The Detroit Red Wings have had nearly a week off to refresh, heal and try to make a playoff push.
They enter the last 31 games of the season trailing Boston by 10 points for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They will begin a three-game homestand Wednesday night, facing the NHL’s No. 1 team, the Colorado Avalanche.
In their most recent outing, the Red Wings recorded a 3-2 shootout victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday. Detroit has won three of its last four games.
“It’s important in this league not to get on a bad stretch, and that’s easier said than done,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “We’ve got a tough stretch ahead of us, still, but it’s important to follow up losses with wins.
“Sometimes, there’s a snowball effect, but you play so much and you’ve lost five straight and you really lose position in the standings. We’ve done a pretty job of (avoiding that) … but we’re going to need to go on a run and find ways to win six or seven in a row. And again, that’s not easy.”
First-line center Dylan Larkin has provided steady production with six goals and eight assists in the last seven games, giving him 52 points on the season (26 goals and 26 assists).
One of his linemates, rookie Lucas Raymond, has recovered from a scoring slump for two goals and two assists in the last four games. Another rookie, defenseman Moritz Seider, has notched a goal and seven assists in the last seven games and leads the team with 30 assists.
“There’s an infusion of talent, so you’re in a better position to compete on a night-to-night basis,” Blashill said.
The next five opponents will provide a series of difficult tests for the Red Wings, as all five are among the top seven in the overall league standings: The Avalanche lead the Central Division. Toronto sits third in the Atlantic Division, Carolina leads the Metropolitan Division, while Florida and Tampa Bay are the top teams in the Atlantic.
“We just keep putting pressure on teams above us by trying to win as many games as we can,” Blashill said. “We don’t have any control of whether other teams win their games, and games in hand are great unless you don’t win them. There are no guarantees.”
Colorado has lost just four times in 2022. One of those losses came on the road against Boston on Monday. The Bruins scored three second-period goals en route to a 5-1 victory.
“They were the quicker, more determined team,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “They’ve been going through a little stretch here, losing three of four at home, missing some top guys … They were a hungry group. It’s exactly what we expected of them, but it wasn’t our most competitive effort.
“Aside from our top line, I just didn’t think we had a lot of guys going that were going to accomplish any O-zone time or scoring chances.”
The Avs will look to complete a four-game trip by avoiding back-to-back losses for the first time since early November.
“It wasn’t our A game — or even our B game,” forward Gabe Landeskog said. “But at the end of the day, sometimes you have bad games or tough games, and I’m not going to blow this out of proportion.”
Colorado won the first meeting 7-3 in Denver on Dec. 10.
–Field Level Media