Upcoming “home stretch” will break the Red Wings season but it won’t make it

The good news is that the Red Wings have five out of their next six games worth of home-ice advantage, but the bad news is that this will be no easy stretch. A pair of matchups vs. the New York Islanders (one at home, one on the road) doesn’t look tough, but the Isles are also an experienced team that has, in the past, gotten ultra-hot at random times. 

The Boston Bruins just made a coaching change, but it doesn’t erase the fact that they’ve been big players in the Atlantic Division over the past few seasons. Maybe the change will provide the spark this team needs to get back on track, meaning the Wings also can’t afford to take them lightly. 

Following their roadie against the Islanders, the Wings return home for three games against some not-so-easy opponents. Up first is the Calgary Flames, a team that is looking more and more like one that will roll for the long haul after what has been a surprising start. 

The New Jersey Devils have rebounded this year, and while the Vancouver Canucks haven’t been as hot so far this season, they’re still one of the Western Conference’s better teams and one that will likely end up in the playoffs again.

Red Wings upcoming “home stretch” might just break this season

You can’t help but laugh at the Red Wings right now, given their overall poor play so far. But that doesn’t mean this team won’t get it together at some point. However, what cannot happen is a repeat of what the Wings did during their previous road trip, in which they snagged just three out of a possible eight points, and those three points came in an overtime win. 

Should they drop four of these next six contests, it’s going to be very, very tough for this team to mount a comeback unless the rest of the Atlantic Division struggles through an unbelievably bad stretch of games at the same time. Still, if that were the case, then the Wings would do well to at least beat the Bruins and hand one of their rivals a loss in the process. 

Ideally, we would see at least four wins and a bonus point, but the Wings would most likely need to pull off a couple of upsets, given the tenacity of this upcoming schedule. But when you look at their most recent results, they have been neither good at home nor on the road this season, so it’s hard to expect anything other than sheer mediocrity. 

That said, I wouldn’t get so bold and claim that it would make their season if they stole four W’s and an overtime loss in terms of putting it back on track. At that point, they would have to prove they can be consistent from here on out. So, in short, the Wings have a lot to lose on what is mostly a home stretch, while gaining ground would simply just put them back on track at least temporarily.