweep against the Toronto Maple Leafs when the Original Six clubs clash at Scotiabank Arena on Monday afternoon.

Puck drop is now set for 2 p.m., with broadcast coverage on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit). For the Red Wings (1-1-0; 2 points) Monday’s matinee will serve as a great early-season opportunity to build on the confidence gained and positives from Saturday’s 6-3 win over the Maple Leafs (1-1-0; 2 points).

“From Game 1 to Game 2, I thought we managed the game a lot better,” Mason Appleton said. “We made a lot better puck decisions, better reads defensively, limited their speed and time with the puck. We just got to replicate that and have the same type of game plan because when we turned that switch in the second [period], it definitely worked.”

Detroit trailed 2-0 after the first period against Toronto, but scored three unanswered goals in the second period then pulled away in the back half of the third for its first win of the season. As far as offensive standouts go, Patrick Kane (one goal, two assists), Alex DeBrincat (three assists) and Lucas Raymond (two goals) led the way.

“Throughout every game, there’s kind of a theme,” Appleton said. “You either hurt or help yourself, and I think in Game 1 we gave up way too much and we knew that. A lot of it was self inflicted and a lot of that was corrected [on Saturday]. It’s learning for everyone, but you can’t shoot yourself in the foot five, six times in a game. You can only give up a few odd-man rushes, if that, and then from there you give yourself the best chance to win. [On Saturday], I thought we did a really good job of managing the game, controlling it and being predictable with risk-free hockey. We just got to do that again.”

As Detroit’s returning and new players get more familiar with each other early in the season, they’re also getting used to the systems and structure together. That naturally takes time and ultimately, is a learning process that doesn’t stop.

“Just when you feel comfortable, there’s something that comes up,” McLellan said. “When you’re playing well, you get to advance your game and take it a step further. When it’s not going well, you’re in repair mode and you never get to get ahead. For us to have success, we got to be able to advance a little bit. But right now, we’re keeping pretty simple.”

McLellan also said there’s “a good chance” James van Riemsdyk could make his season debut in Toronto. The veteran forward skated on a line with Appleton and Michael Rasmussen during Sunday afternoon’s practice at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center.

“He’s played a lot of years on a lot of good teams, so he’s got that stability of being that experience factor,” McLellan said about van Riemsdyk. “He’s a big man with good hands. Power play, in and around the net, he’s one of the better ones in the National League over the number of years that he’s played.”

van Riemsdyk believes he’s got a “good handle” on how the team is “trying to play and the things we’re trying to do and execute out there.”

“Obviously, there’s different chemistry within some of that sometimes with playing with different guys,” van Riemsdyk said. “Sometimes, you need some reps in a game to develop that sort of thing.”