Abel to Yzerman

Two late goals by the Capitals in the second period has Washington up 2-0 headed to the third period. The last goal for the Caps with nine seconds left really hurt.

In the third the Wings scored with a second left. Capitals win 2-1.

A devastating loss of the Wings.

Team Stats

Kane goal below.

Good evening and welcome to all. We all know what has to happen tonight as the Red Wings are playing the Capitals in what is arguably the biggest game of the season so far. Everything is on the line for both teams. Need I say more?

Lyon has the net tonight. Seider is a game time decision(illness). As of 3:00 PM no other changes to the lineup have been announced.

It’s the Capitals vs the Red Wings. The puck is set to drop around 7:00 PM and will be broadcast on ESPN, and on the Red Wings Radio Network 97.1 (The Ticket in Detroit) for your listening pleasure. Also available on SPORTSNET+.

It’s a Live Blog!

from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,

One key component for the Red Wings was again missing in action as far as putting the puck in the next was concerned. Alex DeBrincat failed to score. His account is showing one tally over 18 games since Feb. 29.

“I’ve definitely got to bear down more and put some pucks in the net and work on that,” DeBrincat was acknowledging.

He’s certainly right about that. When the Red Wings were trading a first-round pick, prospect Donovan Sebrango and 20-goal scorer Dominik Kubalik to the Ottawa Senators for DeBrincat last summer, they were doing so with the expectation that he’d be filling the opposition net with pucks.

It’s also why they were inking the native Michigander to a four-year, $31.5 million contract. The Red Wings aren’t paying DeBrincat nearly $8 million per season to create chances. A provision of that stipend is that he be finishing chances.

At the start of the season, he was doing exactly that. Through his first nine games with Detroit, DeBrincat was good for eight goals.

Now, no one was expecting him to maintain a 73-goal pace. Then again, nobody was thinking he’d be falling off to a Michael Rasmussen scoring pace.

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from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

The Wings haven't been to the playoffs during their time at LCA, but even more so, they've been out of the playoff picture so early, there really haven't been any meaningful games.

But that's about to change Tuesday as the Wings and Capitals play a colossal game for wild-card positioning in the Eastern Conference.

The Wings, with 84 points, entered Monday's games alone in the wild-card spot, pending Pittsburgh's game Monday night in Toronto. Pittsburgh, Washington and Philadelphia all had 83 points....

The Wings have earned points in four of their last six games and won two of the last three. In this unique playoff race where no team has truly been able to make a sustained charge and take control of the playoff spot, that's been good enough for the Wings assume control for now.

Lalonde doesn't expect his team to be too high or low emotionally in one of their biggest games to date.

"We've been even keel, the same message throughout," Lalonde said. "We've been in these all-or-nothing games for a while now. The guys have gotten a little more comfortable with it, so it's the same message about our starts and doing the right things, and our team game.

"This group has been dialed and locked in. I've been impressed and proud of this group and how they keep battling through everything. They'll show up."

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Let's make this an open post too for tonight's Pens/Leafs game at 7pm in Toronto.

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

Ville Husso isn’t likely to play another regular season game for the Detroit Red Wings but hopes to be available if needed in the playoffs.

Husso has been practicing for several weeks and will play one or two games this weekend with the Grand Rapids Griffins on a conditioning stint. The Griffins host Rockford on Friday and play at Chicago Saturday and Sunday.

Husso hasn’t played since Feb. 13, when he suffered another lower-body injury midway through the first period in Edmonton. That was his first appearance since Dec. 18, when he suffered his first injury in the first period against Anaheim.

“Bad luck there. Maybe I came (back) a little too fast from the first injury,” Husso said.

“It’s been a long road but I feel good now. More mentally try to prepare like we make the playoffs and then be an option. That’s been my biggest thing the last couple of weeks.”...

Husso has one year remaining on his contract and said there was no discussion of shutting him down for the season.

“Not in my head, never.,” he said. “I wish we’ll make the playoffs and you never know what’s going to happen. In my head the last couple weeks I was like make sure I’m ready if I get the call to play here or wherever. There was no thoughts that I would not play (again) this year.”

a little more

The question is...

Who's going to take the East's second wild-card spot?

One answer is...

Give me the Penguins finishing third in the Metro and the Red Wings finding a way to take the final wild card. I'm a bit nervous for the Islanders with the New York Rangers twice on their schedule and then a game against the Devils. Late in the season as it is, and with those teams clearly in different head spaces as the playoffs arrive, local rivalry games are always unpredictable in spots like these. I could see that last game against Pittsburgh as an elimination game for the Islanders. They currently have a tiebreaker problem on the rest of the East contenders.

who is it and another question is...

What game will you be watching most closely in the final two weeks?

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

"That was a goalie win," Lalonde said of goaltender Alex Lyon, who made 37 saves and looked like the Alex Lyon from earlier in the season with his poise, confidence and competitiveness in net. "I know we shut them out five-on-five, but that's a high-end offensive team. We blocked shots (27), did good things in the hard-scoring area.

"But that was a strong performance by him, and we needed it. He was our best player in the third period. That team had some looks and some real good looks, that he kept out of the net."...

Lyon feels the Wings are getting increasingly comfortable in these sort of high-pressure, season-defining games.

"For sure," Lyon said. "It's always a learning experience, a lot of the guys in our room have played in big games. It's muscle memory and it's brain memory and kind of the way you're thinking and feeling, and the more you expose yourself to it, it's like anything else, you get better at it."...

The Wings blocked 27 shots Sunday, with Moritz Seider's 10 blocks totalling more than the Sabres had as a team (nine).

It's a statistic Lalonde enjoyed hearing and feels is important for a winning team.

"A little of that is them having the puck in the third (period) and especially the goalie pull situation but it's our willigness to do it," Lalonde said. "Winning is hard and we're finding out how hard it is. It's real hockey, it's the NHL, and it's always tough but this is next level type of stuff.

"Our guys stepped up."...

Raymond's goal and assist, along with a team-leading five shots and two takeaways in over 21 minutes of ice time has been indicative of his recent play.

"You can see guys elevating (their play) and Raymond has been unbelievable," Lalonde said. "You could see Raymond building in the last two years I've been here, the whole package. Now he's driving us in these big games."

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Below catch the extended game highlights.

The puck has dropped in Washington.

No scoring in the third, Wings win 3-1.

Team Stats

Detroit goals are below.

Good day and welcome to all. As we all know, today’s game, like every game for at least the past three weeks have been must wins. Too bad for the fans that the brain trust behind the benches just haven’t been able to drill that home.

Lalonde said. “It still feels like if we just win, we can control our own destiny.

Ya think?

It’s the Sabers vs the Red Wings. The puck drops around 1:00 PM and will be broadcast nationally on TNT, and on the Red Wings Radio Network WWJ Newsradio (950 AM in Detroit) for your listening pleasure. Also available on MAX, and SPORTSNET+.

It’s a Live Blog!

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

“There’s great learning in this and it’s great for all of us to go through it, but we need more out of everyone,” Larkin said. “We need guys to be drivers and that’s what we’re going to need this week.”

The Red Wings host Washington on Tuesday and visit Pittsburgh on Thursday. The New York Islanders and Philadelphia also are in the mix for either third place in the Metropolitan Division or the second wild card spot.

“We have to get points. It doesn’t matter how we do it,” Larkin said. “We have to start winning hockey matches.”

The Red Wings (37-31-8, 82 points) feel good about their play in recent games but have left points on the table – losing 1-0 at Nashville, 4-3 in overtime at Washington, 3-2 in a shootout at Florida, and 4-3 in regulation to the New York Rangers on Friday.

“There’s a lot at stake and it’s the little details that count,” Larkin said. “It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve been a part of games like that and it’s what we ask for. I feel that we’ve figured it out and even going back to Washington, we had a lot of chances and didn’t convert on them. In Tampa (4-2 victory), we didn’t get frustrated when we didn’t convert on our chances, we just kept going. Last night it was a little bit of a different story where we just had costly mistakes at costly times.”

Coach Derek Lalonde said his message to the team is to stay on it.

“You got to stay even keeled and take care of what you can take care of,” he said. “I feel like we can still control our own destiny. We got a couple of four-point games coming up.”

read on

Tampa Bay/Pittsburgh 1pm ET on ABC/ESPN+

New Jersey/Ottawa 7pm

Philadelphia/Columbus 7pm

Nashville/New York Islanders 7:30pm

Full schedule for today is below.

from Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now,

With the game tied 3-3 midway through the third period, Perron was called for high sticking at 9:29 and Chris Kreider turned that into a game-winning power play goal.

“That was a tough penalty,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “The momentum felt good and we put their power play on for the third time and they cashed in.”

That wasn’t the only reason the Red Wings lost. Other veterans made mistakes that were just as costly, but Perron’s penalty will be remembered because it led to a goal.

“It’s magnified now on every play,” Lalonde said. “This is why it’s really good for our guys to be going through this. It’s just different this time of year. It’s amplified this time of year and you learn, especially against a really good team, we left some plays out there. Unfortunately, it cost us.”

This lost cost the Red Wings in a big way because other teams helped them out Friday. The Buffalo Sabres knocked off Philadelphia Flyers, 4-2 and the Carolina Hurricanes downed the Washington Capitals, 3-2. Even with the loss, Detroit is only one point behind the Flyers for the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals are also only one point back. The Pittsburgh Penguins are two behind.

The New York Islanders are now in third place in the Metropolitan Division, putting them in a playoff position. By winning, the Sabres are now only three points behind Detroit. Those teams meeting Sunday in a matinee at Little Caesars Arena....

“We played good enough to get a point, to get two points tonight,” Larkin said. “I think when you get to this time of the year, every time that you drop a game it feels like an opportunity missed. It’s been hard. The hockey’s been hard and tight. We’ve been talking about every play and making sure we make every play. We left a couple out there tonight, which makes it hurt more.”

more

Pretty evenly played first period but until the Rangers scored with 29 seconds left in the first. Rangers lead 2-1 after 20 minutes.

Wings actually had their first lead of the game at 3-2 in the second, but the NYR quickly tied it 3-3.

The teams started the third tied 3-3 and the only goal in the period was from the Rangers who win 4-3.

Team Stats

Detroit goals are below plus what is a cross check penalty.

Good evening and welcome to all. The Wings are coming into tonight’s game after a hard fought win against the Lightning, but, that was four days ago, and all 19 of us expect to see an even better game/effort tonight. There’s not much else to say about tonight’s game against the Rangers, except that it is an absolute must win if the Red Wings want to stay in it down the final stretch.

Lyon is in goal. Sprong is in. Rasmussen is out(upper body), Maatta is a healthy scratch. No other changes to the lineup have been announced.

It’s the Rangers vs the Red Wings in an Original Six matchup. The puck is set to drop around 7:00 PM and will be broadcast on Bally Sports Detroit Extra, and on the Red Wings Radio Network 97.1 (The Ticket in Detroit) for your listening pleasure. Also available on ESPN+/NHLPP, MSGSN, SPORTSNET+, and TVAS.

It’s a Live Blog!

Below, Alex Lyon is Detroit's nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.

Hey folks, an open birthday post for Paul. Feel free to send a wish or two.😉☘️

Open post, feel free to discuss.

Washington (74 gp, 82 pts) is tied with the Wings (75 gp, 82 pts) for the 2nd wild card spot. They hold a one point lead on the Islanders (75 gp, 81 pts) and a three point lead on Pittsburgh (75 gp, 79 pts).

14 minutes of talk.

from John Niyo of the Detroit News,

And so is this, perhaps. After enduring a winless March, Lyon seemed to find his groove again over the past week, allowing two goals or fewer in three of four starts while posting a .934 save percentage in that stretch.

“He looks a lot more comfortable in his game,” Lalonde said, pointing to Lyon’s puckhandling and rebound control, among other encouraging signs. “And you can see he just exudes some confidence. You can tell when a goalie is on his ‘A’ game, and he's been there.”

He certainly was in the 4-2 win over the Lightning, stopping 34 shots, including a handful of high-danger chances in a frantic third period. Lyon called it a “grind” afterward.

“But those are games that you’re proud of,” he added. “The ones that are hard but you find a way. And I felt like that was the name of our game. It wasn't easy, but we stuck to it.”...

“Right now, we're just desperate,” said Lyon, who signed a two-year, $1.8 million deal with Detroit in July and then didn't get into a game until mid-November, when starter Ville Husso went down with an injury. “And that's what it feels like for me. And it's a good feeling. It's fun. It's intoxicating. There's a level of stress to it that isn't there at all points of the year. But you have to enjoy it and be excited for it. Because if you're scared of it, it's a problem.”

The Wings have their share of problems, no doubt. And you can add another injury to the list, as winger Michael Rasmussen likely will miss the next two games, according to Lalonde. But at the start of the season, nobody expected this team to be a shoo-in for the playoffs. And now that the calendar has flipped to April, here they are, with a chance to show everyone what they’re about.

“It's gonna be hard,” Lyon said. “And it's going to be nerve-racking. And it's gonna be ugly sometimes. But as long as you just keep trying, good things are gonna happen. That's the mindset that we have.”

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