The Tampa Bay Lightning started the season looking like a team that saw its championship window closing. But over the past 32 days, the Lightning are 13-3, with 56 goals scored and 37 allowed. They won three of their last five by at least three goals, and are probably looking at the Detroit Red Wings and saying, "Oh, we got these guys beaten. Easily."
Such is the case when you're the Red Wings, and you just let the worst team in hockey handle you with relative ease. At 5-on-5, Tampa has a 10.3 shooting percentage. And while their power play still isn't anywhere near the best in the league, if their shooting percentage in all situations is still a sparkling 12.3 percent, they don't need to be perfect everywhere.
Tampa's penalty kill unit is keeping opposing power plays at bay 88.31 percent of the time, and with an overall 0.905 save percentage, this team is rocking and rolling defensively and in the net, regardless of the situation they find themselves in.
For the Red Wings, this means they have no choice but to put their ugly loss to Nashville behind them and play a perfect game. They can't afford to slip further in the standings, especially since they find themselves in a historically bad spot here on Black Friday.
The unfortunate reality for the Detroit Red Wings and all teams outside a playoff spot
Ansar Khan of M-Live was kind enough to remind us of the grim reality facing teams that entered Thanksgiving Day outside a playoff spot. In his Thanksgiving Edition, Khan wrote, "Former Red Wings general manager Ken Holland, now the GM of the Los Angeles Kings, often cited this longstanding NHL Thanksgiving benchmark – teams in a playoff position on this holiday usually make the field.
"Since 2005-06, roughly 75 percent of teams in a postseason spot on Thanksgiving went on to qualify. In each of the past two seasons, 12 of the 16 teams above the playoff line got in."
That means the Red Wings, as history shows, have roughly a 25 percent chance of making the playoffs. But if there's good news here, it's that, if a team sitting outside a playoff position is going to make the 16-team field, they're likely coming out of the Eastern Conference.
While there's a discrepancy in points among the Western Conference teams, only nine points separate the Buffalo Sabres (22 points) and the conference-leading New Jersey Devils (31 points) heading into Friday. The Red Wings (27 points) are just four points behind New Jersey and three points behind the division-leading Lightning.
Still, that's a chilling number Khan pointed out. And if the Red Wings plan on making a push in March and April, the inconsistent game needs to stop now. It's time for the Wings to learn from their mistakes and start playing a better overall game if they want a legitimate chance at this.