Detroit beat San Jose 4-3 on Friday at Little Caesars Arena, and by Saturday morning the story had already been written: Lucas Raymond broke out of his funk and dragged the Red Wings to a win. That's a nice story. It's also mostly wrong.
Start with where Raymond actually scored. The game was tied after regulation, scoreless through overtime, and decided in the shootout, where Raymond potted the only goal. A shootout is a coin flip with sticks. Burying one is worth two points in the standings and exactly nothing as evidence that a scorer has rediscovered his game. If you want to know whether Raymond is back, watch his next ten even-strength shifts. A single deke in an empty rink with one defender between him and the goalie won't tell you much.
The people who actually got Detroit to that shootout did the real work. Alex DeBrincat tied it with 1:33 left in regulation, with Gibson pulled for an extra skater, one of the hardest goals to score in hockey. That's the swing. Detroit also killed a San Jose power play in overtime, Gibson standing tall on it, just to drag the thing to the skills competition. Without that late equalizer, and without Gibson refusing to crack on that man-advantage in three-on-three, there's no shootout for Raymond to win. Detroit loses in regulation, and nobody's talking about anybody breaking out of anything.
Give Gibson his due. The fans cheering his night have that part right. Battling through a game that didn't go according to plan, then holding the line on an overtime penalty kill, is how a goalie earns a point for a team that didn't play a clean sixty minutes. He was the difference. Raymond closed it out. Different job.
One emotional win in extra time, over an opponent Detroit was expected to handle, after a start that had people nervous, shows a team still searching for consistency. The Red Wings needed a goalie-pulled goal just to avoid losing in regulation, then won the lottery round. The sequence says this team is still finding itself. Treat this as the night the season turned and you're setting yourself up to be furious in two weeks.
Enjoy the two points. They count the same as any other. Just don't let a shootout goal talk you into a story the game didn't tell.
