Detroit Red Wings looking at 'mental battle' to end losing skid. Here's why
The challenge may be more mental than physical for the Detroit Red Wings: Missing their captain and leading scorer, playing a top-tier team, on the road, trying to nip a losing streak.
Such is the scenario in which the Wings find themselves as they embark on a four-game trip that begins Wednesday against the Colorado Avalanche in Denver. Dylan Larkin will miss the stretch because of a lower-body injury that is expected to sideline him approximately two weeks, and the Wings will miss him.
But that can't distract from the overall need to do what the Wings did when the Avs were in Detroit two weeks ago: Bank two points — especially since the Wings (33-22-6) haven't picked up any points their past two outings.
OH, CAPTAIN: How Detroit Red Wings will deal with losing Dylan Larkin for 2 weeks
"I haven’t hated our games of late — even the Islanders game, it was a pretty good game," coach Derek Lalonde said Tuesday. "Really frustrating the other night, we’re sitting 0-0, 30 minutes in, they score two, and it completely changes the game. But if we’re going to be successful, especially with Dylan out, it’s about keeping it out of our net.
"Certainly no shame in losing to the Islanders and Florida. Florida is beating everyone right now. But now you’re looking at a two-game losing streak and you’re on the road at Colorado, undermanned a little bit. It’s just different. I think this comes into a mental battle of stopping those stretches and it starts with keeping it out of your net."
The plan is to deal with Larkin's absence — the Wings are 2-4 without him this season — by promoting speedy Joe Veleno to Larkin's spot centering the top line and inserting Klim Kostin (who has sat out eight games as a healthy scratch) into the lineup. The Wings could also use 11 forwards and seven defensemen, a format Lalonde has been comfortable with in the past. Unless necessary, there's no plan to call up anyone.
That could change if the losing continues. But the Wings have prided themselves all season on their depth, and the last time they were without Larkin for four games, in mid-December, they were also without top-six forwards J.T. Compher and David Perron.
More recently, the Wings had a six-game winning streak going prior to losing 5-3 to the Islanders and 4-0 to the Panthers, and that winning stretch included a 2-1 overtime victory over the Avs. Nathan MacKinnon had Colorado's sole goal; he has a 30-game home point streak going, in which he has amassed 65 points. (He has 105 points on the season).
"A team like Colorado is a world-class team, and we have to be ready to come play," Veleno said. "We can’t be finding excuses like 'Our captain is out.' We have earned ourselves the right to be in this spot we’re in now. We want to be a winning team and push for a playoff spot."
It's a compliment to how successful the Wings have been in 2024 (16-6-2) that a two-game losing streak comes under such scrutiny.
"I don’t think there’s any worry,' Andrew Copp said. "Obviously missing Larks, everyone has to step up, but we just lost to the defending Eastern Conference champion. They’re on an absolute roll. It’s not the end of the world that we lost to the Florida Panthers."
After Colorado, the Wings play Friday — the day of the trade deadline — against the Coyotes in Tempe, Arizona, and then Saturday against the Golden Knights in Las Vegas. The plan is to stay in Vegas over the weekend, practice there Monday, and then fly directly to Buffalo to play the Sabres there Tuesday.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 'Mental battle' looms for Detroit Red Wings to end losing skid
