from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

Beating one elite opponent won't ultimately mean much if the Detroit Red Wings can't do it again.

The challenge ahead takes them to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday and Florida Panthers on Saturday. The Wings earned some swagger Tuesday with how they beat the Carolina Hurricanes, but the fact is the Wings haven't repeated as victors since doing so in early February against the Philadelphia Flyers, and before that, the Buffalo Sabres in mid-January. Those teams are both lower in the standings, while the Lightning and Panthers are battling for first place in the Eastern Conference.

"To beat these types of teams, you have to play great hockey," coach Jeff Blashill said Wednesday. "You have to find ways to limit their chances and you have to find ways to create while you’re doing that. That’s not always easy, but we think when we play our best hockey, with the type of compete that we had, the work ethic that we had, then we think we can play with everybody in the league and find ways to win if we do that."...

Here are reasons to be encouraged going into Tampa: Alex Nedeljkovic looked solid against Carolina after a few shaky outings. The Lightning play the Penguins on Thursday, so the Wings should have an energy edge. The Wings played well defensively Tuesday, and over the past two games the Wings have gotten goals from the first, third and fourth lines.

"When your lines go out and they play good and they earn your trust, then you can just keep rolling them out there and you kind of get shorter shifts," Blashill said. "You’re rolling your lines over and you become the four-line team that I think everybody wants to be in order to have success."

more (paid)