The Detroit Red Wings finally pulled off a convincing win. That wouldn’t have happened without one star’s unforgettable game.
Lucas Raymond had a game to remember. He scored at 4:18 in the first period, assisted on William Wallinder’s goal at 6:04, and scored again at 8:56. That’s three points in nine minutes. Per Jonathan Mills of the Red Wings team site:
“Not since Frank Mahovlich on March 16, 1969 (three points in the first 7:09) had a Red Wings skater post three points in the first nine minutes of a contest before Raymond did on Thursday.”
Kevin Woodley of NHL.com also noted:
“Raymond became the first Red Wings skater with three points in a first period on the road since Andreas Athanasiou (three points; one goal, two assists on Jan. 5, 2017).”
Few needed a bigger game than Raymond, who had just one goal on the season coming into the contest. That gave him a meager 3.7 shooting percentage. Ironically, Raymond was shooting the puck often — something he struggled with in previous seasons. Heading into Thursday night’s contest against the Vancouver Canucks, Raymond had 27 shots on goal, or 3.0 per game.
He now has five points and three goals in Detroit’s road trip, which started on Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken. Overall, Raymond has nine points and three goals in 10 games.
Red Wings Star Lucas Raymond Had A Game To Remember
Raymond’s first goal came off a tip-in from Albert Johansson’s shot. The puck got chipped into the offensive zone, then banked into the boards. Michael Brandsegg-Nygard collected it and found Albert Johansson near the blue line. Raymond skated from behind to in front of the net and went unaccounted for. Johansson made the Canucks pay when he got the puck to Raymond.
Raymond then provided the primary assist on William Wallinder’s second career goal. Then, less than two minutes after Elias Pettersson scored for Vancouver, Raymond struck again, this time on the power play.
It started when Dylan Larkin drew in two Canucks players. Larkin passed toward the blue line to Raymond, who relayed to Moritz Seider. Seider did an incredible job drawing the Canucks his way before firing back to Larkin. Larkin found Alex DeBrincat, who shot the puck at the net while Viktor Arvidsson joined in to create chaos. Raymond collected the puck near the right post, then drove it home.
Lucas Raymond Is No Stranger To Slow Scoring Starts
Just one season ago, Raymond scored two goals in his second game on Oct. 11, 2025. He didn’t score again until Halloween. Still, he ended the season with 25 goals. In 2024-25, Raymond had two goals in his first 18 games. He scored 25 more between Nov. 21, 2024, and Apr. 14, 2025, good for 27 on the season.
But this season is different, given the way Raymond has been far more aggressive in shooting the puck. In 2024-25, he landed 192 shots on goal before following that up with 173 shots in 2025-26.
Should the trend continue this season, and if Raymond keeps landing three shots per game on average? Raymond could end up helping the Red Wings in a big way. All while enjoying a few more monster games like the one he had on Thursday night.
Red Wings Star Pulls Off Something Detroit Hasn’t Seen In 57 Years