Poised Detroit Red Wings stay in playoff race, but at some point will need outside help

TORONTO — It felt, Dylan Larkin said, like he was breathing through his eyes.

There was 2:45 to play in regulation, the game was tied, and the Detroit Red Wings needed at least a point to keep their playoff chase alive. A penalty to Patrick Kane meant dealing with the Toronto Maple Leafs’ power play, and Auston Matthews chasing his 70th goal.

Larkin didn’t want to miss a second of trying to deny Matthews, of denying the Leafs, of stoking his own team’s hopes.

“I think I was on the ice for most of the penalty kill there at the end,” he said, “so I was breathing through my eyes and just trying to gut it out.”

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Gut it out: It’s what the Wings did as a group to emerge from Scotiabank Arena on Saturday with a 5-4 victory in overtime — sealed by Larkin — that kept them in the chase for a playoff spot as they head into Monday’s game against the Montreal Canadiens. The Wings’ finale comes Tuesday at Montreal, and at some point they will need help from outside, but for them to get two points on the road — that was worth enjoying, as hard as the task to advance remains.

“We know what’s at stake,” Larkin said. “We kept saying, we need the two points. To get to this point, I’m not happy we’re in this position, fighting for our lives, but in Pittsburgh and at home against Washington, we’ve been fighting for our lives here. The sacrifice, the attitude of the guys has been unbelievable. We got rewarded for all the hard work we’ve done the last stretch here where we haven’t been getting rewarded.”

The Wings reached 87 points with the victory, but remained on the outside of the playoff picture because the Washington Capitals also won to reach 87 points, and hold the tiebreaker with 30 regulation wins to Detroit’s 27. The Wings need the Capitals to come up short in one of their last two games to advance.

That isn’t something the Wings can control, but they have controlled their emotions and not let themselves get rattled, from game to game, period to period. They were up 4-1 after the first period Saturday and it was 4-4 after the second.

“You’re just kind of in the moment and this group has done it all year long,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “I love their mentality. They stay poised in a lot of situations. As great as we were at the end of the third, to get that kill, and to get a power play in overtime, I loved our approach in the third. It was a very emotional rollercoaster: We get the 4-1 lead, and then our second period – we just stressed about staying on task in the third. I thought our third period was excellent and we got what we deserved: Two full points. 

“This group, I get it, we’re not perfect like anyone else battling for this last playoff spot. The self-evaluation in the offseason, there’ll be a lot to look at. It’s been a unique up-and-down season. But it would be really hard, really hard, to knock this team’s compete and mental toughness. That’s pretty impressive.”

Larkin led the way, and fittingly, put the game away in overtime when he saw Patrick Kane had the puck on his stick and knew to go to the net. The overtime goal was ninth of Larkin’s career, tying him with Steve Yzerman and Brendan Shanahan for second most in franchise history, behind Sergei Fedorov’s 12.

“It was one of the biggest of my career and I’m hoping this year to have some more big goals,” Larkin said. “You can’t feel any better. I knew Kaner was going to look for that play and I knew I just had to have my stick on the ice and he was going to hit it. I didn’t even see it go in, but I saw Kaner, how excited he was, see all the boys rush over. What a feeling.”

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her @helenestjames.

Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from  Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.