Lalonde sees positives: It isn’t ‘throw tables’ time
Red Wings head to Florida, trailing by 2 points in bid for final wild-card spot
SUNRISE, Fla. – Derek Lalonde spent a chunk of Friday’s practice observing from the bench as the Detroit Red Wings prepared for their next game.
It wasn’t a full contingent on the ice, as Dylan Larkin had a maintenance day and Patrick Kane was still dealing with illness, but Lalonde said Larkin will be available for Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. game against the Florida Panthers, while Kane is questionable. Lalonde sounded encouraged Austin Czarnik, who also has been ill but did skate, will be available.
The Wings later Friday called up center Zach AstonReese from the Grand Rapids Griffins under emergency conditions to suit up for Saturday’s game if needed.
They need all the hands possible as they try to turn this road trip into a success, which means gathering at least as many points as there are games. They have one point through the first three, so that’s easy math: They have to beat the Panthers and then, on Monday, the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“This isn’t throw tables, bang water bottles (time),” Lalonde said. “It’s keep pointing things out. There are positives in our game and we just have to keep finding those positives, build off that, even a little bit more, and try to get some results.”
Lalonde called Friday afternoon’s roughly halfhour practice at Amerant Bank Arena, “a morning skate plus. A little more intensity. Just some habits that we want to work on with the puck. It’s important to get some reps.”
The Wings (36-27-9) are two points out of the second wild-card berth in the East with nine games to go, having collected just seven points since Feb. 27. They played well defensively in the first two games of the trip (a 1-0 loss to the Nashville Predators and 4-3 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals), but made a couple egregious errors in Thursday’s 4-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Lalonde pointed out the Hurricanes made one, too.
“We had a breakaway,” he said, “that’s an egregious mistake on one of the best teams in the league. But, it didn’t go in the net. Unfortunately some of our quoteunquote egregious mistakes end up in our net.
“You have to continue to grow in those areas. It’s a good learning lesson for our group that every play is really, really important this time of year, and against these top teams, you need every play. The message post-game was keep building. I liked our third period. I asked our
guys to stay with it, try to build something in the third, and we had a very strong third period. And we got some help in the league, which is the reality of where we are at in the moment.”
That help was from the Toronto Maple Leafs, who handed Washington a loss, keeping the Capitals at 81 points.
“This is what everyone in here plays for, is to have the opportunity to make it into the playoffs,” defenseman Jeff Petry said. “Different teams get in in different ways. Our focus is one game at a time, knowing the spot we are in. You’ve got to focus on the task at hand.”