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Lucas Raymond is a bright spot worth looking forward to. This season has had a lot of downs with not enough ups. The last three game win streak was near euphoric, but the team came crashing down to earth on Saturday’s 4-0 shutout to Chicago. With one day off to recover (while traveling), the team is being thrown into a whirlwind series against Dallas.
Dallas faced a delayed start due to COVID protocol. Now, last year’s Stanley Cup contenders have to find a lot of wins in a small window. The next 6 days will see these two teams play 4 times, split between two cities. The first two games of the series are back to back. This kind of schedule is how people get hurt.
The dust has settled on the Mantha trade, and the big winger has 4 goals and 1 assist in his first 4 games with the Capitals. Vrana and Panik are still adjusting to a system where offense is hard to come by, for the sake of trying to limit goals against and aid the defense. In 4 games of this series, Detroit has a total of 7 goals scored. Dallas has scored 14, and it’s little wonder that they are up 3-1 in the series.
I would expect the taxi squad to get some reps coming up with this hectic week. The league has done a nightmare job in cramming all these games together. With an already condensed schedule, Detroit has had at least one player out from early on. Bertuzzi still isn’t healthy enough to play, and we don’t really know the issue. Fabbri, Svechnikov and Ryan have all been out, the latter done for the season. Detroit will have 2 days off after this 4 game set and then will play 4 games in 6 days. Then they’ll have 4 days off and do a final back to back against CBJ.
This whirlwind finish, the best we can hope for is good competition and limited injuries. Hopefully this will be a more “normal” summer where the players can get reps in the gym, put on muscle, heal up and have a solid camp in the fall. That’s how quickly everything is winding down. It’s a fast downhill ride to the end of the season.
Dallas, for these 4 games, is going to bring it. Detroit is the team you “can’t lose to”. Carolina’s desk jockeys were mortified by the sweep, and Chicago came out with guns blazing after Detroit’s first win in that series. Every team but one (the last two games with Columbus) is tuning up for the playoffs or trying desperately to get in. Any success Detroit can find will be hard fought and well earned.
What do you think of this scheduling? Is it too much, or am I making much ado about nothing. I have a feeling the PT guys will have long lines for the ice tanks and the massage table for these next few weeks.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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