Red Wings stay red hot with win over Washington

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Detroit Red Wings are rolling. For the first time since Steve Yzerman took over the team as general manager in 2019, the team is on a six-game winning streak and is poised to make its first playoff appearance since 2016.

The Wings continued their strong play Tuesday night with an 8-3 win over the Washington Capitals, another team fighting for a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

With eight weeks left in the season, the Red Wings hold the top wild card seed, eight points ahead of the Eastern Conference’s ninth-place team. They are now just two points behind Toronto for the third seed in the Atlantic Division, although the Leafs have played one less game than Detroit.

Following Tuesday night’s victory, Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde cited his team’s ability to be flexible in order to find ways to win.

“It was an offense night, great offense night,” Lalonde said in a postgame interview. “Winning can look like many different things and look many different ways.”

Lalonde specifically called out Moritz Seider and Christian Fischer for sacrificing their bodies to block shots even with the score out of hand in the third period.

“Those guys eating those shots. You hope that becomes the culture and habit,” he said.

MLive reports that Seider left the game late in the third period for X-rays. The team has yet to make any announcement, but Lalonde said everything “sounded positive.”

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Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere led the scoring with two goals on Tuesday, including what turned out to be the game-winner in the second period. Afterward, he said the team is clicking in the offensive zone by keeping things simple.

“I think we keep it simple to start, then let the skill take over,” Gostisbehere said. “I think we are starting to figure out our game and identity as a team. We know what works and what doesn’t, what nights we have it and what nights we don’t. We got to find a way to get two points and make something happen.”

The Red Wings will look to stretch their streak to seven on Thursday, welcoming the New York Islanders to Little Caesars Arena. The Islanders are also fighting for a playoff spot. They sit seventh in a tightly packed Metropolitan Division, but just seven points outside of the final wild card spot.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday. The game will be televised on Bally Sports Detroit.

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