Quick thoughts…
As I Tweeted at the end of the third, I hate that the Red Wings blew another third-period lead but if you’d told me the game was going to overtime (and the Wings were guaranteed a point) at the start of the game, I’d have been cool with it.
This game felt a lot like a kind of game we’ve seen before, where Detroit can only get scoring from their stars and are let down by their secondary scoring (or lack thereof). Of course, with this lineup your stars are Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar so that’s a bit of ridiculousness.
Every game from here on out is a virtual must-win. Detroit sits seventh in the Eastern Conference, even with eighth place Toronto but with two games in hand. They’re five points back of Montreal, sitting third in the Atlantic. One point up on Washington. Two up on Columbus. There’s not a whole lot of room for error there.
Speaking of those teams… Up next? Columbus. After that? Montreal. Then? Toronto. By the end of this week the Wings could be third in the division or be out of the playoffs.