The Detroit Red Wings will return from their Christmas break with a fresh start and maybe a much-needed boost of energy.
When the Red Wings play the Toronto Maple Leafs at home for the second time in two weeks on Friday, they will have a new head coach after Derek Lalonde and associate coach Bob Boughner were fired on Thursday.
Todd McLellan, who was let go by the Los Angeles Kings last season, will return to an NHL bench as Detroit’s new head coach. McLellan has 16 years of experience coaching in the NHL.
The Red Wings, currently near the bottom of the Eastern Conference, had lost three straight games, including a 4-0 home loss to St. Louis on Monday, which led to boos from the crowd.
“We’ve got to show up to play and we don’t have enough guys doing that right now, myself included,” said team captain Dylan Larkin, asking for better effort before 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 more home games left before the new year, completing a stretch where seven out of eight games are played in their home arena.
“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 were missing two of their best defensemen, Simon Edvinsson and Ben Chiarot, who were out with upper body injuries during the loss to the Blues. On top of that, the Red Wings have struggled with offense, scoring one goal or none in 11 games this season.
Despite these struggles, the Red Wings played one of their better games of the season against the Maple Leafs on Dec. 14, winning 4-2. Jeff Petry scored the game-winning goal early in the third period.
The Maple Leafs also had some trouble before their break after a three-game winning streak. They lost 6-3 to the New York Islanders on Saturday and 5-2 to the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. Toronto allowed three third-period goals to the Jets, all scored by Mark Scheifele.
Toronto is still only two points behind Florida for first place in the Atlantic Division.
“I think the team has played some really good hockey, done a lot of good things,” said Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube. “Made a lot of strides in the right direction and we will again. These last few games, we’ve slipped.”
Having top scorer Auston Matthews back would be a big help, but it’s unclear when that will happen. Matthews has missed the last two games with an upper body injury.
So far this season, Matthews has missed 11 games, and the Leafs have a 7-4 record in those games.
John Tavares scored both of Toronto’s goals on Monday and has five goals and six assists in his last seven games. Mitch Marner has recorded at least one assist in the last six games.
