Detroit won its second straight game in overtime on Thursday, 2-1, against the Colorado Avalanche. Captain Dylan Larkin and Patrick Kane both scored while goalie Alex Lyon made 30 saves for the Red Wings, who enter Saturday with a one-point lead on the Tampa Bay Lightning for the Eastern Conference’s first wild card spot.
“I thought we played pretty well,” said Kane, who is on a six-game point streak. “We played good defensively. Obviously some of their top players had some looks, which you kind of expect playing against those guys.”
Ben Chiarot, who had the secondary assist on Kane’s overtime game-winner against Colorado, said Detroit must continue to raise its intensity level as this season progresses.
“It’s not quite playoff-intensity, but it’s getting more intense,” Chiarot said. “The speed of the game picks up. The free-wheeling plays that you wouldn’t see in the playoffs don’t necessarily happen as much down the stretch here. Teams play a little more direct.”
Chiarot said the blueprint is there on how the Red Wings must play to earn a playoff berth this season.
“We have to be a tight defensive team if we’re going to be successful,” Chiarot said. “I think we’re getting there. We’re pretty decent most nights, so that’s something that’s going to be huge for us to have success.”
