Lucas Raymond heats up as Red Wings edge Wild
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DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings, with a depleted lineup, desperately needed someone to raise their game to a higher level.
Lucas Raymond did just that, scoring his first two goals of the season Saturday in a 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild at Little Caesars Arena.
The Red Wings (4-2-1) tightened up defensively and stopped a two-game slide during which they allowed 11 goals. Ville Husso, starting consecutive games, made 30 saves. Dylan Larkin assisted on both goals.
Raymond, coming off a 23-goal, 57-point rookie season, had been struggling with just two assists in his first seven games.
Raymond gave his team a 2-1 lead by scoring on the power play with 4.5 seconds remaining in the second period. He jammed the puck in from the side of the net.
The Red Wings made that one-goal lead stand through the third period despite some early pressure from the Wild and an extended six-on-five after goaltender Filip Gustavsson was pulled for the extra skater with two minutes remaining.
Detroit snapped a five-game losing streak to the Wild with its first win against Minnesota since Jan. 12, 2019. The Wild fell to 3-4-1.
Raymond tied it at 1-1 at 16:51 of the first, snapping in a shot from the slot area after a nice set-up from Adam Erne. Erne, off to a good start this season, was bumped up to the top line with Larkin and Raymond for this game.
The Wild opened the scoring at 1:28 of the first when Kirill Kaprizov scored on a two-on-one break. Moritz Seider was caught up ice, leaving only Ben Chiarot back.
It was the first of two games the Red Wings will play without center Michael Rasmussen, who the NHL suspended on Friday for high-sticking Boston’s David Krejci the night before.
Rasmussen joined a lengthy list of missing forwards: Tyler Bertuzzi (broken hand), Jakub Vrana (NHL/NHLPA player assistance program), Oskar Sundqvist (upper-body injury) and Robby Fabbri (ACL surgery).
