No matter what the players and coach said today, the only thing which counts is two points tonight.

The time has come for their talk to be translated on the ice tonight, nothing else matters.

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

If Berggren can toe the line between risk and reward in favor of the latter, he stands to stick around.

"We are hoping he is going to help us down the stretch here," coach Derek Lalonde said after Tuesday's morning skate at KeyBank Center. "If he will, maybe hes our deadline addition."...

More work in that area is still needed, as he gifted the Vegas Golden Knights a goal off a turnover, which, as Lalonde put it, "we have enough of that in our DNA, we dont need to add one more.

"Like anyone else, we want to hold him accountable. Its something we address when we have video with the team and individual one-on-ones. Because we have a lot of guys that want to make plays, sometimes at the risk of the team game. We still want him to make plays, like all of our skilled (players), but do it in the correct way."...

The Wings play three more games the rest of the week, and Lalonde ruled out a possible early return for Larkin.

"Im hoping once we get through the week in here, Ill have a better feel," Lalonde said. "Im hoping it will be day-to-day once we get through the weekend."...

"I just have to play my game, like I play all year down in GR," Berggren said. "Have high confidence, and make plays and work hard. In this league, you need to be a little bit more safe. Around the blue line, maybe take it deep and when you are around the net, maybe make those plays instead of the blue line. Its something you need to balance in my game and something I need to (learn). I know how hard I need to battle every day."

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from Sam Stockton of The Hockey News,

When asked after this morning's skate about what it will take to get back into the win column, Patrick Kane offered a simple answer: "I just think we need to have something go good for us to be honest with ya. Sometimes you get into these slides, and it seems like one thing after another adds up against you."

Kane pointed out that there was reason for optimism coming out of Saturday's loss in Vegas but that the Red Wings will also need to re-double their defensive efforts to snap the present losing streak. "It was a better game for us, especially the last two periods, but still obviously not good enough giving up five," he said Tuesday morning. "We wanna produce offensively, we wanna create, but at the same time, we wanna make sure we're playing the right way defensively."...

"Bottom line is we find ourselves above the line here with 18 games left, but we gotta be where we were in the third period of Vegas," said coach Derek Lalonde after morning skate. "I wouldn't say it's a must win, but it's a must play well."

"I think the guys left that game feeling a little empty, the way that third period played out, but we out-chanced them almost 3-1," Lalonde said of Saturday's game in Vegas. "We felt like we deserved more...When you play well, you feel good about yourselves, and we played well on Saturday. Don't know if you could've said that with some of the performances previous to that."

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1.)  Put Berggers on the first or second line tonight to open up the ice for Kane or Cat.  

2.) Bergers looked poised on Saturday and like he belongs.  If he is pissed at management I do not blame him.  I thought he made the team after last year.  As much as I like Fischer and Voleno, one of them is in his spot.

Patrick Kane offered a simple answer: "I just think we need to have something go good for us to be honest with ya

I actually agree with this and mentioned something similar last game. Not to excuse or rule out lackluster or poor defense, but theyre going to get a bounce or two and get a win and it will be chalked up to playing better.  I hope its tonight.