Red Wings-Lighting Tweetcap: Tampa Bay out-streaks resilient Detroit in overtime

The Detroit Red Wings’ playoff push is over, but two games remain on the regular season schedule, starting with Monday night’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning…

And it’s always instructive to see how a team responds when it’s got nothing to play for other than pride and jobs on next year’s team.

On Monday night at Benchmark International Arena, the Red Wings displayed all the good and bad points of their 2025-2026 regular season’s worth of play via a 4-3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Wings took a 1-0 lead, gave up 3 straight goals to go down 3-1, rallied for a point with a late goal by Alex DeBrincat that happened to include Patrick Kane’s 1,400th NHL point…

But in overtime, a mess-up in terms of coverage in the offensive zone–much like several of the Wings’ coverage mistakes that resulted in goals against in regulation–yielded a 2-on-1 for Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, and with Andrew Copp the last man back, Detroit and Cam Talbot stood no chance of stopping the Bolts from taking a 4-3 OT decision.

PREGAME: Cam Talbot and Andrei Vasilevskiy led their respective teams out onto the ice (and the Red Wings’ social media team didn’t do their usual goalie-leads-team Tweet, so here’s the Bolts’ Twitter video thereof…)

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Red Wings-Devils Tweetcap: End of the line

Win and get help, or lose and golf. That was the equation for the Detroit Red Wings as they hosted the New Jersey Devils on Saturday afternoon.

At Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings played the kind of game they have all season long. Detroit took 1-0, 2-1 and 3-3 leads over the course of the first, second and third periods, but managed to surrender three straight 3rd period goals to lose a 5-3 decision to New Jersey.

The loss eliminated the Red Wings from the 2025-2026 playoff chase.

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

Continue reading Red Wings-Devils Tweetcap: End of the line

Red Wings-Flyers Tweetcap: Detroit wins in a 6-3 romp over Philadelphia

The Red Wings needed to win Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers to continue their incredibly unlikely but possible playoff chase.

So, on Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings got the job done, and did so in emphatic fashion, winning 6-3 over the Flyers.

Dylan Larkin scored a hat trick and had 4 points; Moritz Seider had 1 goal and 4 assists for 5 points; Patrick Kane had a goal and 2 assists for 3 points; John Gibson got the win by stopping 13 of 15 despite leaving after the 2nd period with an undisclosed injury, and Cam Talbot stopped 10 of 11 in relief.

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

Continue reading Red Wings-Flyers Tweetcap: Detroit wins in a 6-3 romp over Philadelphia

Red Wings-Blue Jackets Tweetcap: Shootout at the not-OK JLA

The Red Wings faced the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena, with their season on the line, given the “playoff math” that stands stacked against Detroit’s post-season hopes.

On Tuesday evening, the Red Wings rallied from a 1-0 deficit in goals by Dylan Larkin and Justin Faulk, when Zach Werenski tied the game, Faulk responded with a 3-2 marker…But Adam Fantilli tied the game at 19:43 of the 3rd period, and in the shootout, Werenski would have revenge on his hometown team, scoring the shootout winner.

Between Detroit’s loss and the Blue Jackets and Senators’ wins, the Red Wings desperately need to both win out and get a lot of help from teams beating Columbus and Ottawa going forward.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Jet Greaves led their respective teams out onto the ice…

Continue reading Red Wings-Blue Jackets Tweetcap: Shootout at the not-OK JLA

Red Wings-Wild Tweetcap: In a ‘wild’ game, Minnesota outsmarts Detroit

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…

Continue reading Red Wings-Wild Tweetcap: In a ‘wild’ game, Minnesota outsmarts Detroit

Red Wings-Rangers Tweetcap: the egg and you

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…

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Red Wings-Flyers Tweetcap: Detroit doubles up Flyers in Philly

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…

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Red Wings-Flyers Tweetcap: could’ve, would’ve, should’ve

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…

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Red Wings-Bruins Tweetcap: Boston holds Sway in Detroit

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…

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Red Wings-Canadiens Tweetcap: back-foot blitz, DeBrincat’s savvy yield a gigantic 3-1 win for Detroit

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…

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…

Continue reading Red Wings-Canadiens Tweetcap: back-foot blitz, DeBrincat’s savvy yield a gigantic 3-1 win for Detroit