After their latest disappointing game, one Detroit Red Wings player offered that they just ran out of time to make something happen.
Defenseman Mike Green might as well have referred to the Wings’ situation overall.
Their next game, Friday at home against the Minnesota Wild, marks five games and counting to the end of the regular season. The best thing that happened to the Wings as they lost Tuesday at Montreal (they took Wednesday off, common practice after playing twice in two days) was that the Boston Bruins lost, too.
The Wings didn’t gain any ground in the Eastern Conference playoff race, but they didn’t lose any, either, remaining one point behind the third-place Bruins in the Atlantic Division.
Better to figure out a way to win some games than count on others to lose as an avenue to the playoffs.
March saw the Wings lose eight of 14 games, repeatedly learning a lesson about how much it hurts when they don’t play well defensively. Petr Mrazek buffered the pain earlier in the season, but now the goaltender has been pulled two consecutive starts and five times since mid-February. Jimmy Howard should get the start Friday and, if he plays well, may play again Saturday at Toronto, though that’s uncommon in back-to-back situations that involve travel.
There’s responsibility to go around the locker room twice, though. The defensemen haven’t been good enough in their own zone, nor active enough offensively. Among the forwards, Gustav Nyquist’s goal in Montreal was his first in 12 games, and only his fourth in the last 33. Tomas Tatar has four goals the last 24 games. Henrik Zetterberg has scored once the last 19 games. Brad Richards has one goal the last nine games.
A bright spot this past stretch has been the power play, which contributed three goals at Montreal in converting for a sixth straight game. The difference between now and the first five months of the season, said both Zetterberg and coach Jeff Blashill, is delivering pucks and bodies to the net. If they’d have done more of this earlier in the season, the Wings would likely have a few more victories and wouldn’t be on the outside of the playoff picture as the last week of the regular season approaches.
The Wings did nearly pull off a rally in Montreal, using their power play to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead before the Canadiens fought back to win, 4-3. Carry over the momentum that saw the Wings outshoot the Canadiens, 34-19 over the last two periods, shore up defensively, and there’s time yet to make a playoff date.