The Detroit Red Wings needed the points and needed Lucas Raymond to score.
That his goal came in a shootout and won't count as a personal statistic matters less than that one of the top Wings counted on for offense delivered when it mattered most, securing a 4-3 victory and a pair of points that'll help the Wings as they try to climb the standings in the Eastern Conference. Their season is eight games old, and this is the first time the Wings (3-3-2) have won consecutive games.
"We're just trying to stack them together," John Gibson said after making 31 saves against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, Oct. 17. "We know we wanted to finish the homestand on a good note, and nice to put two wins together. I think we've been showing some resiliency.
We've been down, but we haven't been panicking and finding ways to score goals to tie up the game and find ways to win. Hopefully we can build on that and take it to the road."
The Wings are scheduled to fly to Seattle on Monday, Oct. 19, where they'll start a four-game swing that segues through western Canada against the Kraken on Tuesday (9:40 p.m., Detroit SportsNet).
The Wings largely have played well through the first three weeks of the season, but they've also shown why the big concern going into 2026-27 was over scoring. Of the team's 20 goals, Alex DeBrincat has accounted for six of them, including one, the 299th of his career, with 1:33 to spare in regulation against the Sharks. Emmitt Finnie also scored against the Sharks; he and free-agent pickup Viktor Arvidsson are tied for second among Wings with three goals. Justin Faulk, a defenseman, and young Michael Brandsegg-Nygard are next with two apiece.
Raymond still shows up as none through eight games, because shootout statistics do not count as individual ones for players.
"Sometimes with players like in Lucas's situation, they get so focused on the goal – I've got to get a goal," coach Todd McLellan said. "Some of the other things don't go real well for him. I would consider him a goal scorer, an offensive player and say, you know what, just forget about that and do these things well and it'll happen. And, you know, we took a chance. Obviously, he doesn't have a hot stick. We took a chance in [the shootout]. He made good on it.
"Maybe that'll make him feel good and it'll start coming back to him. He's too important of a player for us not to get him going."
Raymond went third, after DeBrincat and Brandsegg-Nygard both came up empty.
"It's a big goal, right?" Raymond said. "We get two points and get out of here with a win before we head on the road. I obviously would have liked to see at least one go in today, but, it's the way it is. I've just got to keep shooting.
"I go out there every night and I want to score. I want to contribute to the team in that way, and obviously when things aren't going your way, you've got to look at things. But I think it's easier now to kind of see it as a big picture. I feel like I'm getting a lot of looks and creating a lot of chances. So as long as I keep doing that, I know it'll go in."
Raymond has 23 shots, second only to DeBrincat's 30. Getting Raymond going is all the more vital as Dylan Larkin has been quiet since contributing a goal and an assist in his first game of the season – one assist since, for three points in six games.
Larkin looks like he's skating better after being sidelined through camp and the first two games by an upper-body injury, but McLellan downplayed the notion Larkin may still be feeling the effects of that injury, saying, "I haven't been told anything from him or the trainers, but his injury prevented him from doing what everybody does right before camp, a month before you really ramp it up and the skates become more intense. He had none of that. So he's he's playing catchup. He simply is."
It's an awkward situation with Larkin, as he hasn't backed down from the request to be traded he made at the end of last season. The Wings haven't had any offers they consider worthy of what Larkin represents as an asset, being that he's the team's top center.
But the fact is, the Wings won't be successful if both Larkin and Raymond don't start to contribute offensively on a regular basis.
"I think I said at the beginning of the year, there's going to be a lot of pressure put on DeBrincat and Raymond in particular, you know, to finish and produce," McLellan said. "Yet we have to do it by committee. We saw that tonight. But it is, it's essential that they find ways to contribute. Cat's done a real good job and hopefully Razor on this trip, we get away from here and he just starts to play a little more free and it flows and he feels better because we need him."
Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com.
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Next up: Kraken
Matchup: Red Wings (3-3-2; 8 points) at Seattle (5-3-1; 11 points).
Faceoff: 9:40 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20; Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle.
TV/radio: Detroit SportsNet; WXYT-FM (97.1).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lucas Raymond 'too important' not to get going for Detroit Red Wings
