Todd McLellan points to major difference he's already seeing out of Red Wings
Just 3 games into new Coach Todd McLellan's tenure has resulted in a major shift within the organization, and one particular category has shown massive improvement.
The Detroit Red Wings have now won consecutive games under new head coach Todd McLellan, who was hired just under a week ago after the termination of now-former coach Derek Lalonde and assistant Bob Boughner.
Detroit defeated the former rival Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 at Little Caesars Arena; J.T. Compher broke a 2-2 tie late in the 3rd period with a power play goal, while Dylan Larkin added an empty netter for his 1st goal in 16 games.
And right away, McLellan has noticed a big difference in Detroit's penalty killing, which was at historically poor levels earlier this year.
I think the penalty kill, although we gave one up tonight - we're not ever going to be perfect -- has certainly eliminated some of the volume of chances against at least in the nine periods that we've been here We still have work to do in the D-zone. We can get wandering around and a little bit loose.
But some of the back-checking principles, some of the sort-out stuff we're starting to see happen more regularly and I think the players value that.
Odds are we'll have a day where we give it all back and we just have to start over. That's just how it goes. Florida Panthers did that last year all the time. You'd have a good run and you give it back all at once. You got to start again. Never perfect.
Tomorrow, the Red Wings face the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena (7:00 PM, FanDuel Sports Detroit, 97.1 The Ticket). No indication has been given by McLellan as to which goaltender will start, though it stands to reason Lyon could get the nod after consecutive wins.
POLL |
JANVIER 1 | 193 ANSWERS Todd McLellan points to major difference he's already seeing out of Red Wings Will Todd McLellan turn the season around for the Red Wings? |
Yes | 169 | 87.6 % |
No | 4 | 2.1 % |
Undecided | 20 | 10.4 % |
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