The Red Wings will face off against the Tampa Bay Lightning this evening (7 PM EST start on FanDuel SportsNet Detroit/FanDuel SportsNet Sun/97.1 FM).
The Red Wings will be looking to avenge a 5-1 loss last Saturday against a team that sits 6 points ahead of the Wings in the Eastern Conference standings–with Tampa owning a game in hand on Detroit.
Tampa Bay won’t hold a morning skate as the team won a 4-3 decision over the Chicago Blackhawks last night, but the Red Wings hit the ice at Little Caesars Arena just before 10:30 AM for their morning skate:
Optional skate for #RedWings before tonight’s game against Tampa Bay (7, @FanDuelSN_DET). Talbot not practicing and starter’s net empty so he’s starting again. pic.twitter.com/IDqYqtD9Gh
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) January 25, 2025
Lightly attended skate this morning, particularly among the forwards. Petry and Motte are both participating. Kane is not pic.twitter.com/ywTLytT4Ap
— Sam Stockton (@_samstockton) January 25, 2025
Field Level Media also posted a late-breaking preview of tonight’s game, suggesting that the “streaky Wings” need to get on another winning streak to seriously contend for a playoff spot:
The Detroit Red Wings need another long winning streak if they are to make headway in the playoff race.
They had a promising outing on Thursday with a 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens and will try to maintain the positive vibes going when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.
With 49 points, the Red Wings sit four points outside the second wild card in the Eastern Conference but have five teams to leapfrog.
Detroit reeled off a seven-game winning streak shortly after Todd McLellan was named head coach in late December. That was followed by a 1-3-1 stretch heading into the start of a three-game homestand on Thursday.
And the homestand got off to a successful start. The Red Wings scored two first-period goals while outshooting the Canadiens 17-4 in their most recent game.
Montreal recorded back-to-back victories over the Red Wings last month before Derek Lalonde’s dismissal as Detroit’s head coach.
“I liked our start. I thought everybody got into the game,” McLellan said of the Thursday game. “We were aggressive, we looked fast. We challenged the group before the game. Part of the pre-game was the two games they played against Montreal pre-Christmas, and in those games, we looked slowed and a little indecisive. We wanted them to give us a guideline of whether we’ve made progress.”
Also: Here are tonight’s game notes, all 69 pages of them:
