Detroit Red Wings Come to Florida, Playoff Hopes on ‘Life Support’

The past week has been extremely eventful for the Detroit Red Wings.

On Sunday, goalie Cam Talbot put on a show in the Detroit’s 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers.

At that point, the Red Wings had renewed playoff hopes. If everything went right, Detroit still had a reasonable chance of catching Montreal for the final wild-card spot in the East.

The Panthers, meanwhile, saw their lead on the Senators shrink to two points and was in danger of falling into wild-card territory.

Tuesday’s games changed things in a hurry.

Detroit went to Montreal and fell victim to the red-hot Canadiens, the Red Wings losing 4-1.

The loss pretty much ended the Wings chances at getting a playoff berth.

The Panthers, on the other hand, beat the Maple Leafs 2-1.

With Toronto beating the Lightning in overtime on Wednesday, Florida still has a small chance at home ice in the first-round of the playoffs in a likely postseason rematch with the Lightning.

There is still a very small glimmer of hope for Florida to catch the Leafs for the Atlantic Division title.

Barring a miracle, this will be the ninth consecutive season that there is no playoffs for ‘Hockeytown.’

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Detroit has not gone beyond the first round since 2013.

The once-mighty Wings last won the Stanley Cup in 2008 with Mike Babcock coaching.

They also won in 2002 and had back-to-back Cups in 1997 and 1998. The legendary Scotty Bowman was behind the bench during those seasons.

In their last Cup season, the offensive stars were Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.

The goaltending was shared equally by Dominik Hasek and Chris Osgood.

Datsyuk and Hasek are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

They’ve had three coaches since their last playoff appearance.

Last season, Derek Lalonde took them to the last game of the season before they were eliminated by a tiebreaker.

Todd McLellan replaced Lalonde right after Christmas break this year.

The team is 23-17-3 under McLellan with a respectable .570 point percentage. That record for an entire season would have qualified them for the playoffs.

They have an excellent core, and it is just a matter of time before they are back in the playoff mix.

Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin are veterans in their prime. Larkin has not been in a playoff since 2015-16, his rookie season.

DeBrincat has scored at least 27 goals, and as high as 41 goals, in all but one of his eight NHL seasons. Like Larkin, he has only been to the playoffs once.

Future Hall of Famer Patrick Kane is enjoying a resurgence at age thirty-six.

Detroit has some bright young stars in Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider.

Their goaltending is solid with Talbot and former Panther Alex Lyon. Petr Mrazek was reacquired at the trade deadline for some depth. He has been out with a lower body injury since March 24th.

Still there is hope.

Detroit is not yet mathematically eliminated (they will be a tiebreaker away if they lose tonight), so in true hockey tradition, they should come in at full blast.

After Tuesday’s loss in Montreal, McLellan addressed the media on the subject of what his message to the team will be as they head to Florida..

“We’re still alive,’’ he said. “We’re not dummies. We know we’re on life support and we need help. But let’s rely on each other. We’re going into a tough building in Florida and in Tampa and let’s play.”

With back-to-back games in Florida, “life support” may be an understatement.

ON DECK: GAME No. 79

DETROIT RED WINGS at FLORIDA PANTHERS 

• When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
• Local TV: Scripps Sports — WSFL 39 (Miami/FTL); WHDT 9 (WPB); LAFF 36.3 (SWFla)
• Streaming: Panthers+; ESPN+
• Radio: WPOW 96.5 FM-2; WBZT 1230-AM (West Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); WCZR 101.7-FM (Treasure Coast); SiriusXM
• Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL/Panthers App
• Last Season: Florida won 3-1
• This Season (Red Wings Lead 2-0)— At Detroit: Red Wings 2, Panthers 1 (April 6). At Florida: Red Wings 5, Panthers 2 (Jan. 16); Thursday.
• All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 39-21-7, 5 ties
• Up Next for the Panthers: Saturday vs. Buffalo Sabres, 6 p.m.