from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

The Red Wings have faced Boston, Colorado, Tampa Bay and Toronto in this particular stretch of the schedule — a week that was supposed to begin another plunge in the standings for the Wings.

Instead, the Wings have two of those games, earned five of eight points, and for what it’s worth are two points within a wild-card spot in early December.

Thursday’s 5-4 overtime victory over Toronto, although not a work of art, was the latest positive reinforcement for these gritty Wings.

“We battle and we play for each other,” said forward Dylan Larkin, who won it at 2:48 of overtime on a breakaway goal. “We’re playing good hockey right now. We just played two games against the top teams in the Eastern Conference (the Wings lost 6-5 in a shootout to Tampa) and for the most part, we were the better team both nights.”

continued

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

Defenseman Mike Green, whose goal followed ones from Gustav Nyquist, Luke Glendening and Jonathan Ericsson, described how different the Wings are from earlier in the season.

“We collectively figured out what our game is, and how we are going to give ourselves a chance to win every night,” Green said.

more

Below, watch the extended game highlights and a collection of post-game interviews.