Red Wings look ahead to April slate: ‘It comes down to winning hockey games ourselves’

DETROIT -- If the Detroit Red Wings are to secure a Stanley Cup Playoffs berth this season, they know they’re going to have to earn it.

Heading into Monday, five clubs were separated by just three points for the Eastern Conference’s second Wild-Card spot. The Montreal Canadiens (34-30-9; 77 points) held that position but were tied with the New York Rangers (35-32-7; 77 points), who had played one more game, followed by the Columbus Blue Jackets (33-30-9; 75 points), the Red Wings (34-33-6; 74 points) and the New York Islanders (32-31-10; 74 points).

For Detroit, nine games -- six on the road and three at Little Caesars Arena -- all against clubs currently in a playoff spot remain, the toughest schedule in the NHL left to play based on opponent points percentage (.612).

“It is what it is, right? Like after [Saturday’s win], now we’re going into it,” Patrick Kane said about the Red Wings' upcoming slate. “We were talking about it…you win one game, you're one point out. Suddenly, the Rangers and Canadiens win, and you’re three points out. So that's just kind of the nature of the situation we're in. You can look at it and study it, but it comes down to winning hockey games ourselves. Obviously, we're going to need to have a good record here down the stretch, but we need to focus on tomorrow and try to try to get the two points.”

Following a day off on Sunday, the Red Wings practiced at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center on Monday afternoon before flying to the Gateway to the West, where they’re set to take on the red-hot St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Tuesday night.

“They’ve won nine in a row, and someone's probably going to stop that at some point,” Kane said about the Blues. “Hopefully it's us and it gives us a lot of momentum and confidence the rest of the way. It’ll be a great test for us. They’re firing on all cylinders right now and it seems like they have been ever since they hired Jim Montgomery as head coach."

Detroit head coach Todd McLellan also spoke highly of Montgomery, who took over behind the bench in St. Louis on Nov. 25.

“My son played for him for three years at [the University of Denver], so I got to know him pretty well,” McLellan said. “If there was a coach that Tyson could go back and play for, it's probably him, so he's done a real good job with his team.”

When asked how to prepare for a team that’s firing on all cylinders, Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said it’s about finding ways to “frustrate them and not allow them to do the things they’ve been doing the last nine games.”

“I think they forecheck really hard,” Larkin said. “We saw some video this morning, and we're going to have to be ready for that. We're going to have to break the puck out well. I think when we're a good team, we're skating five guys up the ice, forechecking [as a] five-man unit. When we're playing well, we're breaking the puck out [as a] five-man unit as well. We worked on that today and it's going to have to translate tomorrow.”

McLellan said he believes forechecking and breakouts are two areas the Red Wings need to clean up not only for Tuesday night, but going forward.

“I thought when we were winning more than we were losing, we played more as five instead of four or three in both zones,” McLellan said. “Whether it was the forecheck or breakout, you have to be connected on both sides of the puck. We haven't been [doing that as] much of late, so a practice opportunity today to work on it.”