Notebook: DeBrincat Hits 20-goal Mark With ‘Really Bad Puck Luck’

Alex DeBrincat has reached 21 goals for the fourth consecutive season without being the luckiest scorer in the NHL.

“He’s had some really bad puck luck of late,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “Even my daughter was like, ‘He hits the post every time, Dad.’ Not every time but again, a goal scorer like that, when he’s getting those looks constantly, it’s a good sign. With a little more puck luck for him, he could be sitting here with 27-28-30 goals? Of course. But as long as he’s been consistently getting looks, for a goal scorer that’s a positive.”

Before netting a pair of goals and three points in Saturday’s 6-1 win against the St. Louis Blues, DeBrincat managed one goal in his previous nine games.  In January, he went 10 games without a goal.

“Anytime you can put it in the back of the net it’s nice,” DeBrincat said. “Hopefully not be as streaky as this year has gone. Hopefully I can stay a little more consistent.”

The Red Wings’ scoring depth has been a theme this season, but having players like DeBrincat and Patrick Kane in big games has also been a change. This was DeBrincat’s 12th multiple-point game.

Committed to the “D”

This was day to discuss the Red Wings’ scoring depth, but coaches are pleased that the Red Wings stayed committed to improved defensive game. This was the second game in a row Detroit gave up only one goal. During this four-game winning streak, Lalonde’s team has given up only five goals.

“We’ve had a couple of games where we’ve had big leads and we’ve given them up, so it was good to stay focused in this game and hold them to one,” DeBrincat said. “These games you need to stick to the game plan and really stay focused on what the task at hand is.”

Lalonde preached on defense between the first and second period after the Red Wings built a 4-0.

“The message… our offense actually came from checking,” Lalonde said. “We turned some defensive zone stops into odd mans that obviously we finished on. A complete game from the group. We talk about it all the time. You usually get your offense by keeping it out of your net and playing the right way.

Ice Chips

Patrick Kane opened the scoring 33 seconds into the first period, marking the seventh opening-minute goal of his NHL career. The only other U.S.-born players in NHL history with as many are Joe Pavelski (10), Mike Modano (10), Cam Atkinson (8), Bill Guerin (8), Max Pacioretty (7) and Joe Mullen (7). Kane’s goal also marked Detroit’s fastest game-opening goal of the season… Alex Lyon stopped 22-of-23 shots to improve to 17-8-2 with a 2.68 goals-against average, a 0.916 save percentage and two shutouts in 27 appearances to begin his Red Wings tenure. Lyon has allowed one goal in each of his last two starts. He’s clearly the team’s MVP…Today’s win was 19th time in 57 games (33.3%) the Red Wings have scored at least five goals in a game this season. Detroit is 18-0-1 this season when netting five or more goals