Red Wings, Utah both out to bolster thin playoff chances

The playoff hopes of both the Detroit Red Wings and the Utah Hockey Club are fading fast entering their game on Monday night in Salt Lake City.The Red Wings (32-31-6, 70 points) are five points out of the second Eastern Conference wild-card spot with 13 games remaining while the Utah Hockey Club (32-27-11, 75 points) are four points out of the final Western Conference wild-card position with 12 games left.Detroit’s chances are disappearing faster because of its 2-9-0 record in its last 11 games, the most recent a 6-3 loss at the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night.”We have to be honest with each other,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “… We talk about wanting to be in the playoffs, but we’re not sure we always want to be in shooting lanes. We’re not sure we want to do some things, and I’m not saying everybody. Do we really want to do it around the net? Do we really want to get hit by a puck? Do we want to do the board work when it’s hard? If the answer is yes to that from everybody, then we have a chance. If the answer is yes to those questions from 85 percent of the players, we don’t.”Patrick Kane had a goal and two assists, Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat a goal apiece, and captain Dylan Larkin added two assists on Saturday.”We had a lot of good chances in the first, and you go down 3-1. It’s not the best spot to be,” DeBrincat said. “There was a lot of good. Some bad that we’ve got to clean up before the next game.”Defenseman Erik Gustafsson and winger Elmer Soderblom both missed the game after sustaining undisclosed injuries in Detroit’s 4-1 loss at the Washington Capitals Tuesday. William Lagesson replaced Gustafsson and Tyler Motte took Soderblom’s place in the lineup.The Utah Hockey Club’s 6-4 win over the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday was their third victory in four games.

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