Red Wings Notebook: Detroit Needs to Find Positive Result Over Last Two Games

Like a seven furlong horse in a one-mile race, the Detroit Red Wings are running out of gas as they hit the stretch drive of the NHL season. Over the past three games, Detroit is 0-2-1. The Red Wings have surrendered 18 goals in those three games. They’ve been outscored 11-2 through the past two contests – a 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins and a 6-1 setback to the Dallas Stars, both on home ice.

No, it hasn’t been pretty. “I think we’re just going through a stretch right now,” was how Detroit coach Derek Lalonde categorized it.

Final.

Next up: @ Carolina tomorrow night. pic.twitter.com/BkHUR3uB91

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) April 11, 2023

With just two games left on the regular-season slate – Tuesday at Carolina and Thursday at Tampa Bay – the Wings need to find something to leave a more satisfying taste in theit collective mouths entering the long offseason.

“We’re sitting on a .500 season,” Lalonde said of his 35-30-10 squad. “Is it the end of the world? Does it really change much if we finish a couple of games under .500? Probably not. Our draft spot will probably stay in a similar spot.

“It’s a little thing, an opportunity to have a .500 season and growth from last year.”

Based on personal history, Detroit forward Andrew Copp remembers a late-season surge that spurred one of his former teams on to great things the following campaign.

“The year I went to the Western Conference final with Winnipeg (2017-18), the year before we didn’t make the playoffs but we won seven in a row to end the year,” Copp recalled. “That momentum was like the standard. This is how we need to play.”

Fabbri Masterton Nominee For Red Wings

Forward Robby Fabbri is the Red Wings player who is being put forth as the club’s nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. The NHL awards the Masterton to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey.

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Fabbri has endured through a trio or reconstructive knee surgeries during his NHL career. He’s been an absentee from the Detroit lineup over the latter part of the season after suffering another injury to his leg.

Current Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman (2003) and Brad Park (1984) are the only Detroit players to win the Masterton.

Ice Chips

Over his last eight games, Red Wings forward David Perron shows 8-3-11 totals and a shooting percentage of 32.0 . . . Captain Dylan Larkin (6-5-11) also has 11 points over Detroit’s past eight games . . . Center Joe Veleno was playing in his 150th NHL game on Monday.