The Detroit Red Wings seemed to have the perfect schedule, with a three-day break between games on their current four-game Road Trip before Saturday night’s visit to Vegas Golden Knights.
Who could not use any free days in sunny Las Vegas during mid -March Madness?
But a 4-1 loss in Washington on Tuesday, Kibosh put on any potential pool time for Todd McLellan’s squad. Instead, the red wings returned (32-30-6, 70 points)-which tracks Montreal with four points for the last Wild-Card place in the eastern conference home for a couple of exercises before leaving west for a key route that will see them play three matches in four nights.
“Like all other teams, we have not had much training time,” McLellan said. “This is it. From now on at any time, it really is. If you are lucky enough to come in and play in the playoffs you get two or three days off to prepare and then you focus on a single team.”
The red wings, which are only 2-8-0 in the last ten matches, got a day off on Wednesday before exercises on Thursday and Friday.
“This interruption in the schedule, a few days with the day off and a couple of practice, is a good mini-recovery,” said Detroit captain Dylan Larkin. “I think we had a positive skate (on Thursday). Guys looked good and as if they had energy. I hope (Friday) is even better, then we are on the way. Pretty much a sprint to the goal.”
The game with Pacific Divison-leading Vegas (40-20-8, 88 points), which is three points ahead of Edmonton, starts a difficult stretch for the red wings. Detroit then plays a back-to-back in height, starts Monday night against Utah Hockey Club in Salt Lake City followed by a Tuesday competition with Colorado Avalanche in Denver.
Vegas comes in an impressive 5-1 victory over the visiting Boston Bruins on Thursday, behind a hat trick by Pavel Dorofeyev. It helped to erase the bitter taste of a four-game Eastern trip that saw Golden Knights lose three times, including an unfortunate 3-0 loss on Detroit on Sunday.
“It was a tough road trip for us and traveling home,” Vegas said forward Brandon Saad, who had two assists against Boston. “It was nice to have a few days to regroup and charge. We did a good job of making a statement (Thursday).”
No one made a bigger statement than Dorofeyev, who met the 30-goal brand with its second career hat trick.
“He put in a lot of work this summer,” said the Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy. “He has gradually gotten better through our organization. It is usually a story about a guy who works. It’s not only for a year. He has earned it. He has done a lot of the right things. He does things that give himself to success in all environments.”
Dorofeyev became the fifth player in Vegas’s story that scored 30 goals for one season and joined Jonathan Marchesault and William Karlsson, who both did it twice, together with Jack Eichel and Max Pacioretty.
It’s the first game in a back-to-back for Golden Knights, which hosts Tampa Bay on Sunday evening before going on a three-game road trip to Minnesota, Chicago and Nashville.
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