Resilient Red Wings having fun again, and it shows

Patrick Kane and Joe Veleno were smiling and joking about goal celebrations Tuesday in the interview room. It was a stark contrast to the gloomy and grim postgame press conferences the Detroit Red Wings were experiencing not too long ago.

This team is having fun again and suddenly has a new outlook on a season that was spiraling downward two weeks ago. Their 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Kane’s overtime goal was their fifth in a row under new coach Todd McLellan. The Red Wings (18-18-4) are just two points out of the final wild card playoff spot.

“I think a month ago, if you told us we’d be in this position, everyone on the team would have taken it,” Kane said. “So, we’ve done our job the last five games to get ourselves in a good spot and have half a season to keep it going.”

The difference in a team that eight days ago was tied with Buffalo for the fewest points in the Eastern Conference? It’s obvious.

“Obviously, you got to give credit to Todd,” Kane said. “He’s come in and done an incredible job of changing some things, helping us be a little bit more aggressive in our game and obviously up the confidence in the room.”

Confidence translates to resilience.

After Pittsburgh’s Drew O’Connor tied the game early in the third period on Dec. 31, J.T. Compher scored the winning goal with 5:34 remaining. Thursday in Columbus, they killed a penalty due to an unsuccessful coach’s challenge on James van Riemsdyk’s tying goal with 2:41 to play and got the winning goal from Jonatan Berggren with 36 seconds left. Two nights later, they won at league-leading Winnipeg.

On Tuesday, Veleno tied the game five minutes into the third period before Kane’s power-play tally at 2:21 of OT.

“If you lack that quality or it doesn’t exist, you likely aren’t a real good hockey club,” McLellan said of resilience. “If you have it, you have a chance to be one. And from Christmas to this point, I’ve seen a lot of resiliency in the guys. Even in practice when it doesn’t go well, they’re right back after it. Nobody’s pouting. They’re an open book right now. They want to get after it and it’s showing up in the game.”

The enthusiasm shows in their goal celebrations. There’s Kane’s down-on-one-knee fist pump that’s been repeated numerous times during his Hall-of-Fame career. Veleno similarly went down on one knee and pumped his fist multiple times.

“I think it was the second-best celly of the night,” Kane said of Veleno’s reaction. “It was pretty good, though. He had a few pumps in there. I’m not sure what the count was. It might have been over/under 3½ pumps, so I think I’m taking the over. It’s nice to see that emotion. I think it’s a hard thing to score in this league, and when you score, it’s cool when guys get excited.”

Veleno skated to the glass and celebrated with a fan.

“I was just really excited,” Veleno said. “I knew it was a big goal, and I knew we were down and obviously feels good. Like Kaner said, it’s hard to score in this league. Maybe not for him, but maybe for someone that doesn’t score very often.”