It’s a late season cliché, but every point matters at this point in the NHL season. The Eastern Conference specifically is ultra-competitive this season as the playoff cutoff appears to be 100 points compared to 87 in the Western Conference. For teams chasing a playoff spot like the Detroit Red Wings, this means they can ill-afford to lose too many games down the stretch.
When every point matters, that means every game matters – but some games stand out as more important than the others. As the Red Wings try to stay afloat in the Eastern Conference playoff race, these are the three games that stand out as potentially the most important of their remaining 11 games.
March 28 vs. Philadelphia Flyers
Before they can overtake the teams ahead of them, the Red Wings need to make sure they have a decent gap between them and the teams behind them.
One of those teams is the Philadelphia Flyers, a team in the Metropolitan Division that has points in seven of its last 10 games, reinserting themselves into the playoff chase in the process. As of this writing, the Red Wings have a four point lead over the Flyers, but Philadelphia has one game in-hand.
That’s why this Saturday night game against the Flyers is so important for the Red Wings.
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This game will be at Little Caesars Arena. While playing at home, the Red Wings are 20-13-3 this season; the Flyers hold a 19-12-4 record on the road this season, so this game will be a test of Detroit’s home-ice advantage. Given the Red Wings’ standing, they cannot afford to miss out on this opportunity to bank points at home while also gaining some distance between them and one of the other teams chasing a Wild Card spot.
The Red Wings and Flyers actually play three times between now and the end of the season, with their final match coming on Apr. 9, basically a week before the end of the season. If Detroit has any hope of making that Apr. 9 game meaningless for the Flyers, they must start by winning their game on Mar. 28.
April 7 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
It’s become something of a meme in recent weeks: “the Columbus Blue Jackets will never lose again.”
Since pivoting to Rick Bowness as the team’s head coach in mid-January, the Blue Jackets are 19-3-4. Even when they lose, they find ways to get points. On New Year’s Day, they looked like a franchise ready to embark on another rebuild/retool. Today they have a real shot at securing home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
As Columbus keeps winning, they become less of a factor for the Red Wings in terms of the Wild Card race. However, the Blue Jackets aren’t just a team vying for a playoff spot like the Red Wings, they are also a team that could potentially “leapfrog” Detroit in terms of their league standing.
The Blue Jackets haven’t made the playoffs since the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season. While their playoff drought isn’t as long as the Red Wings’, both franchises have been building towards the future since the start of the 2020s. If Columbus’s future “arrives” quicker than Detroit’s, it won’t sit well with fans that feel they have been overly-patient with the Red Wings’ slow rebuild.
By the time this game happens, it may very well have legitimate playoff implications. The Blue Jackets could be playing to clinch a playoff berth. The Red Wings could be in must-win territory as they try to keep pace. A lot can happen between now and this game, but it feels like this game could be what ultimately decides Detroit’s playoff future.
April 15 at Florida Panthers
Remember two seasons ago when the Red Wings’ playoff hunt came down to the last game of the season? Based on current playoff standings, it may very well come down the last game of the season again, in which case this game against the Florida Panthers would be monumental.
The Red Wings have won one out of three meetings with the Panthers this season, but that win was all the way back in October. They then played the Panthers twice from Mar. 6 to Mar. 10 and lost both meetings by a combined score of 7-4. Considering Florida sits near the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings this season, losing three out of four meetings with them would be an easy thing for Detroit to point to as an explanation of why they missed the playoffs.
But if you’re going to make the playoffs, wouldn’t it feel great to punch your ticket to the dance with a win over the reigning champion? That is the opportunity potentially facing the Red Wings when this game comes around.
Of course, the Red Wings would prefer to have already clinched a playoff berth before this game, but a lot will need to go right between now and then for that to have happened. If Detroit can stay in the race long enough to have their fate in their hands entering this game, no excuses will apply; either they win and make the playoffs or they lose and clinch 10-straight years without playoff hockey.
Every Game Counts
Make no mistake: EVERY game left on the Red Wings’ schedule will have playoff implications moving forward. Detroit needs to have a winning record in their final 11 games to give themselves a chance, meaning every loss pushes them closer to failing that objective.
If they go on a small losing streak, that final game against the Panthers might mean nothing more than pride. If they go on a crazy winning streak, that game against Florida could be the difference between a Wild Card spot or a divisional one.
Basically, these games matter because the Red Wings have to win them. Failure to do so puts them in a spot where they will need help to get in, and as they learned two seasons ago, you cannot rely on other teams for help.
At the end of the day, this is the hill every team needs to get over if they want to be a contender. If the Red Wings are the team they think they are, they better keep marching up that hill.
