Detroit Red Wings
Red Wings Pack Some Confidence For Six-Game Road Trip
DETROIT — The Red Wings will board a plane Wednesday much happier than they could have been. Their four-game losing streak is over. They scored five goals in a game for the first time in almost three weeks. The Red Wings are in third place in the Atlantic Division.
As maddingly inconsistent as this team has been, Detroit’s 5-4 win against the Boston Bruins means there are 17 teams below them in the NHL standings.
“It’s always better to get on a plane tomorrow with three of our last four points against a rival, so we’ll take that,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “I think we still have work to do as a team, and maybe getting out on the road will be something good for us.”
The six-game road trip starts Thursday in Columbus, and then the Red Wings head to Seattle for a game Friday, and then Vancouver Monday and then Calgary a week from now. That will be followed by games in Edmonton and Chicago.
This road trip could be their most important road trip of the season.
After beating Boston Tuesday night, Detroit is 15th in the NHL overall standings and none of their opponents on this road trip are ahead of them in the overall standings.
The Red Wings will play these six games over nine days, and when they return from Detroit they will have completed 40% of the NHL schedule. If they want to end this nine-year playoff drought, they probably need to come home in a playoff spot.
Need Better Road Record
“For the most part we’ve been good at home,” Detroit forward Alex DeBrincat said. “A couple of duds, but overall, we’ve been pretty good. We got to keep that up and obviously have that good road mentality for these next six games and come out strong there as well.”
The Red Wings are 5-5-1 on the road this season, and a .500 points percentage on the road is not going to get them to the postseason.
Team bonding on the road, working out struggles and coming home with a fresh outlook, has lone been an NHL tradition. That obviously needs to the Red Wings’ objective. They have struggled to find any measure of consistency. Their game management has been poor, even late in Tuesday’s win the Red Wings made mistakes that made the game closer than it should have been.
“Been almost a month since we’ve actually really been gone,” McLellan said. “So this one’s going to be a long one. It won’t be an easy one, but I’m looking forward to it. Be a good challenge for our players.”
Rasmussen Hurt
The Red Wings are going on the trip relatively healthy. Mason Appleton is day-to-day. Michael Rasmussen was limited to 9:22 in the win by an injury suffered against Boston Tuesday.
“Ras got a double hit,” McLellan said. “I think a couple of heavy players. He was examined. He just didn’t have strength to come back. Nothing’s damaged or anything like that. So we’ll see how he is in the morning.”
Stick a fork in them; they are done for the season. I feel for Dylan Larkin. The GM does nothing each season for his captain. Sadly, Steve Yzerman may need to be replaced. Clean out the Pro Scouting. Starting picking draft picks that are hard to play against and want to score.
I think MBN, Buchelnikov, and Kiiskinen will be fine. But something is amiss with Marco Kasper. Nate Danielson does not really hit or forecheck and really needs to shoot the puck a lot on net. Last night against Boston was 5SOG, but that is not his habit. The coaching staff needs to develop that in him.
Trade and get rid of Ras, Copp, and Compher. Send Gibson to the minors next season. Stop the re-treads like JVR.
The coach needs to end his dump and chase hockey, which is obviously not working. Personally, they need to tear it down. I like Larkin, but trade him to tank to the bottom. The guy deserves much better than what Yzerman has done for him, which is nothing.
Copy pasta
If you need to score 5 to win, you’re in big trouble. Gibson needs a trip to GR.
Exactly.
Why is Austin Watson left in Grand Rapids when the Wings need an enforcer who also can lead in hits and score goals by his net front presence? Other teams are targeting Raymond and Larkin with cheap shots and trying to draw our top defensemen into fights. How long before the guys who drive the bus are removed by injury?
Who is responsible for keeping Hamonic and Gibson in the lineup when they consistently help to lose games?
Why are defenseman with size and capability left in Grand Rapids, while the Wings play two undersized defensemen who can be pushed around?
Why is the leading scorer in AHL and the goalie of the week not brought up to the Wings for a tryout?
WHO is responsible for pro scouting and handing out bloated contracts with restricted trade clauses to injury prone, lazy, burned out, free agents who have retired in Detroit?
You know why. The Yzerplan. 2-4 will be a successful trip.
You make a good point. The answer to all of your questions is YZERMAN
Also, why has Marco Kasper not been benched or sent to GR.? The guy is absolutely producing nothing. Almost a third of the season gone he plays every game and he doesn’t even have one assist. He’s not going to the net or winning puck battles, and always seems to be on the outside of plays.