The Detroit Red Wings will return from their Christmas break with a brand new look and perhaps a long-awaited burst of energy.
When the Red Wings face the Toronto Maple Leafs at home for the second time in two weeks on Friday, it will be with a hew head coach after Derek Lalonde and associate coach Bob Boughner were fired Thursday.
Todd McLellan will be back behind an NHL bench, taking over in Detroit after he was dismissed by the Los Angeles Kings last season. McLellan brings with him 16 seasons of NHL head coaching experience.
Second-to-last in the Eastern Conference, the Red Wings saw their losing streak reach three games when they were booed off the ice during a 4-0 home loss to St. Louis on Monday.
“We’ve got to show up to play and we don’t have enough guys doing that right now, myself included,” team captain Dylan Larkin said, in a plea for better play that preceded the coaching change. “We have to be ready to compete and we’re not doing that. I never really think our work ethic is poor. We have a bunch of guys who work hard. But we’re working hard and not accomplishing anything.”
The Red Wings have three games remaining before the new year, all at home to complete a stretch where seven of eight games are played in their own building.
“Reset and get away, get time to spend with your families and try to come back refreshed,” Larkin said. “It’s been difficult to come to the rink and continue to build yourself up and then have games and performances like (Monday). Get away, spend time with your family and when we come back, we have to push before another break (in February).
“It’s a lot of games and we have to get something going. I hope the guys take advantage of the rest.”
The Red Wings didn’t have two of their best defensemen against the Blues when Simon Edvinsson and Ben Chiarot were out with upper body injuries. Then there is the matter of an underachieving offense, with one goal or none in 11 games this season.
The Red Wings played one of their better games of the season against the Maple Leafs on Dec. 14. Jeff Petry scored what proved to be the game winner early in the third period of a 4-2 victory.
Toronto had a couple of stumbles prior to their break following a three-game winning streak. The Maple Leafs lost to the New York Islanders 6-3 on Saturday and the Winnipeg Jets 5-2 on Monday. Toronto gave up three third-period goals against the Jets, all from Mark Scheifele.
Toronto is still just two points behind Florida for first place in the Atlantic Division.
“I think the team overall has played some real good hockey, done a lot of good things,” Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said. “Made a lot of strides in the right direction and we will again. These last few games, we’ve slipped.”
Getting high-scoring forward Auston Matthews back in the lineup would be a boost but it’s uncertain when that will happen. Matthews has missed the last two games due to an upper body injury.
Overall, Matthews hasn’t suited up in 11 games this season, while Toronto has gone 7-4 in those contests.
John Tavares scored both of Toronto’s goals on Monday and has notched five goals and six assists in his last seven games. Mitch Marner has at least one assist in the last six games.
