Crossing The NHL’s Atlantic Division: Week 26
By Tim Bayer
Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports
Detroit Red Wings
By John Evans of Octopus Thrower
The playoff dream in the D lives on! Detroit goes into Wednesday night in eighth place in the East, tied with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Toronto Maple Leafs and Washington Capitals. They have a game in hand on both Toronto and Washington, and more regulation/overtime wins (ROW), meaning they’d win the tiebreaker over those two even if the season ended today. It’s not a fantastic position to be in, Detroit still needs to rack up points to put space between itself and the rest of the conference, but much better than things have been as of late.
The Wings looked strong this week, starting with an amazing, penalty-filled, come-from-behind win in the last second of overtime against the Pittsburgh Penguins. This was followed up by a home-and-home series with the Minnesota Wild, where Detroit won the first game and lost the second one in overtime. Detroit lost to Columbus after a somewhat controversial goal (but the right call was made). Five out of a possible eight points? I’ll take it!