{"id":260669,"date":"2025-10-22T23:10:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T23:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/260669\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T23:10:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T23:10:13","slug":"detroit-red-wings-surge-to-top-of-atlantic-division-prepare-for-challenging-road-stretch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/260669\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Red Wings surge to top of Atlantic Division, prepare for challenging road stretch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">DETROIT \u2013 Despite stumbling out of the gate in the season opener, the Detroit Red Wings have surged to the top of the Atlantic Division. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The team is currently riding a five-game winning streak &#8212; defeating tough opponents including the Toronto Maple Leafs twice, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and Edmonton Oilers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">These teams were among the top contenders last season, with Toronto winning the division, Tampa Bay finishing second, and Florida defeating Edmonton in the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Wings captain Dylan Larkin has been on fire. Larkin\u2019s nine points over four games earned him the NHL\u2019s first star of the week &#8212; highlighting his strong early-season play.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Despite the positives, Detroit faces a tough stretch ahead, with seven of their next eight games away from Little Caesars Arena.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Defenseman Moritz Seider emphasized the importance of a strong start and a simple, focused approach on the road. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe want to keep it simple and don\u2019t want to fuel their power play in any kind of situation. Those are usually momentum changers,\u201d he said. \u201cBe simple with the puck, get shots early, and make them defend \u2014 pin them in their own zone and hopefully strike on offense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The team will be without forward Patrick Kane, who was injured Friday after crashing into the boards and will miss at least the next two games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Tonight, at 7:30 p.m., the Wings will face the Buffalo Sabres, a team that has long been a tough opponent for Detroit. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Wings hold a 6-3-1 record against Buffalo in their last 10 matchups and went 2-1-1 against them during the 2024-25 season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">While Buffalo has started this season with a 2-4-0 record, they always bring their best effort against Detroit. Former Wings goalie Alex Lyon is expected to play a key role for the Sabres in tonight\u2019s game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Coach Todd McLellan stressed that a team\u2019s record doesn\u2019t change the challenge of any matchup. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cI don\u2019t buy the trap game theory at all,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery team in the NHL is very skilled, talented, and has a chance to win on any given night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2025 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2013 Despite stumbling out of the gate in the season opener, the Detroit Red Wings have surged&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5101],"tags":[599,93,5137,5,4,3358,37808,5138],"class_list":{"0":"post-260669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-red-wings","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-red-wings","10":"tag-detroitredwings","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-red-wings","14":"tag-red-wings-2025-2026-season","15":"tag-redwings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115420347489435059","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}