DETROIT - Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde often discusses "performance over outcome" when analyzing his team's recent play. After taking a granular look at the past two road games, those performances may not have told the entire story of the results on the ice.
PREVIEW: Red Wings host Ottawa for annual New Year's Eve game
Detroit looks to avenge 6-3 loss to Senators at Little Caesars Arena on Dec. 17
By
Brett McWethy
DetroitRedWings.com
Against both Pittsburgh and Buffalo, Detroit fell behind in the first period - 4-0 at PPG Paints Arena against the Penguins and 1-0 vs. the Sabres at KeyBank Center.
The Red Wings went on to complete an improbable comeback win in overtime at Pittsburgh, before being outlasted, 6-3, in Buffalo the following night. The early deficits undoubtedly played a role in the final results, but also served as a reminder that a 60-minute NHL game produces ebbs and flows that can be used as teachable moments for a young team.
It's a lesson the Red Wings (15-12-7; 37 points) will look to take into their final game of 2022 - the annual New Year's Eve game at Little Caesars Arena against the Ottawa Senators (16-16-3; 35 points) - on Saturday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on Bally Sports Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit).
Tweet from @DetroitRedWings: Wrapping up 2022 on home ice. 🎆🥳🏒: 7:00 P.M.📺: @BallySportsDET📻: @971theticketxyt🤝: @UWMLife pic.twitter.com/AUgAUfHPFt
"We want to be cautious about both those games in that we out-chanced Pittsburgh in the first period, we out-chanced Buffalo in the first period. Unfortunately there were some egregious mistakes in there that ended up in the back of our net," Lalonde said.
"Do you want to get down in the first period? No, but we also want to judge ourselves on performance over outcome, and our performances in both first periods, not good, not good enough, but I want to be careful on judging it on what the score was."
Detroit and Ottawa will be meeting for the second time in the past three Saturdays. Sandwiched between was a scheduled game at Canadian Tire Centre on Dec. 23 that was postponed and eventually rescheduled for Feb. 27 due to severe winter weather in Ottawa.
Video: Derek Lalonde | Media Availability | 12/30/22
Detroit will look to avenge the 6-3 loss it suffered against the Senators on Dec. 17. Ottawa scored three power play-goals, and added a short-handed goal mid-way through the third period. The Red Wings are 2-1-1 in their last four games since that setback. Ottawa rebounded from a three-game winless streak to post consecutive wins over Boston (Dec. 27) and Washington (Dec. 29), including Thursday's 4-3 victory over the Capitals in overtime.
Ottawa has benefited from five players reaching the 30-point plateau, led by Brady Tkachuk's 37 points on 13 goals and 24 assists. Alex DeBrincat (13-22 - 35) and Drake Batherson (12-22 - 34) have both chipped in with more than 20 assists this season. Cam Talbot has recorded 19 starts in goal for the Senators, while Anton Forsberg has appeared in 17 games.
Walman impressing (and dancing)
In his first full season in Detroit, defenseman Jake Walman has added some welcomed experience to the Red Wings' talented, but young blue line. He's also impressed Lalonde with his recent approach to the game, and limiting the mistakes that may have plagued Walman earlier in his career.
"He can skate, he can compete," Lalonde said. "He's playing with confidence right now, but I think what you saw in Jake, probably what has frustrated people in the past - you'd see these flashes in his game, and then it's getting caught out of position, it's a bad turnover. Things that cost your team game, and he's not doing that. So it's still a process. We hope it's sustainable for him, but he's been great for us."
And yes, Lalonde was fully aware of what exactly Walman's "celly" was - "The Griddy" - when he scored the game-winner in overtime at Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
Tweet from @DetroitRedWings: ���After that 1st period, we knew that wasn���t good enough." pic.twitter.com/HxL8P4IcFW
"I did like the griddy. It's a big moment, it's fun," Lalonde said. "He actually did it earlier in the year, in, I think it was San Jose. But my college teammate, Nate Leaman, was his college coach. And he claims his son taught him (Walman) the griddy. So I got some confirmation that he's been working on that from his college days.
"I knew what it was, I knew very well what it was. I'm not that out of date yet. Close."
