from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

There's another aspect of the Red Wings' improvement that is noticeable, and has been quite important recently

The Red Wings, especially recently, have avoided those long, disastrous losing streaks that can severely dent a team's chance of making the playoffs.

The last four times the Wings have lost a game? They've won a game each of the next four games, snuffing out a losing streak quickly, and continuing to flirt with the .500 record they've generally been at the entire season (currently 23-22-6).

This last example was losing Monday in Minnesota, a 7-4 loss to the Wild that looked worse on the scoreboard than on the ice — but coming back Thursday and defeating the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, 3-2 in a shootout, and instilling confidence for the rest of this rugged seven-game stretch against top teams in the NHL standings.

Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill watches the game from the bench
"It's important in this league not to get on a bad stretch, and that's easier said than done," coach Jeff Blashill said. "We've got a tough stretch ahead of us, still, but it's important to follow up losses with wins. Sometimes, there's a snowball effect, but you play so much and you've lost five straight and you really lose position in the standings.

"We've done a pretty job of (avoiding that) and we're going to need to (continue) but we're going to need to go on a run and find ways to win six or seven in a row. And again, that's not easy."...

The intriguing thing to watch these final two months of the regular season will be whether the Wings can sustain, and improve upon, this growth and make a serious run toward the playoffs.

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