Wild at Red Wings
Although the Minnesota Wild are close to punching their ticket to the playoffs, the Detroit Red Wings' quest to extend their pronounced postseason stretch to 25 consecutive seasons is in serious jeopardy. Detroit, which hosts Minnesota on Friday, resides one point behind third-place Boston in the Atlantic Division and is two back of Philadelphia - with the Flyers having a game in hand - for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
"In March, we've given up too many goals," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill told MLive on Thursday of the team yielding 49 tallies in 14 games (6-8-0) during the month. "For the most part, we just got to clean up mental errors. We just got to make sure we're sharp in our decisions every single time." Minnesota had been sharp during its season-high six-game winning streak before suffering a 3-2 setback to Ottawa on Thursday. Zach Parise scored his team-leading 25th goal and sixth in four contests for the Wild, who sit four points behind Nashville for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference and five ahead of Colorado for the second.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NHL Network, FSN North (Minnesota), FSN Detroit Plus
ABOUT THE WILD (38-29-11): Erik Haula recorded his career-high 14th goal and 34th point on Thursday to match Andrew Brunette with a franchise-best 10-game point streak (five goals, six assists). The 25-year-old Finn has adjusted nicely to interim coach John Torchetti, collecting 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 23 games after notching just 13 (five, eight) in his previous 49. Captain Mikko Koivu has recorded nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his last eight contests and scored twice in Minnesota's 3-1 victory over Detroit on Dec. 28.
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (38-28-11): Pavel Datsyuk set up a pair of tallies in a 4-3 setback to Montreal on Tuesday to increase his point total to nine (three goals, six assists) over his last six games. The 37-year-old Russian netted his team's lone tally versus Minnesota earlier in the season, but Petr Mrazek suffered the hard-luck loss despite stopping 32-of-34 shots. Mrazek has struggled of late as he has been relieved by Jimmy Howard in consecutive outings, prompting Blashill to refuse to publicly name his starter for Friday's tilt.
OVERTIME
1. Detroit is 9-for-20 on the power play in its last six games while Minnesota has successfully killed 29-of-30 short-handed situations over its last 12 contests.
2. Wild D Marco Scandella has recorded three assists in his last five games and a career-high 16 this season.
3. Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg has scored one goal in his last 19 contests.