Red Wings meet to gear up for a playoff push

DETROIT --Without trying to sound too redundant, the Red Wings are aware it's now or never for them to string a significant number of victories together if they're going to make the playoffs.
The Red Wings (46 points) are currently in fourth place in the Atlantic Division, 15 points behind Toronto for third in the Atlantic.

Third place is the final guaranteed playoff spot in the division and even though Detroit has two games in hand on the Maple Leafs, catching them appears unlikely.
In the wild card race, Detroit trails Philadelphia by 10 points for the second and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Red Wings have a game in hand on the Flyers.
Detroit's' task is daunting, but not impossible.
Several teams have made a mad dash during the season to qualify for the playoffs, and the Wings believe it could happen for them.
Ottawa was 21-3-3 in its last 27 games in 2014-15 to make the playoffs. In the same season, Minnesota complied a 28-9-3 in its last 40 games, sending it playoff-bound.
Philadelphia went 26-12-7 in its last 45 games in 2015-16 to become a playoff team, and this season, after a horrific start, including a 10-game losing skid, the Flyers put together a 15-5-1 record to catapult back into the playoff picture.
Before they gathered on the ice for their first practice at the BELFOR Training Center after the All-Star break, the Wings held a team meeting with players and coaches to discuss their plight.
When asked what was the main message of the meeting, Wings coach Jeff Blashill was direct.
"We can't let things slip by. We got to make sure we're ready for these 34 games," Blashill said. "We got to make sure we don't let anything slip by."
Blashill was reminded the Red Wings really haven't shown much during the season to prove they're capable of going on a prolonged run of winning.
"You're right, the past hasn't predicted a run," he responded. "That's why all of you and pretty much everyone in the hockey world would bet against us right now. I get that. Where do you get confidence from that? One would be history. I don't know where Ottawa's run came from that year. I'm sure they never won that many games in a row and all of a sudden, boom, they're as hot as can be.
"I don't know where Philly's run came from a couple years ago, but all of a sudden, they got hot and they couldn't lose. I know we have the players to do it."
Confidence is the elixir for athletes. If they feel confident, there isn't a barrier they cannot conquer.
"We have 34 games left so we need to wake up quick. We need to play the best hockey we've played all year," forward Anthony Mantha said. "We need to believe in ourselves and everyone needs to bring their 'A' game every night and I think we can have success. Everyone needs to crank it up a little bit. We need to shoot more, we need to take the mental mistakes out of our game, bad changes and things like that. Everything needs to be better in general.
"So, if everyone does their part in the next couple of games, then we got a winning streak going on and our confidence will come back and the whole team (will) just (be) going up from there."
Goalie Jimmy Howard echoed Mantha's comments. Howard has always believed the Red Wings can accomplish so much, but he cannot put his finger on why the Wings haven't been able to find and maintain a winning touch.
"I don't know. I wish I could really answer that truthfully. We're all at a loss when it comes to that," Howard said. "Now everything is going to ramp up. The playoff push usually starts right after the All-Star break. We have 34 games left to do something special here.
"Teams have done it before, there's no reason why we can't do it. It all starts tomorrow night. We just got to find a way to get on a roll and that starts with not getting too far ahead of ourselves, just starting with the Sharks tomorrow night."
Blashill feels the way for Detroit to turn its fortune around is simple.
"We've got to score more goals. And that's easy to say and we've had chances, so you've got to bear down on your chances," he said. "We have some great, great chances. We've out-chanced our last two opponents and haven't won the game. When you out-chance your opponent, generally history tells me you win. We haven't, so we have to make sure we bear down on our chances.
"I've talked lots about this, but I'll keep continuing to hammer our guys with this. We've got to shoot the puck more and get more people at the net. We've got to score more greasy goals. I think if we scored a few more goals, it makes it easier on you. We can't give up easy goals. We can't shoot ourselves in the foot.
"You can't have a turnover on a line change and have them come in and score. You can't. We haven't solved that yet, but if we do, it makes it way easier on yourself. You can't make it harder on yourself than it already is. It's a hard, hard league. We've got to make it as easy as possible and we have to find a way to score more goals."
RED WINGS ARE BECOMING HEALTHY: If everything continues to progress in a positive direction, the Wings could have Trevor Daley, Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm back in the lineup for Wednesday's clash against the San Jose Sharks.
"My belief is that Abby will be good to go but we'll see tomorrow morning," Blashill said. "Between Trevor, Abby and Helmer, I think there's a great chance that all three will play. We'll know more tomorrow morning."
Abdelkader and Helm have been out since January 13, each suffering a lower-body injury. They have missed Detroit's last six games. Daley has been out with a lower-body issue since January 22 and has missed four games.
It would be a boost to get all three players back against the Sharks.
Helm and Abdelkader have been terrific penalty killers and the Sharks have the fifth-best power play in the NHL.
Daley is second in ice time on the Wings, clocking in at 20:20 per game. All-Star defenseman Mike Green leads the Wings in ice time, averaging 22:37 per game.
DALEY'S SENSE OF URGENCY:Daley won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins before signing as a free agent with the Wings last summer.
He knows what it takes to make the playoffs and like many of his teammates, he realizes it is up to players to make it happen.
"We put ourselves in a tough position, but we could take ourselves out of it, too," Daley said. "It could be real good around here. Now is the time to get it done.
"There's still a lot of games left with a lot of points out there. It's one game, one shift, one period at a time but we realize how desperate this is right now. The time's right now. We've got to get it done right now."