Red Wings at Canucks
Barring a miraculous finishing kick over the final 22 games of the season, the Detroit Red Wings' 25-year playoff run -- the third-longest streak in league history -- will come to an end. Lagging 11 points out of the second wild card, the Red Wings open a five-game road trip with a visit to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night.
Detroit showed it is still a tough out, rebounding from a five-game skid (0-4-1) by knocking off NHL-leading Washington and defending champion Pittsburgh on back-to-back nights. That preceded a 3-1 home loss to the New York Islanders one week ago in the final game before the Red Wings' bye. The Canucks are nine points out of the final playoff slot in the Western Conference, but revealed their thinking by trading away veteran Alexandre Burrows on Monday. Vancouver is battling another obstacle as five players were forceed to sit Saturday's 4-1 loss to San Jose while showing symptoms related to the mumps.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, Sportsnet Pacific (Vancouver)
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (24-26-10): Detroit made one roster move during its bye, sending once-promising forward Tomas Jurco -- zero points in 16 games this season -- to Chicago for a third-round pick in this year's draft. On Monday, the Red Wings signed a much less heralded player, rookie defenseman Nick Jensen, to a two-year contract extension. “It feels really good,” said Jensen, 26. “That gives you the feeling that they trust you and they’re giving you a pretty good chance of two years."
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (26-29-6): Burrows no longer has the skills that produced 117 goals during a span of four seasons, but general manager Jim Benning still found difficult to part ways with a veteran who played all 822 games in a Vancouver uniform. "It's been a hard day," Benning acknowledged. "Alex Burrows has been the heart and soul of this team, but we got a good player back." Benning acquired highly regarded Jonathan Dahlen, a 19-year-old Swede who was a second-round draft pick in 2016.
OVERTIME
1. Canucks Ds Troy Stecher and Chris Tanev were back at practice Tuesday and are expected to face Detroit.
2. Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin has zero goals and one assist in the last 13 games.
3. Dahlen registered 24 goals and 41 points in 43 games this season with Timra IK of the Swedish hockey league.