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The good news is that Larkin continues to put points on the board and is now just 7 away from a 30 goal season. Veleno and Sprong connected for an early goal giving the winger 13 on the year. The bad news, Ottawa has now beaten Detroit in the past three contests (2 in OT).
Kevin Weekes used to call teams that seemed to cause fits for the opposition “unicorn teams…. For whatever reason, no matter what is going on in Ottawa, they find a way to make life difficult for Detroit.
Everything aside, the last stretch of games saw Detroit needing 4 of 6 available points. The team grabbed 5. Overall in 13 games in January Detroit won 9 of 13, two of those 4 losses were in Overtime. 20 of 26 possible points on the board. With a few days off for the All Star Break, Detroit will have a home game vs. Vancouver then a western swing for the next 4 games. Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary, Seattle. The return to LCA will see Colorado, St. Louis, an away game in Chicago, then Washington and the Isles back on home ice.
February’s schedule is going to determine quite a bit as to how the team faces the rest of the year. Lindholm was moved from Calgary to Vancouver, and that’s may start the trickle of moves as GMs prepare for the offseason. For Detroit, many of you have said it feels likely the Wings will either stay their hand or even potentially move some expiring contracts. If February isn’t what the team is hoping for in terms of points and standings, this could well be the case.
All-Star weekend: Not a lot of excitement in the comments about the upcoming weekend. The league is clearly trying to get more excitement surrounding the event but it seems to be waning. We’ve seen players opt out to have a few days away from the rink in the past (along with a brief suspension) and it’s not clear what would have to happen to make this “must see… entertainment.
January was crammed with games and a few days away probably looks fairly inviting to much of the team. Kane, by multiple accounts, should be ready to rejoin and at some point Husso is likely to get some time in net. While every year sees the weeks up to the deadline as important, this one has a particular emphasis as players want to see some post season action.
Take your best shot. Will February see Detroit maintain a wild card spot or is this a year where the team comes as close as they’ve been in the rebuild phase? There are young players who want to make the leap and will be at camp looking to grab a spot. Detroit continues the movement toward a post season contender and this group is certainly the best in. terms of scoring that we’ve seen under Yzerman. We’ll find out if they have what it takes to be there in round 1.