from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

The Detroit Red Wings have been strikingly better with Mike Green in the lineup, so his return Friday at Winnipeg should provide a boost.

But they are 12 points out of the final playoff spot. A cynic might suggest it’s hopeless and they’re better off losing to improve their draft lottery odds....

“I enjoy watching teams and players get better,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “Let’s keep finding ways to get better.”

The Red Wings are coming off a disappointing 1-3-1 homestand in which they had opportunities to gain more points but squandered leads and found ways to lose. Now they’ll play five of their next six on the road leading up to the All-Star break and their bye week (nine days off).

“It doesn’t matter if it’s home or on the road, we have to find ways to win games,” Blashill said. “I went through the last three five-game segments with our players today and the records are identical (1-3-1), but if you look at process, three segments ago it wasn’t good at all and we’ve gotten better to the point that we’ve had more chances, Grade A’s, than the opponent during this last segment. We out-zone timed the opponent these last five games. If you do that again, you’re going to get results.

read on

added 5:42pm, Below, watch Green, Nyquist, Larkin and Blashill after today's practice.