The struggling Detroit Red Wings are hoping a return home and a visit by the floundering Calgary Flames on Monday will be just the tonic needed to turn their fortunes.
The Red Wings hold the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card position, but after suffering a 3-2 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars on Saturday have lost five of their past six games (1-3-2) to put their perch in jeopardy.
“We’re so excited to get home to Detroit … and play in front of our fans,” said forward Lucas Raymond, who leads the Red Wings with 45 assists and is tied for the lead in points with 66. “We’ve had some stretches down the year where we’ve been pushing for a playoff spot and that just elevates the crowd.”
Detroit, which is pushing to avoid missing the playoffs for a 10th consecutive season, is in a tight battle.
The Red Wings are tied with the Boston Bruins, who hold the first wild-card spot but have played one fewer game. Detroit is also two points back of the Montreal Canadiens for third spot in the Atlantic Division, but only one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets, who are just outside the wild-card spots.
The Red Wings have struggled without captain Dylan Larkin and fellow center Andrew Copp due to injuries, but did receive a boost with forward David Perron returning from injury against the Stars.
The Dallas clash ended earning the Red Wings a point in the standings, but was a wasted opportunity after they erased a two-goal deficit in the third period, but could not get a winning goal.
“A good battle back. Lots going on recently, obviously, but we found a way. We kept pushing,” Perron said. “It was nice to get rewarded as a group to have one point there.”
The Flames arrive after suffering a 3-2 loss of their own at the New York Islanders on Saturday.
Calgary, which is ahead of only the Vancouver Canucks in the overall standings and in the throes of a rebuild, trailed 3-0 before the end of the first period, but controlled play the rest of the way in a comeback that fell short.
Despite the end result, the Flames likely deserved a better fate, especially after firing 17 shots on net in the final period.
“When we made a mistake, they capitalized on it,” coach Ryan Huska said. “We also hit two crossbars and had a grade-A chance in front of the net. We progressively got better as the night went on.”
In keeping with a recurring theme, the Flames, who are the league’s lowest-scoring team, could not find the equalizer, which left them with only five wins in their last 17 games (5-10-2).
Despite their offensive struggles — the Flames have gone four games without a power-play goal, and only two man-advantage markers in 10 outings — they continue to battle in close games.
The message as they prepare for the final outing of a five-game road trip is to ignore the standings and keep battling for wins.
“There’s no quit from anyone here,” said captain Mikael Backlund, who moved ahead of Kent Nilsson with his 230th career goal and into fifth spot on the franchise’s all-time list. “All the guys are fighting hard. It doesn’t matter the score. We keep trying until the end. So I’m really proud of the guys.”
