Detroit — All the Red Wings can do these days is keep winning and hoping beyond hope the Florida Panthers and New York Islanders lose — and keep losing.
The playoffs are a near impossibility, but this is professional sports. And this time of year, the unforeseen and unexpected can happen.
The Wings enter Thursday’s games with 79 points (35-33-9), with five games remaining. Both Florida and the Islanders have 87 points with four games remaining. Pittsburgh has 86 points, Buffalo and Ottawa both 81.
A total of two points total lost for the Wings in these five games eliminates them. All they can do is keep winning and hope all the teams above them keep losing.
What hurts now is remembering some of the recent losses. Two to lowly Philadelphia. Another to a gutted St. Louis team. Those three games really are in the forefront, in recent weeks.
If the Wings had earned some points in those games, and probably should have, this could be a real interesting week ahead.
“If we had won a couple of games, a few more games in the last month, it would be nice for sure,” forward David Perron said. “Next year we have to get that feeling and urgency a little bit earlier, so we remember how important every game is.”
Tuesday’s 5-0 victory over Montreal was a complete a game as the Wings have had in recent weeks. They thoroughly controlled a Canadiens’ team that is counting the days for the draft lottery.
The Wings, impressively, continue to look to the next game and gobble victories where they can.
“We’ve talked about playing the right way, preaching these habits,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “The guys have bought in great, and that’s a really good sign going forward.
“This could have been a really tough stretch (after the trade deadline), especially where we were before the deadline (above the playoff cutoff line), and we flipped our roster around. We could have went one of two ways — we went the correct way and the guys have been rewarded with some victories.
“It’s been about us in this recent stretch of wins here. It’s about us playing the right way, getting a little rhythm with our forward lines and our defensive pairs and getting great goaltending. I just like how clean the game (Tuesday) was from start to finish.
“It’s encouraging, very encouraging.”
Veterans have been leading, young players are showing they belong on the roster next season. Everyone is playing for something, and it’s worked out well.
“They have an unbelievable opportunity right now,” Perron said of a group that includes rookie Simon Edvinsson, and young players such as Jonatan Berggren and Joe Veleno. “It’s crucial for them to step up and show they belong in this league and make for a hard decision for management.
“We saw at the (trade) deadline, we felt we had pushed enough and they still made decisions (to sell), so you never know when enough is enough for those guys. So you have to keep pushing.”
Five games left, and miniscule odds to get in the playoffs. But the Wings do have reasons to play well, reasons to go and finish the season well, and carry momentum into September’s training camp.
Just keep winning, and hoping for the impossible to happen.
“You try to get better every day,” goaltender Ville Husso said. “You never give up. These wins are big for our group.”
Kasper’s season done
Forward Marco Kasper, the Wings’ 2022 first-round pick, will not play again this season because of an unspecified lower-body injury.
The Wings recalled Kasper late last week, and made he made his NHL debut Sunday in Toronto.
Kasper suffered some sort of injury in the Swedish Hockey League playoffs and attempted to played through it.
Lalonde said the injury doesn’t require surgery, but it could cut somewhat into Kasper’s offseason training.
Sabres at Red Wings
▶ Faceoff: 7 p.m. Thursday, Little Caesars Arena, Detroit
▶ TV/radio: BSD/97.1 FM
▶ Outlook: The Sabres (37-32-7) are making a spirited push toward the playoffs, but Tuesday’s 2-1 loss in Florida was a major dent in their plans. … Buffalo is a robust 22-12-3 on the road, but only 15-20-4 at home. … C Tage Thompson (44 goals, 90 points) is having a major breakthrough season.
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan