Red Wings visit Rangers in quest for critical points
The Detroit Red Wings continue their quest for a playoff berth when they visit the New York Rangers for a Saturday matinee.
It is the third and final game between these Eastern Conference foes. New York won the first meeting on the road 4-1 on Nov. 7, while Detroit pulled out a 2-1 road victory on Nov. 16.
The Red Wings (40-27-8, 88 points) are in a tight race with the Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild-card spot in the East. They have dropped six of their last 10 games but did get a jump on the Flyers with a 4-2 win on Thursday.
In that game, Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists and Alex DeBrincat scored twice. Kane set DeBrincat up for the first goal of the game on the power play, and Lucas Raymond scored the go-ahead goal for Detroit to make it 2-1 at 18:29 of the second period. Both Kane and DeBrincat found the back of the net in the third period.
"I think right from the start we played hard, matched their physicality and their intensity," DeBrincat said. "I thought we played pretty well for the whole game. Obviously, (in the) third period, they came on us a little bit, and it took us a little bit to settle in to that speed. Overall, right after their goal, we score another one and get a big two points."
John Gibson made 32 saves in the win. He had been pulled in his previous two starts, including a 5-3 loss to Philadelphia less than a week earlier.
The Red Wings went 1-for-2 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill on Thursday night. In their previous meeting against the Flyers, Philadelphia went 2-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
"You win the special teams battle on any given night, you have a much better chance," Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. "We were down by two in Detroit last week, and tonight to win it, maybe it was the difference."
Meanwhile, the Rangers (31-36-9, 71 points) have won three of their last four games but were eliminated from the playoff picture last week. New York dropped to 12-19-7 at home their last time out, falling 3-2 on Thursday to the visiting Montreal Canadiens.
Igor Shesterkin made 22 saves and Adam Fox and Will Cuylle scored in the third period of that game to tie it 2-2 with 5:52 remaining. Cuylle deflected a shot by Jonny Brodzinski into the net to even up the score, but Cole Caulfield scored the game-winning goal 47 seconds later for Montreal. The puck took an odd bounce off the boards, and Caulfield carried it out of the Habs' zone and scored on a wrist shot.
"Our effort, I thought, was there all night long," Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan said. "It's unfortunate the goal that beat us seemed like a nothing play."