from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

The good news on the Detroit Red Wings front is that young guys are scoring and they’re learning.

Saturday’s result at Air Canada Centre was a 4-3 loss to the Maple Leafs, even as the Wings twice had leads. It’s better for the Wings’ future, though, that they keep coming up a goal short these last seven games, because the lower they finish in the standings, the better their draft lottery odds.

Their future also looks better for what’s happened in two of the past three games: Dylan Larkin has three goals during the stretch, and Tyler Bertuzzi scored the type of goal that will make him an effective NHL player when he tipped a puck in front of the net. ...

“We’d like to be in playoff spot but the compete level that Blash talks about a lot, it hasn’t been a question this year, even to the end,” Larkin said. “We’re young right now. Guys are figuring out how to score, including myself. Everyone can improve on areas of their game so everyone takes a little step in the right direction, and I think next year we could be like Jersey - look at them, they’re in a playoff spot and have some good young players and everyone seemed to take a step from last year to this year.

“Every day is experience, every game. You need to prove yourself every day, especially this time. This is when character shows and I think the encouraging part is our character as a team, our identity as a team, we’re not backing off. We’re not giving up. The attitude has stayed the same. That’s a credit to our leadership, coaching staff - the message has been the same all year.”

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Henrik Zetterberg, Jimmy Howard, Tyler Bertuzzi, Dylan Larkin and Jeff Blashill...