DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings were protecting a one-goal lead in the final three minutes Tuesday when Simon Edvinsson logged a shift that lasted 1:51, most of it against six skaters after the New York Islanders pulled their goaltender.
“He almost played the entire goalie pull and he was excellent,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “Had a couple stands on a couple of their entries, used his reach.
“Two really tough games on the road in which we are protecting a lead late and he’s right in it with big minutes.”
Edvinsson logged a career-high 24:34 in the 1-0 victory. On Saturday, his empty-net goal with 1:17 remaining provided a two-goal cushion in a 5-2 win at Nashville.
Six games into what will be his first full NHL season, Edvinsson, 21, has shown significant growth. Enough for coaches to elevate him to the top pairing with Moritz Seider the past two games and to trust him protecting leads late in games.
“From Day One, you saw the flashes of his ceiling and how high it could be,” Lalonde said. “I think it’s consistency. Even this year, it’s a small sample size, you see a little up and down in his play, but over those two games on the road he played at a very high level.”
With 31 NHL games under his belt, the sixth overall pick in 2021 feels more comfortable.
“I think what I’ve improved on is to -- how should I explain it? -- play how the game goes, kind of,” Edvinsson said. “So (Tuesday), they were very heavy in the press, and they had probably one of their best games, and we were a little bit off. And I feel like I control that pretty good. I know when I can follow up in the offensive zone, and I think that’s what makes me more comfortable out there.”
Seider for the first time in his career is sort of a mentor to his defense partner.
“I think we can read off each other pretty well,” Seider said. “I think still it’s a work in progress. Everyone has a little bit of different tendencies, but what I see from him is he can skate very well. I think if he keeps his legs moving, there’s not a lot of forwards who can handle his speed on our breakouts.
“He’s a long body, makes it very unattractive to make a pass in the O-zone for our opponent. He has great vision and he’s shown that and obviously I think he’s only going to get better.”
Edvinsson said of being paired with Seider: “He’s probably one of the top defenders in the league, and it’s pretty easy to play with him. I feel like we find each other pretty good. I feel like we’re pretty similar in our playing style. We think the same. I think that helps us out there. We just try to be hard to play against, and if we see something, we talk about it on the bench.”
The 6-6 Edvinsson and 6-3 Seider cover a lot of ice with their wingspans.
“I think that’s definitely something we want to take as an advantage,” Seider said. “Stay tight together and then expand quickly if we have to. Don’t get out of position because we’ll cover a lot of ice and eventually, they have to come to us anyway. I think we just got to take it as a big plus for our game that obviously we can be in a lot of different spots on the ice.”
The Red Wings (3-3-0) host the New Jersey Devils (5-3-1) on Thursday (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network).
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