Red Wings Post-Game: Veleno Has Tying Goal, Memorable Celly

DETROIT —  Patrick Kane rated the Joe Veleno celebration of his game-tying goal as “the second-best celly of the night.”

We can assume Kane rated his celebration of the overtime game-winner as No. 1.

“(Veleno’s) was pretty good, though,” Kane said.  “He had a few pumps in there. I’m not sure what the count was. It might have been over/under three and a half pumps, so I think I’m taking the over on that. But it was a good one. It’s nice to see that emotion too. Right. I think it’s a hard thing to do to score in this league, and when you score, it’s cool when guys get excited.”

The over-the-moon reaction probably had as much to do with the importance of the goal as Veleno’s excitement at being on the score sheet. The tally tied the game 2-2 with 15 minutes left in regulation and it seemed to give the team a lift.

Coach Todd McLellan had just switched Veleno and Marco Kasper on their respective lines with the hope of creating a spark. It happened. Veleno scored on a rebound.

He skated hard to boards made sustained eye contact with a fan. Check it out on the video below.

“Yeah, I was just really excited,” Veleno said. “I knew it was a big goal and I knew we were down and obviously feels good. Like Kaner said, it’s hard to score in this league. Maybe not for him, but maybe for someone obviously that doesn’t score very often. I got a little excited and thought it was a big goal for the team, and I’m glad we can pull that one out in overtime and get the two points.

Joe Veleno ties it up 2-2! 🐙🚨#LGRW #RedWings pic.twitter.com/4UaCLVZDEW

— Hockeytown Rundown (@HockeytownRD) January 8, 2025

Lyon Injured

After holding the Senators in the first period, Detroit goalie Alex Lyon (10 saves) left the game with an upper body injury.

“He felt something between near the end of the first period, came in between periods and met with the training staff and they felt that it would be best that he didn’t continue on,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “He’ll get some tests done, already working on them after the game and have more tomorrow. “

The Red Wings don’t play again until Friday. If Lyon misses any time, the Red Wings will likely call-up Ville Husso from the Grand Rapids Griffins. He owned a .923 save percentage for the Red Wings in his last five appearances before being sent down.

Ice Chips

Dylan Larkin, who scored Detroit’s first goal, extended his goal streak to four consecutive games (5-2-7 in four games). That matches the longest goal streak of his NHL career. Larkin also posted a four-game goal streak from Oct. 30-Nov. 8 (5-1-6 in four games). The Detroit captai leads all Red Wings skaters with nine power play goals this season. Larkin (229-312-541 in 692 GP) is five points away from tying John Ogrodnick (265-281-546 in 558 GP) for 12th place on Detroit’s all-time scoring list…Kane leads all Red Wings skaters with four game-winning goals this season. Kane has scored 11 game-winning goals since Jan. 13, 2024. Only Brayden Point (14) and Leon Draisaitl (13) have more during  that span.