The Free Press’s Helene St. James discusses the Red Wings’ challenging 4-game road trip, which begins with a game against the Florida Panthers this evening (ESPN/97.1 FM):
A bump on the road or a sign of how rough the map still is? That’s the question the Detroit Red Wings next are tasked with answering.
They begin a four-game swing, their longest since Todd McLellan was named coach Dec. 26, by taking on the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Thursday, then it’s on to play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. From there the Wings travel northwest to Dallas to play the Stars on Sunday with a final stop looming Jan. 21 against the Philadelphia Flyers. Of those opponents, the Flyers are the only team the Wings have already played this season.
“This is a huge test,” Andrew Copp said Wednesday. “Four good teams, teams that we haven’t really faced yet this year, teams that are above us in the standings. It’s going to be a really good measuring-stick road trip for us.”
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There’s tons of runway left for the Wings (20-19-4), but their schedule the rest of the way is pretty daunting: Twenty-three of their remaining 39 games are on the road and the road games include a trek to Western Canada and Seattle. Most immediately, this coming trip figures to be a challenge, as the Wings have lost 10 of their last 12 games in Florida, lost 11 straight at Dallas and lost 20 of the last 22 in Philadelphia. (They have won four of the last six in Tampa after dropping 17 straight there).
“It’s always a new challenge for us, but I think we can beat any team in the league,” defenseman Moritz Seider said. “Why not start in Florida with a good start for the road trip, set ourselves up and feel good about ourselves and then go to work in the other cities as well.
“I think (the loss to San Jose) is just a bump in the road and we’ll fix that and get ready for a good road trip.”
Continued (paywall)
