The games count the same, but some resonate more than others, like the ones before and after breaks.

The Detroit Red Wings lost all four games (0-3-1) heading into and coming out of the Christmas and 4 Nations Face-Off breaks last season.

Todd McLellan reminded his team of that on Tuesday. Then the Red Wings defeated Dallas 4-3 in overtime before enjoying three days off.

They face another test tonight when they emerge from the break to face the Carolina Hurricanes at the Lenovo Center (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network) in a clash between teams tied for the Eastern Conference lead with 47 points.

The Red Wings (22-13-3) have won three in a row and are 9-2-2 in their past 13. The Hurricanes (22-11-3) are winless in three (0-2-1) following a five-game winning streak.

The Red Wings have come a long way from a year ago today, when, in McLellan’s first game as coach, they lost 5-2 to Toronto and wound up tied with Buffalo for last place in the East.

“We’re playing like a team. We’re making fewer mistakes. We’re resilient,” McLellan said. “The mental part of the game, we’re getting stronger, physically stronger and game management’s improving.”

John Gibson is riding a career-long eight-game winning streak, during which he’s posted a 2.12 goals-against average and .927 save percentage. It’s the longest such streak for a Detroit goalie since Chris Osgood won eight in a row in 2007.

The Red Wings are getting the secondary scoring they were lacking earlier in the season.

–Andrew Copp has 11 points in 11 games (two goals, nine assists).

–James van Riemsdyk has eight goals in 14 games.

–Emmitt Finnie has five points in six games (three goals, two assists).

–Moritz Seider has seven points in five games (two goals, five assists).

“We’re just playing well and sticking together,” Dylan Larkin said. “Just finding that consistency shift to shift and sticking with the game plan, playing for each other, especially these last few games. Some good teams we’ve played against and we’ve done our job and done it well.”

The Red Wings are coming off consecutive overtime victories on goals by Seider (vs. Washington) and Larkin.

“I feel like we just keep playing no matter what the score is and that’s the sign of a good team and you got to just play the same way, shift the shift no matter what what’s going on around you,” van Riemsdyk said. “We’ve been able to get some results, so we got to keep that going now. We know how tight things are so it’s no time to do anything else other than get ready for the next one.”