Could Finish to Season Finish Off Red Wings?

Much has been made about the schedule that lay ahead for the Detroit Red Wings. According to Tankathon.com, it’s the toughest slate that any NHL team will be facing down the stretch. Detroit’s remaining opponents own a collective .587 winning percentage.

“I don’t even want to know if we’re having the hardest schedule or if we’re flying the most amount of miles in the league,” Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider said. “It’s just there are no excuses right now. We gotta get points, we gotta win.”

That’s commendable and it’s definitely the right and best approach for the team to be taking. That being said, the fact of the matter is that it’s the end of the regular season that might ultimately prove to be the undoing of the Red Wings.

Breaking in some new gear today 👀#StadiumSeries | #LGRW pic.twitter.com/4dPh0r2vs2

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 18, 2025

Detroit’s final five regular-season games include four road games – a pair of back to to backs – sandwiched around a home date against the Dallas Stars. The Red Wings have lost eight in a row and 11 of the last 12 games in which they’ve faced the Stars.

As for the road games, Detroit goes to Florida (April 10) and Tampa Bay (April 11). The Wings finish up with games at New Jersey (April 16) and Toronto (April 17).

They’ve lost seven of their last nine visits to face the reigning Stanley Cup champion Panthers. They’ve also lost 20 of the last 24 trips to meet the Lightning on the road.

Detroit is riding a two-game losing streak at New Jersey. In Toronto, the Wings do show three wins in their last four visits, but just four victories in the last 14 road games facing the Maple Leafs.

Red Wings Believe They Can Beat Any Team

Quite correctly, the Red Wings point out that since Todd McLellan took over as coach, they’ve slayed some mighty dragons. The Red Wings won against all four current division leaders. There was a home victory over Washington (Metropolitan) and road triumphs at Edmonton (Pacific), Winnipeg (Central) and Florida (Atlantic).

“I think that the way we look at it is we’ve been two different teams so far,” Detroit forward Andrew Copp said. “One before Christmas and one after Christmas, and the one after Christmas has played really good and beaten a lot of top teams in the league.

How 'bout them #RedWings? pic.twitter.com/vDBa7mVz5L

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 6, 2025

“Going to Winnipeg, you win that. Going to Edmonton, win that. Washington, we beat at home. So those are three of the top teams in the league that we beat.”

Detroit’s mettle has been tested and it’s shown no signs of fatigue. It will be tested again over the final 27 games of the season, and certainly down that final five-game stretch.

“I don’t think we’re afraid of the schedule by any means,” Copp said.