Detroit Red Wings on killer schedule: A reminder of what winning hockey looks like

Just as the Detroit Red Wings seemed to have something to build on, it crumbled. And now comes a stretch against a series of potential wrecking balls.

The Wings, after dropping two mostly close games, face six straight games against opponents jostling for playoff positioning, beginning Thursday at the Carolina Hurricanes. After the Hurricanes come a Saturday matinee at the New York Rangers, playing on Easter at home against the Florida Panthers, and then a trip to Tampa Bay and Florida, and then Pittsburgh in the last game this season at Little Caesars Arena.

"Those are teams getting ready for next level," coach Jeff Blashill said. "It will be a continued reminder for us of what it takes to play winning hockey and we have to make sure that we’re more efficient."

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The Wings (28-35-10) weren't efficient Tuesday at LCA, and that led to the ignominy of losing for the third time to the Ottawa Senators, who sit below the Wings in the standings.

"We’re trying to get in their zone and create offense, but against this team, we had a tough time finding ways to do that," alternate captain Marc Staal said. "We’re still giving up too many chances off the rush. We need to be more solid from the red line in. We have guys that are skilled enough to score, we just have to keep working on tightening up in the defensive zone."

It was a 2-1 game until the last minute, when the Senators scored two empty-net goals. In the prior game, the Wings scored four goals but lost in overtime to the Columbus Blue Jackets, another team that's not advancing to the playoffs. What's damming is that those losses came after the Wings beat the Boston Bruins and then went into Winnipeg and won, scoring back-to-back wins against teams that needed the points.

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"I would say if you look back over the last four games, we’ve had better urgency, better sacrifice. I don’t know that urgency was lacking, I do think we didn’t play right enough. Sometimes you want to win and you start to hoping you get the puck on offense or you cheat for offense a little bit. It wasn’t a lack of urgency or care, but it was definitely not playing the right way."

Tyler Bertuzzi scored on a power play against the Senators, but he was a minus-4 for a second straight game, as was Dylan Larkin. Lucas Raymond had an assist but was also minus-4, after being minus-2 against Columbus.

The Wings are nine games from the end, and the lessons are the same as they have been: Take care of the puck, limit defensive-zone time, don't give up easy opportunities and shoot the puck whenever possible. They just pulled themselves out of a six-game losing streak, and the stretch ahead is as tough as it gets. But that's the lesson of playing hockey that wins.

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings' tough schedule has six straight playoff-bound foes