Red Wings seek to build momentum vs. red-hot Avalanche

The Detroit Red Wings’ postseason hopes are fading fast after the team looked poised to make a return to the playoffs approximately one month ago.Detroit (33-31-6, 72 points) lost nine of its 11 previous games before posting a 5-1 victory at Utah on Monday night.The Red Wings wrap up a four-game road trip at the surging Colorado Avalanche (43-25-3, 89 points) on Tuesday night in Denver.The trip started with a 4-1 loss at Washington on March 18 and will end in Denver against a team that was a heated rival when they were both in the Western Conference.Five years after their last postseason meeting in 2008, the Red Wings moved to the Eastern Conference and the rivalry has cooled considerably.So has Detroit’s dominance. The Red Wings haven’t been to the playoffs since 2016, and coach Todd McLellan said his players need to do little things better if they want to end the drought.”We talk about it, wanting to be in the playoffs, but we’re not sure we always want to be in the shooting lanes, we’re not sure we — and it’s not everybody — but picking and choosing do we really want to do it around the net, do we really want to be hit by the puck. Do we want to do the board work when it’s hard?” he said.Detroit is young, led by Lucas Raymond’s 70 points (24 goals, 46 assists). Captain Dylan Larkin has 62 points (28 goals, 34 assists) and Alex DeBrincat is third with 61 points (team-leading 33 goals, 28 assists).Petr Mrazek, who left Monday’s game after a collision just 1:38 into the first period, won’t play against Colorado, McLellan told reporters after the game. Cam Talbot likely will get the start in net.

Playlist