WING THINGS
The Red Wings can breathe a brief sigh of relief after earning a point in a shootout loss against the Penguins last night. With that point, the Wings clinched their 23rd consecutive trip to the post season.
The Wings post-season streak is the fifth longest in NHL history and the longest active streak by fourteen years. With the way contracts are structured and the salary cap come into play, it’s increasingly difficult to put a competitive team on the ice year after year. It takes some savvy trades and perhaps most importantly, strong drafting to keep a successful franchise going, and the Red Wings organization has mastered that. To put things in perspective, the last time the Red Wings missed the playoffs Tomas Tatar, Tomas Jurco, and Riley Sheahan weren’t even born. Red Wings goalie Sam St Laurent became the last NHL goalie to wear a full fiberglass mask, Wayne Gretzky led the league in points (142) and Brett Hull notched 72 goals.
The fight down the stretch was a hard one but the Wings managed to pick up points in seven of the last ten games to keep themselves afloat while the other teams in the race floundered. The Wings will face either the Boston Bruins or the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. If the season series’ were any indication, Boston would be the better opponent as the Wings have gone 3-1 against the Bruins whereas they’ve gone 1-1-1 against Sidney Crosby’s Penguins. With that said, as everyone reiterates every postseason, the playoffs are a different beast and the season series can only indicate so much. Add to that the fact that the Red Wings’ lineup has been anything but consistent, and there isn’t a whole lot of merit in analyzing prior games.
While the Wings will finish in one of the two Wildcard spots, the Metropolitan division standings are much closer and could have an impact on the Red Wings position. Only two points separate the Rangers, Flyers and Blue Jackets. Depending how the last games go for those teams the Red Wings could have a different Wild Card companion. With just two games to play, there will be a little more jockeying for position before the excitement of the post season begins and after a less than typical regular season, the Red Wings have earned their right to be a part of the excitement.