money Lucas Raymond's big night lifts Detroit Red Wings to 2-1 win over Minnesota Wild
Lucas Raymond put on a show to break out of an early-season slump.
The second-year forward's dominant performance Saturday at Little Caesars Arena against the Minnesota Wild yielded two goals for the Detroit Red Wings and a 2-1 victory that snapped a two-game losing skid.
For the first time since the season began, Derek Lalonde didn't rotate his goaltenders, with Ville Husso starting for a second straight time. The Wild took it to the Wings early, and Husso responded with a good performance after giving up an early goal.
Patching the lineup
With Michael Rasmussen suspended through Monday's game for high-sticking Boston's David Krejci, and Oskar Sundqvist (upper body) also unavailable, the Wings called up Givani Smith. The 24-year-old spent all of last season with the Wings, logging seven points in 108 penalty minutes in 46 games. The Wings were high enough on Smith, a second-round pick in 2016, to protect him in the 2021 draft, but he's been bypassed on the depth chart by, for one, Elmer Söderblom. Smith went unclaimed on waivers before the season began. Smith skated on a line with Söderblom and Pius Suter. The top two lines had Dylan Larkin with Adam Erne and Lucas Raymond, and Andrew Copp with Dominik Kubalik and David Perron.
Timely goal
With top-six wingers Tyler Bertuzzi (upper body) and Jakub Vrana (players assistance program) unavailable, the Wings were hurting for production from the likes of Raymond, Copp and Filip Zadina. Raymond came through late in the first period. He'd had an earlier chance go wide, but with five minutes left, Erne played the puck to Raymond in the right circle, and he shot the puck bar down behind Filip Gustavsson to make it 1-1. Kirill Kaprizov had put the Wild up 1:28 into the game, taking advantage of sloppy defense to earn some early momentum.
Really timely goal
Raymond's good night paid off with another goal. The Wings went on their second power play at 18:51 when Söderblom drew a penalty on Matt Dumba. Raymond was at the net to finish a play, stuffing the puck for his second of the game with 4.5 seconds left in the second period. That was Raymond's seventh shot on net. Kubalik, who had had a five-game point streak snapped in Boston, assisted to pick up his 11th point in eight games. So did Larkin; it was his second helper of the night and 10th point in eight games.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lucas Raymond's big night lifts Detroit Red Wings to 2-1 win over Wild
