from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

They haven’t won in six games, they’re last in the Central Division and they now embark on a difficult six-game, 11-day road schedule through Tampa, Florida and Nashville — all of whom had .500 or winning records entering play Monday....

After Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Florida, coach Jeff Blashill talked about how the Wings are ready for the challenges ahead.

“After the game I’m sure there’s frustration that can mount in these situations, but we have a lot of season ahead of us,” Blashill said. “I know it goes fast and there’s not many games, but we have a lot of season ahead of us.

“We’ve made strides in the right direction in a lot of (areas) over the last couple of games. The ‘temperature’ in the room going into the game showed by the way we started. It was, ‘Let’s go and play and win.’ We have a lot to learn from (Sunday) and then put it behind us. There’s not one thing we can change. It’s something I’ve preached the last couple of years but it’s real important.

“We’ll have some meetings (Tuesday) and go attack and get better and try to win (Wednesday in Tampa), obviously the defending Stanley Cup champions, and that’s a great challenge. (But) we sat around for 11 months. We want these challenges. We’re not taking any game for granted.

“The record isn’t good enough, but we’ve got a chance to change it on Wednesday. So let’s go out and try to change it.”

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