NHL players and coaches are creatures of habit, and Detroit Red Wings bench boss Derek Lalonde was none too pleased about having to switch things up for Tuesday’s home game against the Seattle Kraken.
Tuesday marked the debut of Frozen Frenzy, the NHL’s answer to NFL RedZone. All 32 teams were in action, with start times for games staggered between 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. ET.
Detroit, which usually hosts games that start at 7:00 p.m. ET, got stuck with an 8:15 p.m. start time and Lalonde was not happy about it.
“Absolutely awful,” Lalonde said, per MLive.com’s Ansar Khan. “And I get it on the big picture. But I don’t know why our fans, who are as loyal as can be, passionate as can be, have to come to the rink for an 8:23 start. My family is not coming. They’ll stay home tonight because of it.
“We play a lot of back-to-backs, some uncomfortable back-to-backs. I don’t mind it. It’s part of the responsibility of being the Detroit Red Wings. We’re a draw, people want to see us. We help the league out with TV and so forth, and this is an example of it.”
Red Wings star and current NHL goals leader Alex DeBrincat was not as upset as his coach, saying his routine wasn’t altered too significantly.
“Maybe just a little longer nap in the middle of the day,” DeBrincat said, per Khan. “Pretty much everything else is the same. It’s just an hour later. It’s not too bad.”
Detroit ended up falling to the Kraken 5-4 in overtime, with Jordan Eberle scoring the winner with five seconds remaining in the extra frame. The Red Wings’ five-game win streak was snapped in the process.
Despite the loss, the Red Wings are still one of the biggest surprises early in the 2023-24 campaign with an impressive 5-1-1 record. Whether their hot play is sustainable is up for debate, though.
