The Daily: McLellan Injects Confidence Into Red Wings; Landeskog Update

New Red Wings coach Todd McLellan set out to fix the team’s offense and defensive coverage. He started that process by rebooting their confidence.

Playing with more faith in themselves, the Red Wings have laid down three consecutive wins by scoring 4.33 goals per game while giving up 2.66 goals per game. The Red Wings are now only four points out of a wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.

“I’m feeling like there’s confidence in the game,” Detroit forward Jonaton Berggren told FanDuel Sports after delivering a game-winning breakaway goal in Detroit’s 5-4 win against Columbus Thursday. “We don’t want to sit back and watch the game. We want to attack and skate a lot. I feel that we’ve done a pretty good job with that. So yeah, just keep going.”

Tim Robinson’s DHN story points out that Berggren’s goal saved the Red Wings from embarrassing loss after McLellan made an ill-advised gamble on a replay appeal.

Berggren has three points in the past two games, including two breakaway goals.

OUT OF THE BOX AND ONTO THE BOARD! 🐙

Jonatan Berggren scores the game-winning goal with 36 seconds remaining! pic.twitter.com/6YdhNKpFSg

— NHL (@NHL) January 3, 2025

“The feeling since Todd took over is a lot of energy, especially at the start,” Berggren said. “Feeling like the games and practices have been really good so far. But we need to keep doing the right things.”

Red Wings In Case You Missed It

Bob Duff writes that the arrival of Todd McLellan allows the Detroit players to play to their strengths, particularly when it comes to creating offense.

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Red Wings Extra

New coach Todd McLellan said he didn’t have a “magic wand” to fix the Detroit Red Wings. But somehow the team owns a three-game winning streak heading into Saturday’s road game against the Winnipeg Jets.  The Jets will provide the Detroit with its first major test: They boast the NHL’s best record (27-11-2) and goal-differential (+45). By contrast, after three wins a row, the Red Wings (16-18-4) are two wins below .500 and their differential is minus-21. The Jets are tied for second in scoring at 3.63 goals per game, while Detroit is 25th at 2.68. It’s as if Detroit starts the game down 1-0.

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