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Todd McLellan said Monday he hadn't even seen the St. Louis Blues, the Detroit Red Wings' next opponent, play this season.
Just as well: When the teams met Dec. 23 at Little Caesars Arena, the Wings were at the nadir of their season, looking so lifeless in a 4-0 loss that it prompted general manager Steve Yzerman to replace Derek Lalonde with McLellan.
On Tuesday, the teams meet in St. Louis, with the Wings in a different kind of situation: Trying to resuscitate their playoff aspirations. While the Wings (34-33-6) won only four times in March, the Blues won 12 times, and have been the hottest team in the NHL.
More: Red Wings had mad March, but April could be even more cruel
"They’ve won nine in a row and someone is probably going to stop that at some point, so hopefully it’s us," Patrick Kane said. "That would give us a lot of momentum and confidence the rest of the way. But 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 coach there."
Montgomery was hired by the Blues on Nov. 24, one month and two days before McLellan's arrival in Detroit. The Wings have enjoyed two seven-game winning streaks under McLellan, but have struggled since late February. To that end, Monday's practice was heavy on self-improvement.
"We worried a lot more about the Detroit Red Wings than we did the St. Louis Blues," McLellan said. "We have to. We’re at that stage. Some of the areas that were slipping, we spent a lot of time trying to adjust or correct. I’d like to think it’ll pay dividends down the stretch. Practice time is quite valuable at this time of the year and we have to take advantage of it when we can."
The Wings are three points and three spots out of the second wild card in the east. They earned a bit of a boost in confidence by dispatching the Boston Bruins on Saturday. But the Bruins and Blues are on opposite trajectories.
"They forecheck really hard and we’re going to have to be ready for that," Dylan Larkin said. "We are going to have to break the puck out well. When we are a good team, we are skating five guys up the ice, forechecking as a five-man unit, and breaking the puck out as a five-man unit.
"When a team is playing as well as them, you just have to frustrate them and not allow them to do the things they’ve been doing the last nine games."
The Blues have benefitted from the play of goaltender Jordan Binnington, who is 10-2 since the Four Nations break ended Feb. 22. The Wings are relying on Cam Talbot, with Alex Lyon backing up, as Petr Mrazek remains sidelined by an undisclosed injury.
McLellan said Mrazek is getting treatment, and that he is expected to start skating in the next few days.
"That should give you a pretty good indication he’s not going to play for a little while," McLellan said.
Forward Elmer Söderblom is also day-to-day with an injury. But the Wings can't worry about who isn't available. There simply isn't time.
"It's the nature of the situation we’re in," Kane said. "It comes down to winning hockey games ourselves. We’re going to have to have a good record down the stretch."
Contact Helene St. James at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
Her latest book, “The Franchise: Detroit Red Wings, A Curated History of the Red Wings,” was released October 2024. Her books, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings playoff chase faces challenge at St. Louis Blues
Continue reading...
Just as well: When the teams met Dec. 23 at Little Caesars Arena, the Wings were at the nadir of their season, looking so lifeless in a 4-0 loss that it prompted general manager Steve Yzerman to replace Derek Lalonde with McLellan.
On Tuesday, the teams meet in St. Louis, with the Wings in a different kind of situation: Trying to resuscitate their playoff aspirations. While the Wings (34-33-6) won only four times in March, the Blues won 12 times, and have been the hottest team in the NHL.
More: Red Wings had mad March, but April could be even more cruel
"They’ve won nine in a row and someone is probably going to stop that at some point, so hopefully it’s us," Patrick Kane said. "That would give us a lot of momentum and confidence the rest of the way. But 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 coach there."
Montgomery was hired by the Blues on Nov. 24, one month and two days before McLellan's arrival in Detroit. The Wings have enjoyed two seven-game winning streaks under McLellan, but have struggled since late February. To that end, Monday's practice was heavy on self-improvement.
"We worried a lot more about the Detroit Red Wings than we did the St. Louis Blues," McLellan said. "We have to. We’re at that stage. Some of the areas that were slipping, we spent a lot of time trying to adjust or correct. I’d like to think it’ll pay dividends down the stretch. Practice time is quite valuable at this time of the year and we have to take advantage of it when we can."
The Wings are three points and three spots out of the second wild card in the east. They earned a bit of a boost in confidence by dispatching the Boston Bruins on Saturday. But the Bruins and Blues are on opposite trajectories.
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"They forecheck really hard and we’re going to have to be ready for that," Dylan Larkin said. "We are going to have to break the puck out well. When we are a good team, we are skating five guys up the ice, forechecking as a five-man unit, and breaking the puck out as a five-man unit.
"When a team is playing as well as them, you just have to frustrate them and not allow them to do the things they’ve been doing the last nine games."
The Blues have benefitted from the play of goaltender Jordan Binnington, who is 10-2 since the Four Nations break ended Feb. 22. The Wings are relying on Cam Talbot, with Alex Lyon backing up, as Petr Mrazek remains sidelined by an undisclosed injury.
McLellan said Mrazek is getting treatment, and that he is expected to start skating in the next few days.
"That should give you a pretty good indication he’s not going to play for a little while," McLellan said.
Forward Elmer Söderblom is also day-to-day with an injury. But the Wings can't worry about who isn't available. There simply isn't time.
"It's the nature of the situation we’re in," Kane said. "It comes down to winning hockey games ourselves. We’re going to have to have a good record down the stretch."
Contact Helene St. James at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
Her latest book, “The Franchise: Detroit Red Wings, A Curated History of the Red Wings,” was released October 2024. Her books, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings playoff chase faces challenge at St. Louis Blues
Continue reading...
