Photo by William Duggan on Unsplash
The frayed wisps of thread that are the Red Wings’ postseason hopes are on the line again tonight, as Detroit hosts the Carolina Hurricanes at 7 p.m. at Little Caesars Arena.
I’ve been somewhere between optimistic and realistic about the Red Wings’ playoff chances in my game day posts over the last month or so. As devastating as many of the losses have felt, the math had been more or less staying the same — everyone around Detroit was losing, too, so it wasn’t really hurting their odds as much as the vibes made it seem.
Well, that’s no longer the case. Although Detroit has taken three of their last four points, the Ottawa Senators are now virtually uncatchable, the Montreal Canadiens have rattled off three-straight wins, and the New York Rangers have won two in a row. We’re now in a position where winning out would still require significant help, and with the strength of the remaining schedule, that’s a bit more than a steep hill to climb. Detroit is six points out of the second wild card, with one game in hand and two teams in the queue they’d need to jump.
It’s certainly a missed opportunity. Detroit’s 4-11-1 record since Feb. 27 is second-worst in the league — behind only Boston, who look like a team that has completely given up. Even an extra two or three wins during this dark stretch would have proved to be season-altering. If they’d played anywhere close to the way they did when Todd McLellan first came on board, our standings-watching today would be geared toward first-round matchups and not the miracle math needed right now to get in — or even lottery odds for the true sickos who aren’t tired of getting their hearts broken by bingo balls.
But I’ll still take the optimistic track. I’d like to see the Red Wings continue to play like something is on the line. I’ll still go down swinging that the improved play of Marco Kasper, Simon Edvinsson, Albert Johansson, and other young players, is far more important than whether or not some of our veteran free agents are living up to their contracts. These are better days than we saw 2-3 years ago, and I’m still confident that even brighter moments are ahead.
As far as tonight goes, the Red Wings sent down both Austin Watson and Dominik Shine, which is a big boost to a floundering Griffins team that still clinched a playoff berth last week, courtesy of their strong first-half, and also an indication that Elmer Soderblom is ready to return to the lineup. For the visiting club, Carolina is 8-2-0 in their last 10 but will be without Andrei Svechnikov and Jordan Staal. Prospect Justin Robidas (son of former NHL defenseman Stephane Robidas) will make his NHL debut, and rookie Scott Morrow will also draw back in on the blueline.
How to Watch
Time: 7:00 p.m. EDT
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Detroit
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Red Wings Projected Lineup DeBrincat – Larkin – KaneSoderblom – Kasper – RaymondRasmussen – Compher – TarasenkoBerggren – Motte – SmithChiarot – SeiderEdvinsson – PetryJohansson – HollTalbotLyon
Hurricanes Projected Lineup
Jarvis – Aho – BlakeHall – Roslovic – RobinsonMartinook – Kotkaniemi – StankovenJost – Jankowski – RobidasSlavin – BurnsWalker – ChatfieldGostisbehere – MorrowKochetkovAndersen
