The hottest team in the NHL is the Detroit Red Wings.
The hottest forward line in the NHL plays for the Red Wings.
The Wings face the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Thursday riding a six-game winning streak and with eight victories in their last nine games. They’ve been led on the ice by the forward trio of Dylan Larkin between Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Mantha.
Left-winger Bertuzzi is the NHL’s leading scorer since March 23, with 5-8-13 totals. With two goals and an assist in Tuesday’s 4-1 home-ice win over the Penguins, Bertuzzi became the first player in Red Wings history to post three consecutive games with three or more points.
“I think I’m still a little shocked,” Bertuzzi told Mlive.com. “I haven’t comprehended it yet but it’s something special.”
Right-winger Mantha is second in NHL scoring since March 23 with 5-7-12 numbers, including his first NHL hat-trick on Sunday against Boston. He has netted those five goals in his last two games.
“Me, Bert and AA (Andreas Athanasiou) kind of had a friendly (hat-trick) competition going,” Mantha said. “We know Bert had his first hat-trick earlier this season (at Minnesota).
“I’m just happy I didn’t lose this competition.”
Larkin, poised to become the first to lead the team in goals, assists, points and penalty minutes since Johnny Sheppard did it with the the Detroit Cougars in 1926-27, Detroit’s first year with an NHL franchise, shows 5-5-10 digits since March 23. That’s third overall in league scoring.
“I think we all bring different dynamics to the game,” Larkin said of their line. “I think we’re all skating, we’re all moving the puck. Our line right now, we’re having a lot of fun clicking.”
For Larkin, the key is that both their unit and the team as a whole carry this momentum into next season so that the Wings aren’t staring at a fourth-straight season out of the Stanley Cup playoffs at this time next year.
“Yeah, right now it’s a lot of fun,” Larkin said. “We’re clicking, there’s other guys clicking and we’re winning and we’re having a lot of fun. Before every game, the message has been this past stretch to build for next year and that for us that’s the exciting part.
“We’re building chemistry against good teams at home, on the road, different situations, power play, five on five. It’s been a lot of fun and we’re doing it for a purpose and we’re doing it for next year, too, so we’re not in this position, heading home April 6.”
Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»