DETROIT – They practiced long and hard Sunday, the morning after what likely will be the season’s most alarming game, for reasons good and bad.
The Detroit Red Wings tried to flush out the elements that caused them to fall behind by four goals after 23 minutes and stress the habits that allowed them to storm back with six unanswered goals in a 6-4 victory over St. Louis.
Todd McLellan might have been as loud and as animated as he was during his first practice as head coach in late December.
“We gave them kudos for sticking with it and recovering and finding a way,” McLellan said. “But we also held them accountable for the start, and we really tried to zero in on a few of the things we thought we were making errors on over and over again.”
McLellan said coaches “have to drill it into them” but also credited players for showing intensity, particularly in battles below the goal line.
“They’re a team, they’re brothers, but there’s still some battles that go on and guys get (ticked) off at each other,” McLellan said. “That’s OK. That’s a healthy thing in practice, and that’s where competitiveness will come from. If we just skate through it like church mice, we’re not going to get any better. So, we slowed things down a little today, but the intensity went up.”
Communicating better on the ice was a focus. Andrew Copp said there was a lot of teaching.
“Talk was a big point, especially on those tracks,” Copp said. “Each track is different in some capacity. You have your rules, but there still needs to be some direction on who’s going where and where the squeeze is and all that. I think the talk helps everyone and it kind of breeds a little bit of confidence of ‘I know that this is where I’m supposed to be going.’ ”
Said Moritz Seider: “The more we talk, the easier the game will be. Good thing is we got some work done today.”
They will practice again Monday before leaving for St. Louis for the start of a five-game trip on Tuesday (8:15 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network).
“I think all our practices are pretty fast-paced,” Copp said. “I think that they do a good job of not letting us get complacent in practice whatsoever. But I think with the specific part of the game that we are working on and how we’ve been struggling in that aspect, you got to be physically intense. There’s not going to be a whole lot of hitting, but you got to be really mentally focused and make sure that we’re getting these reps in and getting them in a way that’s going to translate to the game.”
The Red Wings had five-plus bad periods in a row in which they allowed two or more goals and were outscored 13-2 before their second-half rally Saturday.
“Obviously, we got to clean a lot of that up, and you saw some of that work today,” Copp said. “But at the end of the day, us sticking together, us handling adversity, having the confidence to come back in any game, I think that’s going to pay dividends down the road.”
Kane update
McLellan said Patrick Kane (upper-body injury) won’t accompany the team to St. Louis, but they hope he will join them at some point during the trip. He’s missed four games.
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