The Detroit Red Wings will hold a Fan Appreciation Night when the slumping Dallas Stars comes to town on Monday night.
There will be all types of giveaways and even free parking for some patrons but they can’t deliver what the fans really want — postseason hockey.
For the ninth straight season, the Red Wings won’t participate in the playoffs. That was assured when Montreal lost in overtime to Toronto on Saturday night. The Canadiens, who hold the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference picked up a valuable point in the standings. That made it mathematically impossible for Detroit to catch them.
The Red Wings (37-35-7, 81 points) only have themselves to blame for their predicament. Their top players didn’t suffer any major injuries and they held the top wild-card spot in late February. A six-game losing streak changed the course of their season. They’re 7-13-1 over their last 21 games.
Detroit’s last trip to the playoffs came during the 2015-16 season when it lost in the first round. Prior to that, the Red Wings were in the playoffs every season in which they were able following the 1989-90 campaign.
They suffered damaging 4-1 losses to Montreal and Florida last week before posting a 4-3 overtime victory at Tampa Bay on Friday. Rookie Marco Kasper, one of the team’s bright spots, supplied the game winner among his two goals.
Kasper has a shot to reach the 20-goal mark with three games remaining. He has 18 goals and 16 assists in 74 games.
“We had a couple of really tough losses the last two games, which hurt a lot. But we talked about it,” Kasper said. “We still want to be a team that goes out there and plays our best every shift.”
Coach Todd McLellan had a talk with Kasper prior to the game.
“I didn’t think it was his best effort in Florida and he certainly agreed,” McLellan said. “Any time a young player like that is challenged and comes back with a game like this, that’s a real good sign for not only him as an individual but us as an organization moving forward.”
The Stars (50-24-6, 106 points) are looking to end their late-season slide with the playoffs approaching. They’ve lost five straight, including four on their home ice.
Utah defeated the Stars 5-3 on Saturday. Dallas still has the third-best record in the Western Conference and its coach is more concerned with having a full complement of players next week than picking up more points.
“We got through without any injuries and the playoffs start in five days, so that’s all I care about. We want to get through these games,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “If we could start the playoffs tomorrow that would be my preference, but we have to play these games out and we can’t move up or down, so let’s get through them. Work on a few things and make sure we’re as healthy as we can be come [Game 1].”
The Stars finish out their regular season schedule at Nashville on Wednesday. They’re already locked into a first-round matchup against Colorado.
–Field Level Media
