Following their disappointing 5-1 setback to the Montreal Canadiens last Thursday evening to begin their centennial campaign, the Detroit Red Wings have since rattled off four consecutive victories.
Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that those wins have come against three tough Atlantic Divisional opponents in the Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, and Tampa Bay Lightning.
Sunday afternoon will mark Detroit’s first non-Atlantic opponent, but things won’t get any easier for them considering that Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers are arriving at Little Caesars Arena for what will be their only appearance in the Motor City this season barring a Stanley Cup Final matchup in June.
It may be a daunting task for a Red Wings team with three rookies going up against two of the best players in the world in McDavid and his equally impressive teammate Leon Draisaitl, whom Todd McLellan is already well familiar with from his days as Oilers coach.
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Having already coached McDavid and Draisaitl in his career, McLellan will be sure to inform his current team about the tendencies of Edmonton’s stars that they can exploit, while also stressing that Detroit’s rookies cannot afford to play tentatively against such talented opponents.
“They have some tendencies, but the last thing you wang to do is scare the living daylights out of your younger players,” McLellan said. “They can’t go out there and play tentative and fearful, but both Connor and Leon have tendencies we’ll make our players aware of, and then they’ll have to play and experience it.”
That being said, McLellan also noted that the rookie trio of Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, and Emmitt Finnie have already faced talented competition so far in their young careers.
Red Wings’ Axel Sandin-Pellikka On First NHL Goal: “It’s Unbelievable”
Detroit Red Wings defenseman Axel Sandin-Pellikka netted his first goal in the National Hockey League on Friday evening, a feeling that he still calls “unbelievable”.
“They’ve already gone against (Auston) Matthews, (Nick) Suzuki, (Cole) Caufield, Brayden Point, some of these players are perennial All-Stars and Olympic stars,” he said. “They’ve faced some of these players already. It’ll be a couple others, and they’ll be fine.”
The Red Wings will need all of them at their best on Sunday afternoon after the news was confirmed that Patrick Kane (upper-body) will be unavailable, while the status of Lucas Raymond, who has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury of his own, hasn’t yet been determined.
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