The Detroit Red Wings are hot, sweeping the Washington Capitals in a home-and-home in which they had no choice but to snag a couple of much-needed wins. Detroit may be pacing the Atlantic by two points, but the second-place Montreal Canadiens and third-place Boston Bruins have one and two games in hand, respectively.

Such a tight race alone is forcing the Wings to bring their A-Game no matter when and where they’re playing, and they’re responding well. That urgency came to life on Sunday, when the Caps outshot them 14 to 5 in the first period and 10 to 4 in the third.

Still, the Wings did enough in their red-hot second period to force the Caps to chase them in the final frame. After going down 1-0 to end the first period, Lucas Raymond got the Wings on the board at the 8:37 mark of the second with a power-play goal while the surging Axel-Sandin Pellikka and Emmitt Finnie chipped in with assists.

Just over five minutes later, John Leonard deflected a shot off his leg from Alex DeBrincat into the net to give the Wings a 2-1 lead. Andrew Copp also pitched in with a secondary assist. While that lead didn’t hold thanks to Ethen Frank tying the game at two halfway through the third period, the Wings still held on to force overtime.

That’s when Detroit again found a sense of urgency and put up six shots in the five-minute frame, with Moritz Seider scoring the game-winner and his sixth goal of the year with helpers from Copp and Finnie, once again making his case that he should be right in there for Norris Trophy contention. 

Moritz Seider isn’t the only player on the Detroit Red Wings making a case here

Can you be more pleased with John Leonard? Leonard, who looked like a serviceable stopgap for Patrick Kane and nothing else, has three points and two goals since coming up from the Grand Rapids Griffins.

Right now, the Wings need depth scorers, so why not keep Leonard around once Kane’s healthy enough to return? For a guy whose last significant stretch in the NHL came with the San Jose Sharks in 2020-21 when he appeared in 44 games, Leonard has done all the right things in making a serious case to stick around Hockeytown.

It’s worth noting that Leonard never averaged over 11:32 of ice time in his career before getting another shot in the NHL with the Red Wings. And for any fringe organizational depth player throughout the league, they need to be taking notes, because Leonard is putting on a clinic on how to take full advantage of a rare opportunity.

More Red Wings news

In early December, Todd McLellan all but dismissed the idea of home-ice advantage. At the time, the Wings were a 0.500 team at best on the road. Whether they heard what McLellan had to say about the issue or not is up for debate, but they nevertheless responded well. Their most recent road win on Saturday put them at 5-1-1 in opposing teams’ arenas this month.

On Sunday, Max Smith wrote a midseason check-in piece on Emmitt Finnie and how well he has played this season. Not sure if Finnie read the take and if it gave him more momentum, but his two assists on Sunday proved to be a difference maker. Finnie now has 18 points, eight goals, and a plus-3 in 37 contests, busting myths that seventh-round picks from two seasons ago can’t play in the NHL.

Finnie and the Red Wings must keep their momentum brewing, as they have one more game before their three-day break, a showdown at home on Dec. 23 vs. the Dallas Stars. Should the Wings win that one, then there’s hardly an opponent they can’t beat.