NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- There was no mincing of words after Saturday's loss in Carolina by coach Todd McLellan.
The Detroit Red Wings largely weren't that great, and McLellan talked about some of the "empty jerseys" that have been wearing the Wings' threads, working and playing but not necessarily producing results.
That changed Monday in Nashville, as the Wings responded with a 4-2 victory over the Predators.
Even with goaltender John Gibson departing after one period with a "stinger" after taking a shot in the shoulder area, the Wings received goals from unexpected sources, and Cam Talbot relieved Gibson and was formidable stopping 18 of 19 shots.
The Wings remain the only team in the NHL which has not lost two consecutive games in regulation time.
"We've done it all year," said McLellan, of the Wings responding after a defeat. "We've answered the bell when it hasn't gone well for us. I expected the group to put in a real good effort. It doesn't always guarantee you'll win but everybody chipped in."
The Wings are challenging themselves these days, said McLellan, who didn't feel his words after the Carolina game were as much as factor as the pressure the Wings are putting on themselves.
"It's not necessarily me issuing challenges anymore; it's them wanting to do it, which is way more powerful," McLellan said. "I can come in and lay it out to them and yell and scream. But once they accept maybe they didn't perform at their highest of expectations and respond, that's much better than the coaching leading the troops."
The talk around the Red Wings for the last little while has been about so many of their players in long scoring droughts and the lack of secondary scoring.
So, of course, players like Emmitt Finnie (first goal in 23 games) and Albert Johansson (second goal in 61 games, shorthanded goal) ended long droughts and Marco Kasper assisted on both those goals. Lucas Raymond added his 20th goal and Alex DeBrincat added an empty net goal (31st goal) as the Wings moved back into a second-place tie with Buffalo in the Atlantic Division with 76 points.
"I don't think we played real bad in Carolina but we had to clean some things up," Kasper said. "We talked about taking care defensively and we did a good job of that today."
The one uneasy piece of news was Gibson's injury, but McLellan felt the red-hot goaltender should be fine. Gibson was walking around the locker room afterward showing no ill effects from the shot to the shoulder.
"You get those and you don't get the feeling back right away," McLellan said. "He's OK now. He's walking around and we'll get him looked at back home."
Talbot relieved Gibson, gave up a quick goal after a Simon Edvinsson turnover, then shut the door on the Predators.
"The way Talbs came in to pinch-hit was impressive," McLellan said.
Talbot played his first game in a month Saturday in Carolina, and as it transpired, getting that game to knock off the rust helped him against Nashville.
"I haven't played much in the past couple of months so it's nice to string a couple (games) together," Talbot said. "The game in Carolina, I played fairly well but didn’t get the result I wanted. To be able to come in here, after a game like that, is kind of nice.
"It's never easy (to relieve). The 1 p.m. games are even tougher. There's no skate or no nothing, you don't get many shots in warmups. You just kind of go in there and battle and that's all you can do. They got a quick one there on me and I tried to settle down after that one and makes saves for us to get back in it."
Finnie opened the scoring at 4:51 of the first period, his 10th goal. The Wings had a rush up the ice, and Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros made the initial stop on Kasper, but Finnie came charging for the rebound and put back the rebound over Saros.
But Nashville was able to tie the game late in the period on the power play. Filip Forsberg scored his 26th goal, snapping a one-timer from near the top of the circle, beating Gibson at 17:02.
The Predators took an early lead in the second period on Jonathan Marchessault's goal. Edvinsson's pass was intercepted by Ryan O'Reilly, who patiently fed an unguarded Marchessault on basically a two-on-one in front of Talbot, at 7:10, Marchessault's 11th goal.
The Wings rallied to take charge shortly after.
Raymond tied the game 2-2, with his 20th goal. Off an odd-man rush, Andrew Copp fed an outlet pass to DeBrincat, who saw Raymond skating untouched on the opposite wing, Raymond tapping in the pass at 9:48.
Johansson broke the tie, with the Wings shorthanded.
Kasper upended Predators defenseman Roman Josi along the board, Josi expecting a penalty. But none was called, and Kasper gathered the puck and went off on a two-on-one rush with Johansson, deftly finding Johansson, who had a largely vacant net to shoot at for his second goal, at 6:36.
"Good board work by our guys," Talbot said. "They have a potent power play, so the pressure up the wall; it was a great play by Marco on Josi; and Albert jumping in from the back end; great finish; anytime you get a shorthanded goal against a power play like that is huge."
The Wings had to kill a Nashville power play five minutes into the third period, and Talbot made several important stops as the period progressed, maintaining the lead.
DeBrincat's 31st goal with 27 seconds remaining in regulation time finished the scoring.