The Detroit Red Wings finally won. Here's what made the difference

SUNRISE, Fla. — The Detroit Red Wings heard the message, responded, and reaped relief. 

Their 4-3 victory in overtime Saturday at BB&T Center was their first in eight games, capping an 0-5-2 start to the season. It looked like the streak might continue as the Florida Panthers took a 2-0 lead in the first period, and tied the game 1:16 left in regulation. But the Wings showed fortitude, and fought to grab two points.

It was in stark contrast to the previous Saturday, which saw them routed at Boston. The Wings lost 8-2 to the Bruins and then 7-3 at Montreal, but they played well Thursday at Tampa Bay and were rewarded for their resilience at Florida.

“Some music in the locker room after the game and some smiles,” Dylan Larkin said. “Two biggest things — we didn’t get rattled. They went up two early, and the Red Wings a week ago would have drooped down on the bench and the energy would have been terrible on our bench. It wasn’t like that. We battled. Power play came up huge. 

“It was good to see us gut one out.”

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The Wings came into the season hearing about a need for a short memory from coach Jeff Blashill, hearing about the need to have a next-shift mentality.

If a goaltender gives up a bad goal, forget it, make the next save.

If the opponent scores, forget it, focus on making the next shift a great shift. 

“That’s a message we’ve been trying to send,” Thomas Vanek said. “When you lose three, four in a row, you become fragile. It’s hard to stop that. So the message is let’s just play — Blash’s message is shift-by-shift. It’s cliche, but that’s kind of what it has to come down to — I thought we played well and you look up and it’s 2-0, we’re down again. We can’t have that mentality of here we go again, so let’s keep playing. The power play got us back into the game, and the penalty kill gave us a chance to win the game.

“It’s been a tough stretch. Hopefully this boosts our energy, our confidence, and we can go from here.”

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Vanek scored on a power play 18 seconds after Dennis Cholowski had scored during a 5-on-3 to make it a 2-2 game in the second period. Larkin made it 3-2, and Gustav Nyquist scored in overtime. It’s one step, but it’s a leap from how the team looked in Boston and Montreal.

“It seemed we were vulnerable there for a couple games but overall, I think we’ve shown that we can still play,” Nyquist said. 

The Wings took six penalties after taking the lead, but it was the response to the 2-0 deficit that stood out.

“For a team that’s fragile, we did a good job digging in, got the two power-play goals and had a lot of momentum,” Blashill said. “We took away our momentum with the too-many-men call but our penalty kill and power play ended up winning us the game.”

The game was the first time the Wings had four veterans on the back end — Jonathan Ericsson made his season debut, a game after Trevor Daley returned from injury. 

“Getting them back was huge,” Larkin said. 

So was sticking to their game plan.

“No matter what happens, line up and play our game and get on the forecheck,” Larkin said. “It’s been a common theme in a lot of Blash’s meetings. It’s been a frustrating start, so it was good to keep hearing it the past week or so.”

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.

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