DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings sent a message during Friday’s chippy, physical preseason game with Ottawa that they won’t be pushed around, much to coach Derek Lalonde’s delight.

They had to kill a seven-minute power play when Austin Watson stood up for Moritz Seider, but it was well worth it.

“I like that. I think it energized our guys,” Lalonde said. “Obviously, Mo’s a very important player for us. We don’t want him to get in any of those type of situations. I actually liked it a lot.”

The Red Wings don’t have an enforcer-type, which are rare in the league nowadays anyway. Klim Kostin sort of filled the role last season before being traded at the deadline.

Watson, who’s in camp on a tryout, would be that type of big, physical presence to fight when needed if he earns a contract. He’ll be in the lineup tonight when the Red Wings wrap up the preseason in Toronto (7 p.m., no TV, livestreamed on detroitredwings.com).

“It’s amazing,” Lalonde said. “Just one guy with that mentality helps the group out a ton. Up to that point, Austin was good in his game. He kills (penalties). He had a beautiful Grade-A chance on the back door, five- on-five. He’s done some good things with his play also.”

Watson was ejected at 16:01 of the first period of the 4-3 overtime loss after roughing it up with Jan Jenik. He received 27 penalty minutes (instigator misconduct, aggressor, fighting, instigator minor).

Players liked what they saw.

“You want a guy like that on your team,” Christian Fischer said. “He’s well-respected around the league. He protects his teammates, and he does a really good job at that. He’s made one hell of a career out of it. Mo Seider is an all-star defenseman. He’s not doing those things you shouldn’t. Not only Austin, I think there’s other guys.”

Said Olli Maatta: “It gets us to stick together. I think we did that. I think that’s the toughness you need. It’s not necessarily fighting anymore, but I think that’s a team spirit. Don’t back down and you support your teammates, your partner, your linemates. I think that’s the mindset we’ve had all three years I’ve been here and I think we’re going to keep doing that.”

Early in the third period, Cole Reinhardt took exception to a hit on a teammate from Simon Edvinsson. He tried to pick a fight with the 6-6 rookie, who essentially hauled him to the ice with one arm.

“Preseason, I think it’s good to get those emotions back,” Fischer said. “Starting on Thursday, there’s going to be 82 games of that type of emotion. I think it’s nice to kind of get a little feistiness in the game and show kind of just that fire. We’ve had quite a few spirited matchups with that team and I would assume some more coming.

“Obviously, nobody wants anybody to get hurt, but to get those juices flowing again. And I love our 23 guys vs. anybody else. That was fun to watch yesterday.”

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