Detroit made it season's goal playing meaningful games down the stretch. The meaning is there with two games left, and now the Red Wings have the chance to not just meet that goal but exceed it

The Detroit Red Wings have played 80 games this season, and with two remaining (tonight against the Canadiens at Little Caesars Arena, then tomorrow night turning it around in Montreal), there is one glaring question left to answer: Will they earn more than the two they are assured?  

The math that will determine their fate from here is (relatively) straightforward. To earn a postseason berth, the Red Wings cannot absorb a regulation loss either tonight or tomorrow.  If they win both games, they will need Washington to drop at least one point in its two remaining games or for the Islanders to lose both their remaining games in regulation.  

If the Red Wings come up with three points of a possible four from the next two nights, they will need either the Capitals to come away with no more than two and the Penguins no more than three OR the Capitals to earn three or more, the Islanders zero, and Pittsburgh fewer than three OR the Penguins to finish with four more, the Islanders zero, and Washington two or fewer.

With that math out of the way to loom as context, there is no sense in dwelling any longer on probabilities and clinching scenarios.  As DeBrincat pointed out to The Hockey News this morning, there isn't much sense in agonizing over the other outcomes that will have to break Detroit's way to qualify for the postseason. "If we can win both of 'em, we probably have a pretty good chance," he said. "Obviously depending on the other ones, but we gotta do our job first."

It hasn't been an easy stretch run for DeBrincat, but if he can build on his two-goal effort Saturday night against the Maple Leafs and help push the Red Wings back into the playoffs, there won't be any Detroit fans worried about a slow March and April. "It's been a bit of a struggle for me recently, but hoping I can continue that and contribute more and more as we go," DeBrincat said this morning with a smile. "Hopefully, we play past these last two games."

The Red Wings have reached the moment to embrace the realization of the season's ambition—playing meaningful games down the stretch—and play their way into the possibility of exceeding it.

"The last several weeks...reminds you how fun it is to come to the rink and how hard it was last year to play the last several games that have no meaning," said thirty-five-year-old, Cup-winning winger David Perron from his locker after this morning's skate.  "That's what's you want.  You want meanings to every single game.  For anything you do in life, you want to have a reason to do it, and we have one right now."

"It's awesome," Alex DeBrincat told THN of the opportunity before him and his teammates.  "Playing meaningful games, it's what every hockey players dreams are. I think everyone steps up in these situations, and it's been fun. To stay in it until the very last day is fun, but it's gonna be a lot less fun if we don't get it done...We don't want our season to end yet."

For coach Derek Lalonde, veterans like Perron, J.T. Compher, Ben Chiarot, and Patrick Kane have helped instill a sense of calm in a group that hasn't collectively been in the place before.  When asked this morning what those players have provided, Lalonde (himself a two-time Cup champion as a Lightning assistant) replied, "poise."

"Not getting too high or too low in moments, and it's been hard to do," he continued. "Huge ups and downs. Even the other night in Toronto, obviously we build a 4-1 lead, and we come out in the second period, and I did not hate our five-on-five game, only gave up two chances against five-on-five in the second, but we blow a three-goal lead, and I think there was just a calming effect [from veterans with playoff experience], and we played a very good road third period to get us at least a point and into overtime. So I just think them handling every situation with some confidence and some poise."

And, of course, Lalonde is correct.  The race for the final playoff spots in the Eastern Conference has been a turbulent one, perhaps more reminiscent of a school field day sack race than the Olympic 100-meter dash, with each candidate surging and stumbling, losing what seemed must-wins then returning from the brink of elimination.  Since the start of April, the second wild card slot in the East has changed hands nine times.

If the Red Wings' vets have helped them keep level heads to reach this point through that chaos, the path over the finish line will have to be paved by the team's home-grown leaders Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond—the former the team's captain who has suffered through the worst of the rebuilding years, the latter just 22 years old and the most gleaming jewel to emerge from that rebuild, having played his way into stardom in this his third NHL season.

"It starts with Larks and Razor," said Perron.  "I think they've been two of our most consistent leaders offensively throughout the whole year.  They pour their emotion, they pour their hearts out in every game, and it's been awesome to see Larks play keep growing as a leader.  He's been incredible, and same with Razor."

"I think us older guys...that's something we want for him," he added of Larkin.  "More than almost every player, he's been through the whole thing.  I don't share the pain that maybe Larks and the fans have all shared over the last whatever how many years.  We have to find a way to come through for them."

"He's been building his game for two years," said Lalonde of Raymond.  "It's been impressive to watch.  When these games are another level of intensity, he's elevated the intensity.  He's finishing.  He's been out there in some five-on-six situations.  We've been using him on the penalty kill with [Andrew] Copp being out.  He's been excellent."

On the subject of Copp (who did not play Saturday night in Toronto) there is no Red Wing who better illustrates the stakes of tonight's game.  Copp took morning skate, sporting a full-cage face shield, having suffered a broken cheekbone less than a week ago.  Per Lalonde, he will be a game-time decision tonight against the Habs.

"I think that's a game that everyone would like to play in," said winger David Perron. "It's great to see him. I don't know what's going on in his situation yet; I don't want to talk, to get ahead of that, but he's pushing, and so is everybody. It's impressive that we all have something we go through. You wake up on the morning on off-days, and you feel like 'how am I gonna do this tomorrow?' But you get re-energized, and it's impressive to see him do that."

It's the time of year where nothing will come easily, and that's precisely what Detroit has been working for.  "Games have been very heavy, which is awesome," said Lalonde this morning.  "It's exactly why one of our major goals going into the season was meaningful games as late as possible.  It doesn't get any later than Game 81.  These are heavy games, but it's not only the games being heavy.  It's how you handle those emotions."

As far as the game it will take to get the four points that will best position them for a playoff bid, per Perron, it will take a disciplined effort.  "Our mindset needs to be we don't want to play a run-and-gun game with them," he said.  "I don't think that's the way to have success. And I think that's something we've done a good job of recently. Over the last couple weeks, our team game is a lot better, and we keep getting better in that department, so I'm excited to see how we do tonight."

It's not a straight path to the postseason from here, but there is clarity in the pursuit of all four standings points remaining before them.  And, to Perron's point, even with or perhaps because of the uncertainty, puck drop tonight will bring more excitement for a Red Wings game at Little Caesars Arena than there has ever been.

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