It’s impossible not to overreact this time of year.
Every loss feels like an insurmountable setback, every win a miracle. Unless, of course, the teams around you forget how to lose altogether, in which case winning feels more like treading water.
There’s been quite a lot of panic this week, but I think if you told most Red Wings fans that Detroit would split a two-game slate this week at home against Ottawa and on the road against Buffalo — one of the teams that has outright rejected the concept of losing — they’d take it. Oddly, it happened in the order that you would not expect, especially given which team was without its two best defensemen. But at the end of the day, it’s just numbers, and a split in that scenario is… fine. Winning two-of-three for the week would be huge.
This is the hand that has been dealt. After a few years of a point total in the low 90s being good enough for the playoffs, it’s looking increasingly likely the 9th-best team in the East will earn the distinction of being the best team ever to miss the postseason. There will be extra salt in the wound as that team will probably have a good enough record to win the Pacific Division, if geography were flexible. At the very least, that team could be better than up to five teams that will make the playoffs in the West.
Brutal. If Detroit does not want to be that team, they must cease losing themselves. I said after the Ottawa loss that it’s hard to see anything less than 7-4 being good enough to make the playoffs. That assumes a few teams around the Red Wings will come back to Earth. One win’s been ticked off, so that means 6-4 from here. Seems too low. 7 is a better bet, 8 has to be a certainty. If it’s not, an offseason exorcism is a must to figure out what deities we’ve upset so severely.
Not expecting much news from the Detroit end today, being on a back-to-back. Detroit actually opens the season series against Philadelphia tonight, with three meetings to come against the latest team to arrive at the Red Wings’ heels in the standings.
Detroit will likely start Gibson for a second-straight night, regardless of Talbot’s health. Not a super common occurrence in the NHL, but something most goalies have done frequently in junior, college, and occasionally the AHL, too. The schedule benefits this, with Detroit having two days between the Boston-Ottawa games and Ottawa-Buffalo games. A third start in a week isn’t too crazy. Michal Postava’s been great in Grand Rapids, as has every goalie who has suited up behind that juggernaut, but the stakes are too high today for an NHL debut.
On the prospect goalie front, I watched Thursday’s Griffins game, and the broadcast shared that the team decided to give Sebastian Cossa a bit of a breather after two rocky outings. Not something I see as a long-term concern given the accolades he racked up in the first half of the season, but maybe a welcome pre-playoff break for a team that had undergone a recent roster shakeup with very little to play for (they’ve already clinched the division title). The Talbot injury was especially poorly timed if they had a scheduled reset for Cossa. Although he’s been playing great, it’d be quite a vote of confidence if Postava were to get a start, though it is notable that Gibson’s usage is trending up in the second half, and he’s already left a couple games banged up.
How to Watch
Time: 8:00 p.m. EDT
TV: ABC
Radio: WWJ Newsradio 950
Red Wings Projected Lineup
Compher – Larkin – Raymond
DeBrincat – Copp – Kane
Finnie – Kasper – van Riemsdyk
Perron – Shine – Appleton
Edvinsson – Seider
Chiarot – Faulk
Johansson – Bernard-Docker
Gibson
Postava
Flyers Projected Lineup
Bump – Dvorak – Konecny
Barkey – Zegras – Tippett
Grundstrom – Cates – Michkov
Glendening – Couturier – Hathaway
Sanheim – Ristolainen
York – Drysdale
Seeler – Andrae
Ersson
Vladar
Rooting Guide: Tampa over Ottawa, Florida over NY Islanders, Minnesota over Boston, Dallas over Pittsburgh, San Jose over Columbus, Nashville over Montreal, overtimes are evil.
