DETROIT – The Red Wings would be delighted if their defense could shut teams down on a consistent basis. But sometimes they need an offensive lift from the blue line.
They got it in Saturday’s 4-3 overtime victory over Columbus, when defensemen Ben Chiarot and Moritz Seider scored in the third period to tie it before Alex DeBrincat scored in OT.
The Red Wings are top-heavy offensively. Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond and DeBrincat have combined for 29 of their 61 goals. No one else has more than five.
They need secondary scoring, even if it comes from the defense.
“It takes so much pressure off of three or four other players,” coach Todd McLellan said. “They’ve had real good seasons to this point. They’re doing what they need to do offensively, but they can’t just be the only ones. Our blue line isn’t the high-scoring group, but they got it done tonight.”
The Red Wings were tied for ninth in goals by defensemen with 10 heading into Sunday’s games. Their defense ranked 23rd in points per game at 1.63, which is what they averaged through 82 games last season.
Seider leads Detroit’s defense with 14 points. The club expects that rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka (two goals, six points) will be more productive offensively with experience.
“We like when the D are shooting it in and getting it by,” DeBrincat said. “When they get a chance and they can bear down and put it in the net, it’s great for us. We need everyone to win games, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Cam Talbot, who improved to 9-2-0, said: “Once you’re down by two in the third period, you kind of have to take a few more chances. We’ve got D that can skate. Anytime you can activate your D … (the Blue Jackets) do a heck of a job with that – (Zach) Werenski, (Ivan) Provorov — and it gives a lot of teams problems. Our guys did that to them to get us back in the game.”
Gustafsson recalled
The Red Wings on Sunday recalled defenseman Erik Gustafsson from the Grand Rapids Griffins. Simon Edvinsson missed Saturday’s game due to an illness and the Red Wings needed a seventh defenseman to travel to New Jersey for Monday’s game (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network Extra) in case someone else is injured or ill.
Elmer Soderblom was placed on injured reserve retroactive to Nov. 9 to make room for Gustafsson on the 23-man roster.
Gustafsson, who along with Justin Holl was waived and assigned to Grand Rapids at the start of the season, has no goals and eight assists with the Griffins.
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