By Mike Whitaker
DETROIT – While their chances at attaining a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs remain slim, the Detroit Red Wings plan on playing out the rest of the regular season on a game-by-game basis.
They inched closer to a postseason berth with Friday night’s 5-3 victory over the visiting Carolina Hurricanes at Little Caesars Arena.
It was the first time this season that they’d beaten the defensively stingy club led by coach and former Michigan State Spartan forward Rod Brind’Amour.
A pair of quick strikes in both the first and second periods paced the Red Wings, who also got 30 saves from Cam Talbot.
Among Detroit’s goal scorers was forward Michael Rasmussen, who was especially noticeable on the ice.
“He’s a trusting player. You can put him on the ice in a lot of situations, penalty kill, power play. He’s been able to check, play center and wing; he does a little bit of everything,” McLellan said. “He’s probably never going to score 40, but he’ll get you 10 to 12 consistently. That’s what he is, a consistently good teammate, and we appreciate him for it.”
Patrick Kane scored his 20th goal of the season in the second period, moving him ahead of Mike Modano for the most 20-goal campaigns of any American-born player.
“He was one of my favorite players,” Kane said. “The way he skated up and down the ice, his jersey flapping behind him. One of the best American players of all time.”
The Red Wings need to string together a winning streak in order to have a realistic chance at the playoffs, something McLellan believes is still possible.
“I challenged our group after the 4 Nations break: Who are we?” McLellan said, “Are we the early team or the team that kind of got it going. We’ve proven to be more the early team than the team that got it going over the last little bit. But we talked about, the story’s not done yet. We can still write another chapter or two, so let’s get playing the way we can.”
