Now that the Detroit Red Wings are officially in the second half of their centennial campaign, the biggest question remains whether this will finally be the season Stanley Cup Playoff hockey returns to the Motor City.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Detroit is in about as ideal a position as it could hope for, leading both the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference standings.
In fact, with their 5–3 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Monday night, the Red Wings reached a milestone they had not achieved since the final season of Hall of Fame defenseman Nicklas Lidström’s career.
Monday’s win was Detroit’s 25th in its first 44 games, marking the team’s fastest pace to that total since the 2011–12 season.
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Their hot performance in December helped fuel their strong place in the standings, as their 11 victories during the month were the most since December 2010 and also just one shy of the franchise record of 12.
In fact, the last time the Red Wings were in first place in their division at this point in a season was 11 years ago, in January 2015. The 2014–15 campaign also marked the second-most recent time they advanced beyond the 82-game regular season.
The 2011-12 campaign was the last in the legendary career of Lidstrom, who decided to retire following Detroit's disappointing first-round postseason exit at the hands of the Nashville Predators.
Without Lidstrom, the Red Wings had to scratch and claw their way into the postseason during the lockout-shortened 2012–13 campaign. They not only upset the Anaheim Ducks in seven games but also came one goal away from defeating the eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks in a seven-game Western Conference Semifinal.
What followed were consecutive first-round exits against the Tampa Bay Lightning, first in seven games in 2015, then a quicker five-game loss in 2016, which marked the final NHL season of Pavel Datsyuk’s career.
The Red Wings, who played one final season at historic Joe Louis Arena, would move to the brand new Little Caesars Arena in the fall of 2017, but have yet to host a Stanley Cup Playoff game.
Thanks to their current trajectory, there is renewed hope in Hockeytown that playoff hockey could be returning soon.
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