NHL roundup: Zach Werenski says slumping Blue Jackets ‘still in it’

A pair of struggling Eastern Conference teams in desperate need of a win will square off at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday night.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have lost six straight games while the Detroit Red Wings have dropped six of their last eight. Both clubs are trying to revive their fading playoff hopes.

Columbus (38-27-12, 88 points) lost at home to the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 on Saturday. The frustrated Blue Jackets held a team meeting following the defeat.

“I’ll just keep our conversation in here because we’re a better team than what we’ve shown and just talked about it,” Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski (Grosse Pointe) said. “We’re not eliminated. We’re still in it and I believe in this group. I believe we can get it done and it’s just doing it.

“I mean, we did it for two months. The last two weeks obviously haven’t gone our way, but it’s in the room and it’s on us to just pull it out and get it done.”

Columbus’ offense has stalled during the slide, scoring a total of 10 goals.

“We create the second most chances on the forecheck in the entire league,” Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness said. “Yet we want to get inside the blue line and make cute little plays against good teams that aren’t working. And they’re not working. So, I have to get after them. They’ve got to change their mindset.”

Werenski believes the team needs a singular mindset on Tuesday.

“We can’t worry about what other teams do or whoever we have after Detroit,” he said. “Our focus just has to be on Detroit, and after that we’ll figure it out.”

The Red Wings (40-29-8, 88 points) rallied from a 4-1 third-period deficit to tie Minnesota on Sunday. But Patrick Kane, who scored the tying goal, took a damaging tripping penalty which led to Kirill Kaprisov’s game-winner for the Wild with 1:51 remaining.

“We get the comeback and take a penalty 150 feet from our net not even in the play. It hurts,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said.

Detroit has five games remaining and might need to win them all to end a nine- year playoff drought.

“(We need to) play like we did in the third period more of the game,” Red Wings center J.T. Compher said. “We gave ourselves a chance. If we start better, it makes a little easier on us. The way we played in the third, we have to play for the rest of the games remaining.”

Detroit won its first meeting with Columbus this season on Alex DeBrincat’s overtime goal on Nov. 22. The Blue Jackets pulled out a 6-5 shootout victory in the second matchup on Dec. 4.

Draisaitl may not be ready for playoff opener

Out with a lower-body injury since March 15, Edmonton Oilers star forward Leon Draisaitl might miss the beginning of the Stanley Cup playoffs, coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters on Monday.

“Leon is going to be on the ice this week and I don’t anticipate him playing any games in the regular season, and in the playoffs, sometime in the first round if things go well,” Knoblauch said.

“I’m not ruling that out (first game of the playoffs), but I would just anticipate sometime in the first (round). There’s a period of time we anticipated his return and we said it was going to be right around the end of the regular season, at the start of playoffs.”

Despite missing the last nine games, Draisaitl entered Monday as the NHL’s fifth-leading scorer this season, posting 97 points (35 goals, 62 assists) in 65 games.

With five games left in the regular season, the Oilers (39-29-9, 87 points) are tied atop the Pacific Division with the Anaheim Ducks entering the week, and begin a three-game road trip Tuesday in Utah against the Mammoth. Edmonton closes the regular season on April 16, two days before the start of the postseason.

A three-time All-Star, Draisaitl has been a beast in the past two postseasons, helping Edmonton advance to the Stanley Cup Final in 2024 and 2025, losing to the Florida Panthers both times. In the 2025 playoffs, he compiled 33 points (11 goals, 22 assists), following a 31-point postseason (10 goals, 21 assists) the previous spring.

Fellow Oilers forward Zach Hyman, who is out with an undisclosed injury, will likely miss the road trip, which includes games at the San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings. The 33-year-old has 51 points (31 goals, 20 assists) in 57 games this season.

“Hyman, I would think he’s going to play one if not two games before the end of this season,” Knoblauch said. “So, this week he’s out and not playing.”

Last season, Draisaitl missed the final seven games with an undisclosed injury, but returned for the opener of the postseason to help lead Edmonton back to the Cup Final.