Red Wings on playoff quest; Senators trying to ‘turn around’
The Detroit Red Wings will have a big opportunity to help their playoff push and strike a blow to a rival's chances when they host the Ottawa Senators on Sunday.
The Red Wings, winners of five of six outings, sit second in the Atlantic Division. Ottawa is seven points out of a playoff position and a dozen points behind Detroit.
The Red Wings are well aware a win would be a boost to their quest of reaching the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2016.
"It's a tight race," Detroit goaltender John Gibson said after practice on Saturday. "You've got to win every night. You can't have losing streaks. There's a little bit of pressure on us but we're want it."
Detroit is coming off a well-rounded 4-2 home victory over the San Jose Sharks on Friday. Gibson continued his strong run in net with a 20-save performance, while the team received contributions from key players and the supporting cast.
Captain Dylan Larkin scored his 266th career goal and passed John Ogrodnick for 10th place on the franchise's all-time list, while Lucas Raymond, who leads the club in scoring, notched three assists.
Marco Kasper snapped a 36-game goal drought in a two-point outing.
"It's always fun to score one, especially after a long time," Kasper said. "It was an empty-net goal, but they count the same, so I'm just happy to see it go in."
The Senators arrive in the Motor City looking to make amends after a disappointing 6-5 overtime loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
Ottawa surrendered a two-goal lead with five minutes remaining in regulation and saw its two-game winning streak snapped. Those were Ottawa's only two victories in a seven-game stretch (2-4-1).
"Our team can hang their head or they can be mad. I'd rather us be mad," coach Travis Green said.
"You've got to come back and play the next one and that's what we're looking at."
The Senators must regroup from an emotional wringer of a game. They trailed 2-0 after the first period before a four-goal second-period helped them stake a 5-3 edge and with a victory in their sights.
Instead, things fell apart despite holding Montreal to only 19 shots on goal. The loss naturally put in the crosshairs goaltender Leevi Merilainen, who started the team's 10th consecutive game with No. 1 goalie Linus Ullmark on leave and not playing.
"It's easy to criticize, but it's not about an individual in this sport, it's about the whole team, and we gotta do a better job helping him," captain Brady Tkachuk said. "He's going to have an amazing long career ahead of him. He's an unbelievable goalie and an unbelievable person. The message is it's not just one person win or lose a game, it's the whole team."
Although Ullmark is nearing a return, he is not ready yet. Veteran James Reimer, who signed with the club on Monday, will make his first start for Ottawa.
"We've just got to keep going," forward Tim Stutzle said. "It's frustrating but we've got to turn around and keep going."