The Detroit Red Wings will enter the new year with at least a share of first place in the Atlantic Division. They can maintain sole possession with a win over Winnipeg in Detroit’s annual New Year’s Eve home game on Wednesday.
It’s a nice and unusual spot for a franchise that hasn’t qualified for the playoffs since 2016. Detroit rose to the top of a very compact division by going 10-3-1 in December.
Their last three victories have come in overtime, including a 3-2 thriller against division foe Toronto on Sunday. Defender Simon Edvinsson scored the winning goal.
“We knew this match was going to be huge against a rival,” Edvinsson said. “Coming back twice, three times is huge for the group. We have to take these wins, build on them and move on to the next ones.”
Detroit had just lost 5-2 to Carolina the night before.
“I feel like this whole year we’ve bounced back from tough performances,” said Mason Appleton, who scored the tying goal early in the third period. “It just shows the confidence we have in this room.”
The Red Wings won the four-game series against Toronto with one game remaining.
“We believe you have to win your season series, especially against teams in your own division, in your conference as well, but definitely in your division, and we’ve talked about that,” coach Todd McLellan said. “We are sure to win this series, which is so important.”
Detroit forward Patrick Kane returned to action Sunday after missing the previous six games with an upper-body injury. He needs two goals to reach the coveted 500 mark for his career.
This will be the first meeting between Detroit and Winnipeg, who will try to end a six-game losing streak.
The first five losses during Winnipeg’s current slide have been decided by one goal, including three in overtime. The Jets’ latest loss was just as frustrating. In losing 3-1 to Edmonton on Monday, they had 42 shots on goal, but Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard stopped all but one of them.
“I can’t criticize the effort, I can’t criticize the battle,” Winnipeg coach Scott Arniel said. “The opportunities, the game plan that we gave them against their elite players, all those things that I asked them to do, they did it. At the end of the day, we don’t score points and that’s the most important thing.”
Adam Lowry scored Winnipeg’s only goal in the third period, cutting Edmonton’s lead to 2-1. The Oilers secured the victory with an empty net.
“I thought we played really well,” Lowry said. “Obviously there are no moral victories, but I think if we play this style of hockey, if we make this consistent effort for 60 minutes, we will get more positive results than we got here. That’s what you can take away from this game.
“Our two games after Christmas we obviously didn’t get the result (including a 4-3 overtime loss to Minnesota on Saturday), but I think overall the process and the way it looks is a lot closer to what we envisioned our team to be like.”
–Field level media
