MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the necessity of the Red Wings earning points as the team finds itself amidst a half-dozen-team logjam in the Eastern Conference:
The Red Wings (21-21-5, 47 points) are in danger of falling further behind if they don’t stop their three-game slide (0-2-1) Thursday against Montreal in the start of a key three-game homestand (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network).
The Canadiens (24-19-4, 52 points) are 13-3-1 in their past 17 and sit in the final wild card spot. They swept a home-and-home set from the Red Wings on Dec. 20-21, winning 4-3 at Little Caesars Arena and 5-1 at home. Montreal was last in the league in 2021-22 and now it’s a playoff contender.
“It’s a team that’s around us in the standings,” Lucas Raymond told media following Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime loss at Philadelphia. “They’ve been having a good year. They’re a good team but so are we. It’s home ice for us and it’s about taking care of it. I think everyone’s excited to get out there, get back on the right track and play the way we did previous to this trip for 7-8 games. We know the way we’re supposed to play, so it’s just about getting back to that.”
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Scoring has improved under McLellan, who has given players more rope to be aggressive offensively and has encouraged a shot mentality. They rank 24th at 2.79 goals per game.
But they’re still struggling five-on-five, ranked 30th with 76 goals.
“It’s been better,” Dylan Larkin told media after Tuesday’s game. “We’ve had way more of a shot focus. Shoot it and get it back and play that way. Especially when things aren’t going our way Todd is very vocal about being direct. We haven’t been as much on the outside. Five-on-five is hard in this league. I thought we did a better job tonight of getting around the crease and second and third looks.”
Continued (paywall)
