Red Wings, Copp bracing for 'huge test' on upcoming trip
Andrew Copp knows his Detroit Red Wings are in for a challenge on their upcoming four-game road trip as they look to stay in the playoff mix.
"This is a huge test, four good teams, teams that we haven't really faced yet this year, teams that are above us in the standings," the forward said Wednesday. "So this is gonna be a real good measuring-stick road trip for us."
The Red Wings take on the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday and Saturday, respectively, before heading to Dallas to face the Stars on Sunday. The tour concludes with a matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.
The Panthers, Lightning, and Stars are all contenders, while the Flyers are fighting with Detroit for one of the wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference.
Here's how the race looked entering Wednesday's two-game slate:
| Rank | Team | GP | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| WC1 | Boston Bruins | 46 | 49 |
| WC2 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 44 | 48 |
| 3 | Ottawa Senators | 43 | 47 |
| 4 | Montreal Canadiens | 43 | 46 |
| 5 | Detroit Red Wings | 43 | 44 |
| 6 | Philadelphia Flyers | 45 | 44 |
| 7 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 46 | 44 |
| 8 | New York Rangers | 43 | 43 |
| 9 | New York Islanders | 43 | 41 |
| 10 | Buffalo Sabres | 43 | 37 |
Though the Red Wings aren't interested in watching the standings, Copp said they're aware of how tight the Eastern Conference is right now. Detroit forced itself into the playoff conversation by going 7-2-0 since Todd McLellan took over behind the bench in late December.
The new head coach is focused on ensuring the Red Wings aren't getting too ahead of themselves as they try to climb the standings.
"What I don't want them to do is get caught up in a seven-game win streak or a four-game losing streak. I want them to live in the moment and just worry about that. There's so much noise that goes on," McLellan said. "It can be hard if you get caught up in all of that stuff. It can take you down or it could put you too far up. Put the equipment on and let's deal with things between minute one and minute 60 and we're fine."
The Red Wings won seven straight contests before Tuesday's 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks, but Copp thinks the defeat can benefit them.
"You find a good feeling in the locker room, you forget how hard it is to get seven in a row, a little bit. ... Things were coming easy to us, so you forget how hard it is and how hard you have to fight to keep a roll like that going," he said. "Obviously we got a nice reminder of that last night.
"We can either use it as a point to springboard and as a teaching moment, or we can use it as a point in the season where we had something going but we couldn't get it going again. So hopefully, it's the former."