Author: George Malik

The Red Wings hosted the Minnesota Wild in the back half of a back-to-back slate of games, hoping to rebound from an embarrassing loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday. With 6 games remaining in the 2025-2026 campaign, Detroit needed to all but “win out” their remaining games and receive some help on the out-of-town scoreboard in order to make one final, desperate push for a playoff spot.

On Sunday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena…

What a mess. Detroit got a goal from Albert Johansson only 1:40 into the 1st, but the Wild got goals from Boldy and Kaprizov by 1:25 into the 2nd period to take a 2-1 lead, Tarasenko scored a 3-1 goal at 7:03, and Kaprizov scored his 2nd at 12:32 to make it 4-1…

But Detroit rallied on goals by Axel Sandin Pellikka at 7:18 of the 3rd, J.T. Compher at 11:14 of the 3rd, and Patrick Kane at 14:36…

But Kane took an undisciplined penalty, and Kaprizov scored on the ensuing power play to put the game out of reach as Minnesota won 5-4.

PREGAME: Cam Talbot and Filip Gustavsson led their respective teams out onto the ice…

The Detroit Red Wings entered Saturday’s game against the New York Rangers in a 4-way tie for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, which the Ottawa Senators owned due to a regulation wins tiebreaker:

As such, both Saturday’s 12:30 PM matinee in New York, and Sunday’s 1 PM home matinee against Minnesota, stood as very close to must-win games.

On Saturday afternoon at Madison Square Garden, the Red Wings absolutely squandered a golden opportunity, falling on their faces en route to a 4-1 loss to the Rangers. Gabe Perreault scored a natural hat trick, David Perron broke Jonathan Quick’s shutout with only 33 seconds remaining in regulation time, and the Red Wings just…

They fell on their faces, frankly. Gibson was good but got little help, Dylan Larkin, injuries and all, was the Wings’ best player by far, and Detroit played intimidated.

It was really ugly, and now the Wings have to regroup and play Minnesota tomorrow at 1 PM on TNT.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Jonathan Quick led their respective teams out onto the ice…

The Detroit Red Wings needed to make their own hay over the course of their final 8 games of the 2025-2026 regular season, and that began with the second of three showdowns with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Philadelphia entered Thursday night’s game with a 37-25-and-12 record for 86 points, and Detroit stood at 39-27-and-8 for 86 points, tied as both teams chased Wild Card spots–and tied with the Ottawa Senators, who also possessed 86 points heading into Thursday’s games.

But the Wings don’t play the Sens again, so stonight and next Thursday’s games vs. Philadelphia = “must-win” games for Detroit.

On Thursday Night at XFinity Mobile Arena, the Red Wings scratched, clawed and battled their way out to a 4-2 victory that was heartening and a huge relief after the Wings’ egg-laying vs. Pittsburgh on Tuesday.

Ultimately, Detroit won 4-2 thanks to a pair of goals by Alex DeBrincat, a Lucas Raymond marker and a goal from Patrick Kane that gave Kane the all-time American scorer’s record…

And John Gibson was fantastic after playing bad in Pittsburgh, stopping 32 of 34 shots.

See below for more!

PREGAME: John Gibson and Samuel Ersson led their respective teams out onto the ice…

The Detroit Red Wings hoped to build upon Friday night’s win over Buffalo as the Wings hosted the plucky Philadelphia Flyers, with whom the Red Wings will play 3 times over the final 4 weeks of the regular season.

On Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings displayed both sides of a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality that has caused them so much trouble this season.

John Gibson had a rare “off game” in surrendering 4 goals on 22 shots against, and Philadelphia built up a 4-0 lead over the course of the game’s first 53 minutes…

But Mason Appleton, Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond scored goals just under 3 minutes apart (in total), giving Detroit a 4-3 deficit…

With the Wings seeing Flyers captain Sean Couturier salting away a 5-3 result with an empty-netter with 2:04 remaining in regulation time.

Had the Wings started on time, or gotten better goaltending, or better defense…

You can make up a lot of, “What if’s?” about this one, but the truth is that the game was lost, and that makes the Wings’ climb back toward a playoff spot much harder.

Detroit will have two more chances to make the Flyers feel the sting of loss, starting on Thursday in Philly.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Dan Vladar led their respective teams out onto the ice…

The Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins entered Saturday night’s game with identical 38-23-and-8 records, though the Bruins had 2 more regulation wins than Detroit. As such, Saturday night’s affair pretty much defined a “four-point game” in terms of the stakes thereof.

On Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings had 1-0 and 2-1 leads, but a couple of bad goals against John Gibson and a spectacular performance by Jeremy Swayman–who stopped 41 shots–yielded a 4-2 defeat, empty-net goal for Boston included.

I wouldn’t totally pin this one on Gibson, who was spectacular at times, stopping 22 of 25 and stopping a Lukas Reichel penalty shot late in the 3rd period…

But the Wings had too many chances to score, and did not finish against a hot goalie.

Them’s the breaks. Now it gets harder from here.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Jeremy Swayman led their respective teams out onto the ice…

The Detroit Red Wings entered a quartet of “four-point games” by hosting the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday evening.

The Wings play a gauntlet of Atlantic Division foes in Montreal, Boston (Saturday), Ottawa (next Tuesday) and Buffalo (next Friday) with the Red Wings’ playoff fate on the line, and it’s essential that the Wings snag as many points as possible out of this next set of games.

On Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings did not necessarily have one of their better games, but they won 3-1 over Montreal anyway.

Detroit was out-shot 12-8 in a scoreless 1st period, surrendered a Jaroslav Slafkovsky goal late in the 2nd period, on a wonky power play, but J.T. Compher scored an even-strength marker at 2:14 of the 3rd, Alex DeBrincat scored off a Mike Matheson tumble at 16:35, and DeBrincat earned a 2nd assist and 3rd point of the night on Andrew Copp’s empty-netter at 19:43…

Shout out The Cat. pic.twitter.com/BMaXpT81e8

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 20, 2026

WHAT A PLAY!!! 😼 pic.twitter.com/HWXBPig9yp

— NHL (@NHL) March 20, 2026

And John Gibson was a STALWART in net, stopping 31 of 32 shots for Detroit.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Jakub Dobes led their respective teams out onto the ice…

The Red Wings faced a particularly stiff task on Saturday night, heading into Dallas to face a Stars team that boasted a 13-0-and-1 record over their past 14 games…

And Detroit hasn’t won at the American Airlines Center in a very long time. Dallas entered tonight’s game with a 15-game point streak against Detroit (with the Wings’ last win coming in Dallas in 2016).

Given the Wings’ injuries, the match-up felt like “David vs. Goliath on ice.”

On Saturday evening in Dallas, the Red Wings were pancake flat for the first two periods, surrendering a 2-0 lead while Dallas out-shot Detroit 17-8, but in the 3rd period, Detroit out-shot Dallas 14-6 and got goals from Simon Edvinsson and Lucas Raymond (both at even strength), and forced overtime…

Where Thomas Harley broke in vs. Simon Edvinsson and a valiant John Gibson, and Harley fired a perfect shot over Gibson’s blocker to give Dallas yet another two-point, OT win.

This one felt like a gut punch after the Wings battled back so expertly in the 3rd period.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Jake Oettinger led their respective teams out onto the ice…

The Detroit Red Wings haven’t established a solid record against the Florida Panthers of late. But the NHL standings remain incredibly tight, so Detroit headed into a set of Sunshine State games (Detroit plays in Tampa Bay on Thursday) with a must-win battle against the Panthers on Tuesday evening.

At Amerant Bank Arena, the Red Wings held a 3-2 lead going into the final couple of minutes of the 3rd period, but a pair of Carter Verhaeghe goals at 18:30 and 19:45 afforded Florida a tie and then a 4-3 victory over the Red Wings, who got some bad bounces, lost Andrew Copp’s services in the 2nd period, and will be incredibly PISSED OFF about a terrible, terrible collapse.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Danil Tarasov led their respective teams out onto the ice…

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a 1-1-and-1 streak against a back-to-back-game-playing New Jersey Devils team on Sunday night in Newark, New Jersey.

At the Prudential Center, the Red Wings slowly but surely woke up in the 1st period, scored a rare even-strength goal off a “Larry Murphy” snap shot from Moritz Seider (1G, 2A), John Gibson stopped 21 shots, and all was well with the Wings (JvR scored a PPG at 6:37 of the 2nd) as the 2nd period wore down…

But Timo Meier shoveled Lucas Raymond into John Gibson at 19:55 of the 2nd, and Gibson tried to shake off the cobwebs, but didn’t return for the 3rd…

Thankfully, Dominik Shine scored his first NHL goal 10:24 in the 3rd, and Cam Talbot stepped up in stopping 9 shots to give the Wings a 3-0 win, crucial for Detroit’s Eastern Conference standings situation as the 4-game road trip begins.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Jacob Markstrom led their respective teams out onto the ice…

The Detroit Red Wings needed to rebound from Wednesday night’s loss to the Vegas Golden Knights as Detroit began an extended home-and-then-a-game-between-and-home series with the Florida Panthers on Friday night.

The Panthers lost to Columbus on Thursday evening, so the Wings hoped to pounce upon Florida in a back-to-back situation.

On Friday at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings slipped up in terms of their attention to detail, and surrendered a 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers. John Gibson was a stalwart in stopping 20 of 22 shots against (Tkachuk’s hatty was an empty-netter), but the Panthers out-worked, out-ground and out-hustled Detroit…

And if Dylan Larkin is injured from his trip/spear/fall that happened halfway through the 3rd period, the Wings are in a world of hurt.

Larkin leaves hurt after a weird fall – skate slipped and made him do the splits. Seemed to be in some pain, have to hope nothing is torn… #LGRW pic.twitter.com/lUuUDxY1lF

— Ryan Hana (@RyanHanaWWP) March 7, 2026

McLellan says Dylan “got crumpled up there,” is getting checked out, doesn’t have long term concern but needs to be evaluated

— Rachel Hopmayer (@rachelhopmayer) March 7, 2026

McLellan says they don’t think it’s going to be long-term for Larkin, but obviously still needs to be fully assessed

— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) March 7, 2026

McLellan says he doesn't think Dylan Larkin will be long term, but added he's "In the back" and still needs to be looked at.

— Jennifer Hammond (@SidelineHammer) March 7, 2026

PREGAME: John Gibson and Sergei Bobrovsky led their respective teams out onto the ice at the Pizzarena…