Everywhere you look in the NHL’s Eastern Conference playoff race, there’s a lot of winning going on – unless you happen to be looking at the Detroit Red Wings.

There is no joy in Hockeytown. The Red Wings continue to strike out.

Detroit shows a 4-5-1 slate over the past 10 games. Compared to the rest of the teams that the Wings are battling in the Eastern Conference Wild Card race, that’s a lot of losses.

Consider that the Philadelphia Flyers, now tied with Detroit at 86 points, are 8-1-1 in the past 10 games. The Boston Bruins are 6-2-2, and the Ottawa Senators are 6-3-1. The New York Islanders are 6-4, and the Columbus Blue Jackets are 5-3-2.

Do Red Wings Still Control Their Own Destiny?

Realistically, the Red Wings have just one hope left for a playoff position. That would be the second Wild Card. Boston, currently seventh in the East, is six points ahead of Detroit. Columbus, the eighth seed, is only two points above the Red Wings.

“I think there’s six teams right now (battling for playoff spots),” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “If I’m correct, there are five that are all within two points.

“The division spots will sort themselves out, and then the wild cards come into play.”

McLellan believes that since they have four games left with teams in the race – two with Philadelphia, and one each against Pittsburgh and Columbus, that destiny remains in the Red Wings’ control.

“Well, it’s still in our hands,” McLellan said. “There’s still 18 points that are left. But sometimes we play like we’re waiting for teams to do us favors, and that’s the issue that we have.

“So we’re caught in between. So realistically, it’s in our hands. We play, and we win our share of games, and I think it’ll be fine. We play teams that are right there with us.”

Red Wings Need To Start Winning

While that may be the case, the fact of the matter is that unless they start stringing some wins together, the Red Wings are just listing in the water. And treading water won’t keep them in the race.

“We know we have to go on a bit of a run for sure,” Red Wings forward Patrick Kane said.

“You got to take a day at a time,” Detroit forward Andrew Copp added. “It’s just a big game tomorrow in Pittsburgh, and we’ll deal with the next game when that happens.

“You know, you gotta live in the moment.”

That approach is appropriate for the players, but we’re allowed to look at what the grand scheme encompasses for the team.

It starts with this week’s three-game road trip. The Red Wings play at Pittsburgh (Tuesday), Philadelphia (Thursday), and the New York Rangers (Saturday afternoon). Then, they return home to face the Minnesota Wild on Sunday afternoon.

Anything less than six out of eight points from these four games must be looked upon as failure. And winning at the Penguins and Flyers, two teams the Red Wings are chasing, is pretty much mandatory. Taking two points from the reeling Rangers should also be on the docket.

That’s easily said. Getting it done is an entirely different matter.

Detroit is 3-7-2 over the past 12 visits to Pittsburgh. The Red Wings are a dismal 2-18-3 in their last 23 games at Philadelphia. And they are 3-6-0 in the last nine trips to Manhattan to face the Rangers.

On a more positive note, they are coming off a win in the most recent visit to Madison Square Garden, and have garnered four points from their last three visits to Pittsburgh.