The Detroit Red Wings took a two-game skid back to their home arena for a one-off vs. the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night and looked completely demoralized. So much that, by the game's 24th minute, the Blues held a 4-0 lead, and the Wings found themselves outscored 15-4 in their past 144 minutes of play.
Then, they turned around and put up six unanswered goals, defeating their former division rival and stunning the NHL universe, let alone their own fanbase. So, the question is: What changed in such a short span?
How did the Red Wings go from a team that did a complete 180 from the 5-1 unit they were to start the year to a group that couldn't seem to stop anyone, and back to that dominant group that scored a touchdown's worth of goals, minus the extra point?
Detroit Red Wings turned things around within minutes in big win vs. the Blues
The short answer? Detroit finally showed a sense of urgency in its play. In the first period, they surrendered 13 shots on goal and generated just four. Once again, they looked sluggish and uninterested in doing their jobs.
That trend continued into the second period until, finally, their defense tightened up and they started taking more shots. Detroit outshot St. Louis 15-8 in that second frame and ended up with three unanswered goals heading into the third.
Detroit finally got the message that nobody was going to create a spark except for the 20 guys who dressed for the game. Head coach Todd McLellan could have given all the speeches he wanted to at this point, but, ultimately, the players on the ice had to be the decision-makers, and it got them out of what, for a second, looked like a prolonged slump.
Red Wings must keep displaying a sense of urgency
We're nine games into the season, and the Red Wings are 6-3. When they're up, man, are they up. But when they're down, it's the exact polar opposite. So far, we've seen both extremes on multiple occasions.
But playing with urgency, as if every shift is the deciding shift, they will enjoy more wins like the one they earned tonight than those demoralizing losses that held them to just four goals in two games against the Buffalo Sabres and New York Islanders.
Now, which version of the Red Wings will decide to show up when they visit the Blues on Tuesday? If the team you saw score six goals in the second half of this contest shows, then look for Detroit to win big.