The Free Press’s Helene St. James weighs in on the Red Wings’ preparations for a daunting 27-game stretch run schedule this morning.
As St. James notes, the Red Wings will embark upon a set of back-to-back games against Minnesota and Anaheim on Saturday and Sunday, and then they head to Minnesota for a rematch on Tuesday the 25th…
Then the Wings host the Blue Jackets on Thursday the 27th, and the Stadium Series beckons on Saturday, March 1st, so Detroit has an incredibly busy schedule over the first week of post-Four Nations Face-Off play.
Andrew Copp told St. James that the Wings want to learn from their 6-3 loss to Tampa Bay on February 8th, and go from there:
“We were playing really good before the break, and in that one game [against Tampa Bay], I don’t think we played bad in totality. But we had some mental mistakes, game management mistakes,” Andrew Copp said. “We’re eager to get that bad feeling out of our system and get going again. Todd’s been barking and trying to make sure we’re paying attention to detail. We’re staying in shifts, kind of long, to make sure that not only are we physically ready but our minds are ready to be at tip-top for games that last three hours.”
The Wings (28-22-5) have climbed into the East’s second wild-card spot on the strength of going 15-5-1 since [Todd] McLellan was named coach Dec. 26. The team talked about identity Wednesday, about togetherness and resiliency and handling adversity.
“That has really improved since Christmas,” [Andrew] Copp said. “I feel like we are really jelling as a team in togetherness, and that will be really important to keep as we head down the stretch here with so many games.”
McLellan boiled it down to a question of: “Who are we? Are we October-to-December or are we December-to-February. Are we a playoff team, are we close to a playoff team, are we a distant — we have to figure all that out. And part of that is the belief system we’ve talked about. Part of that is trying to develop an identity and playing towards it.”
The Wings have distanced themselves so much from October till Christmas (13-17-4) that the better question is whether they can handle a schedule that includes three games against the Carolina Hurricanes, two games at the Washington Capitals, two games against the Vegas Golden Knights and five of the last six games on the road, including two back-to-backs.
“I don’t even want to know if we have the hardest schedule or if we’re flying the most amount of miles in the league,” Seider said. “There are no excuses right now. We have to win, we have to get points, and no matter who we play, I think if we bring our A game, we have a good chance of getting two points.”
Continued; St. James also posted a clip of comments from Copp, Seider and coach McLellan discussing the Stadium Series and the schedule ahead…
Which complements the Red Wings’ clip of Copp and McLellan’s Wednesday remarks…
And here are the Wings’ remaining schedules for March and April:
