Strength In Numbers

Another game day, more new faces in the lineup for the Detroit Red Wings. Center Dominic Turgeon and goaltender Kaden Fulcher were recalled under emergency conditions from AHL Grand Rapids. Goalie Jonathan Bernier (upper body injury) and forward Luke Glendening (undisclosed injury) are out for Sunday’s game at Little Caesars Arena against the Boston Bruins. Glendening’s injury guarantees that no Wing will play all 82 games this season. Assuming Turgeon plays, he will be the 29th player to see action for the Wings in the month of March. It’s unlikely that Fulcher sees action tonight, but if you factor in him and defenseman Libor Sulak, who was also recalled but got sick, didn’t play and was returned to Grand Rapids, the Wings have had 31 players on their active NHL roster over the past month. And yet, going into tonight, the Wings have won four in a row, their longest winning streak since a similar four-game run from Nov. 6-17. “We’re not giving up on the season, even though it seems like . . . I guess you could look at it as meaningless hockey and meaningless games here down the stretch,… center Dylan Larkin told Detroitredwings.com. “But we’ve called up a lot of players and everyone in here is playing for something and everyone is playing hard. Everyone wants to come to training camp next year and have a role. “You hear things that people are coming up from junior or the American League and you want to have your job, you want to have a bigger role next year so you can have an impact on the team and not be in this position and be a playoff team next season. Guys are playing for something, we’re playing hard. “There’s been a loose atmosphere in here and it’s helped our team. There’s a lot of young guys. We’re feeling relaxed and we’re clicking. It’s been definitely more fun down the stretch here winning. Guys are playing for something and I hope they’re showing management that they want to be here next year.… The last time the Wings won more than four straight was a six-game winning streak from Oct. 17-27, 2016. This is their third four-game win streak since that six-game run. They also won four in a row from Dec. 29, 2017 to Jan. 5, 2018. Prior to their current hot streak, the Wings had gone 1-9-3 in their previous 13 games. “You don’t want to give up,… Larkin said. “It’d be a drag for the last 3-4 weeks of the season if you’re just throwing your sticks out there and you don’t care. You’re not showing up and we get embarrassed like after the trade deadline, a couple of games here at home especially. “We’ve really regrouped and there’s been a lot of changes to our lineup, but the effort has definitely increased after that stretch we had where you heard a lot of we were embarrassed by our effort and embarrassed of our play.… Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer