DETROIT — Derek Lalonde had hardly had a chance to finish dissecting the Detroit Red Wings’ 6-1 drubbing of the St. Louis Blues Saturday afternoon when the page was turned for him by the local media. Next on tap: A game in Chicago bubbling over with nostalgia, merging the jersey retirement of dual-franchise icon Chris Chelios with the United Center return for one Patrick Kane.
“I’m selfishly ecstatic,” Lalonde said, and he won’t be the only one. In what’s been another trying year for the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks, retiring Chelios’ number and welcoming back Kane will be a chance to remember the better days. Meanwhile for the Red Wings, who have now won four straight, it’s a chance to keep piling points as they look to break a seven-year playoff drought — and to keep delighting in the fact that Kane wears their sweater now.
GO DEEPER
‘It’s going to be a fun night’: Patrick Kane prepares for his return to Chicago
In the last three days alone, he’s given them an overtime game-winner against Colorado, a game-opening goal 33 seconds into their blowout of the Blues, and a classic two-on-one assist to fellow former Blackhawk Alex DeBrincat. He’s on a seven-game point streak and is now up to 26 points in 26 games a Red Wing.
And for a player who has proven — both in Chicago and already in Detroit — to have an uncanny feel for the moment, it’s enough to wonder just what he might have in store for what will undoubtedly be an emotional return to the city in which he won three Stanley Cups.
“He’s such a competitor, I think a big-time game,” Lalonde said.
He cautioned that he expects a “really motivated, good Chicago team,” and after watching back their Friday game against an impressive opponent Winnipeg, he felt that was a game the Blackhawks deserved to win, rather than fall in overtime. On a night in which they’ll have every reason to be at their best, they can’t be overlooked.
Even coaching Kane for a short period of time, though, Lalonde has come to understand Kane as the competitor up close.
“I think he thinks he’s 23 again,” Lalonde said. “He wants every O-zone faceoff. I think he was shocked he didn’t play the entire overtime (against Colorado), (I) bypassed him for some other guys, (but) that’s how competitive he is. I think he’ll just perform like he’s done throughout his entire career. What that will look like, I don’t know.”
For Detroit, though, all it really needs to look like is exactly how it’s looked so far. Particularly lately. Kane’s hockey brain is certifiably elite, and he’s used it to carve up defenses even at age 35 and coming off a hip surgery short on precedents for successful NHL returns.
Go figure: he has defied that.
The Kane that has shown up for Detroit has been a difference-maker, scoring or setting up big goals and dangerous chances with regularity. And while a deep team in the middle of a bona fide playoff chase has no doubt helped too, Red Wings players have noticed the extra buzz he brings as well.
“I think our building has got a boost,” Larkin said. “We call it the Kaner effect: you notice that the top of the upper bowl is full every night, and it’s nice to have that.”
Patrick Kane brings an extra buzz to the Red Wings. (Rick Osentoski / USA Today)
That phenomenon, certainly, will extend its reach to Chicago on Sunday. And when Kane returns to the site of some of his most indelible memories, he’ll do with a familiar running mate, too. DeBrincat scored 160 goals in five years as a Blackhawk, many of them courtesy of his uncanny chemistry with Kane. The two have an obvious feel for each other on the ice, seemingly able to anticipate the other’s moves, and certainly a level of trust in each other that doesn’t just happen for any two linemates.
It’s made for an interesting task this season for Lalonde in deciding how much — and when — to play them together.
As soon as Detroit signed Kane midseason, the unshakeable vision was to reunite the two and hope to benefit from the magic that helped DeBrincat become a two-time 40-goal scorer in Chicago.
And that vision has been realized in moments, such as Saturday, or even more notably in the first period of a late-December game against Philadelphia, where their line with Dylan Larkin teamed up for three goals and “could have had six,” Lalonde said.
Lalonde also, however, has observed that the pair together can “play a little loose at times” — making it a matter of “feel” for when to deploy them as a pair.
“It’s a good luxury to go in-and-out of,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s a sustainable line (with Larkin), but that’ll be up to those guys.”
What better time for that feel to land in their favor, though, than now? They certainly appear to be clicking at full potential ahead of their return visit to Chicago, and right in the middle of this playoff chase.
“I think it’s a credit to them that … they’re just having some good habits in their game,” Lalonde said. “They’re not turning pucks over, they’re helping out in the D-zone, they’re getting those rush looks, they’re getting those O-zone touches. Of course, I think there’s a chemistry to what they do. When they do it correctly, too, it can be very effective.”
“Obviously two very, very skilled players (who) play with a lot of creativity,” teammate Lucas Raymond added. Especially Cat with his goal-scoring and Kaner, I think everyone sees what he does. So it’s fun, fun to play with him, fun to be out there with him, and yeah it’s been good for our team.”
DeBrincat finding the back of the net twice Saturday may be as important as any of that. Before Kane found him for a signature one-timer finish to stretch the blowout to 6-1 Saturday, DeBrincat first burned Blues goalie Jordan Binnington by tucking one under the bar on the power play. He’s now up to 21 goals on the season, which is certainly highly productive, and only made more impressive by the number of near misses he’s had too.
“Even my daughter was like, ‘he hits the post every time, Dad,’” Lalonde said. “(I said), ‘Not every time.’ But again, a goal-scorer like that, when he’s getting those looks constantly, is a good sign. Could we be sitting here, with a little more puck luck for him, could be sitting here with 27, 28, 30 goals? Of course. But as long as he’s been consistently getting those looks, for a goal-scorer, I think it’s positive.”
Saturday, those looks went in — twice for him, and once for Kane. And as it all unfolded, it was impossible not to start thinking ahead to what it might look like when the two return to the city where their connection started.
“It’s going to be a fun game for everyone I think,” DeBrincat said. “For Kaner to go back, he’s given them so much to cheer about and so many memories, I’m sure the crowd will be really loud.
“And I’ve heard that place loud a couple times, but I’m sure this might top it all.”
(Top photo of Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat: Dave Reginek / NHLI via Getty Images)
