Notes: Losing is not part of the Wings' vocabulary

DETROIT-- During the Red Wings' current three-game winning streak, there is one prevalent question on the minds of their fans - why?
As in, why are they winning now when losing is better?

And the Wings understand where the fans are coming from. They're aware the pot of gold at the end of the hockey rainbow is generational Swedish defenseman Rasmus Dahlin.
Certainly, the Detroit organization would be thrilled to have Dahlin wearing the red and white next season, but with each late season victory, it decreases the Wings' chances of winning the NHL lottery for Dahlin, the consensus number 1 pick in this year's NHL draft.
But the Wings will not sacrifice games to increase their odds of landing Dahlin. It's not in their DNA.
"You don't become an NHL hockey player without being really competitive," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "You think about what they put on the line with their bodies and all that, you play to win. When the puck drops, you 100 percent play to win.
"I don't think Detroit would want us to represent them with guys that didn't want to play to win. I understand the end goal of why people want that. I understand the importance of trying to get that first pick. I'm not naïve to that.
"But would you want athletes that didn't play to win? That would be crazy. We're going to play to win tomorrow night (in Columbus). We're going to do everything we can and we'll see what the result is."
Blashill admitted he would like to give some of his players more playing time in the Wings' final three games of season, but winning remains Detroit's primary focus.
"Again, for me, I've asked these guys for a couple weeks now to go out and compete like crazy and they've continued to do that," Blashill said. "Even when it was tough, they kept competing like crazy. I'm not looking at them in the eyes and not putting together a good lineup.
"I'd like to get some guys in the lineup still through the course of these last three games -- there's some guys that have done lots for this team that aren't in the lineup, I'd like to try to get them in the lineup. As a coach and player, your job is to win. Period."
After Saturday's 2-0 victory over Ottawa, many of the Wings were asked about the concept of 'lose today for a better team tomorrow.' The Red Wings were not buying into that line of thinking.
"No, no," was Dylan Larkin's response. "We have a job to do every night and every day, and we've got a lot of young guys in here. Every day is an audition and guys are trying to earn whatever it might be, whether it is more ice time next year. Your position on this team and in this league has to be earned every day."
Goaltender Jimmy Howard, who earned his first shutout of the season against the Senators on Saturday, told reporters the Wings are all about winning.
"Every single guy in here is a pretty good professional, we still want to go out there, we still want to perform, we still want to play our best, we still, you know, want to win games," he said.
Many times, when a team falls out of the playoff picture, they tend to quit on their coach. However, the Wings have continued to compete hard for Blashill. He was asked if he has taken solace that the Wings are still playing for him.
"I'll say two things. One, as a coach, when your guys play with structure, compete extremely hard and work really hard, it's hard to be a whole bunch upset," Blashill said. "You know what happened with the result but those three things have happened on a regular basis so for me, there's a level that it doesn't eat you alive the way if they don't work hard, if they don't buy into the structure, they don't do that, you'd be eaten alive internally.
"The one thing I would always disagree with though is every single time you get a chance to play a National Hockey League game, it's a special thing. Every one of these guys when their career is over will wish they could come back and be in this moment, even though it sucks that we're not in the playoffs, even though it sucks we're not in that spot, these games are meaningful and every time you put a Red Wings jersey on, it's damn, damn meaningful. I think our guys understand that and that's why they've continued to give real good efforts."
The Wings have three more games to play this season and if they were to come up on the short end of the scoreboard, you can be assured it will not be from a lack of desire or effort.
LARKIN ENCOURAGED, BUT FRUSTRATED:Larkin is notoriously known for his high compete level and his relentless work ethic.
So, it is not a surprise after a disappointing season last year, the 21-year-old Waterford native has bounced back this season.
Larkin has played his natural position of center all year and leads the Wings in points with 59 and assists with 45. He's minus-9, but he's tied with Trevor Daley with four game-winning goals and tied with three other players (Luke Glendening, Frans Nielsen, and Darren Helm) for the most shorthanded goals with two apiece.
Recently, Larkin surpassed captain Henrik Zetterberg in average ice time to lead the Wings forward corps. Larkin averages 19:48 of ice time per game to Zetterberg's 19:31.
"I think it started last year at the world championships, or in the last 20 games of the season," Larkin said about his bounce-back year. "I felt real comfortable the whole season. For the most part I was playing with the same guys, which helped me build chemistry. We went through ups and downs as a line.
"Every season it's a long, 82-game schedule but I think playing center the whole time has been the biggest key for me to be able to feel comfortable and help my linemates more."
As well as his season has gone, Larkin always sees a need for improvement in his game. He'd like to score more goals and limit his mistakes.
"Obviously, you want to score more next year and win more and do a lot of things better, but I'm still focusing on this year and trying to get better every game," Larkin said. "There's still little things I need to get better on, and big things I need to get better on. It seems like every mistake I made this year, or a key mistake at a big time, it was in the back of our net.
"There was a lot of time where I walked back in this locker room and we'd lost by one goal and if I didn't make that mistake we would have been in overtime and had a better chance to win. I still need to get better but I think it's a huge improvement from last year."
Many times this season, Blashill has raved about Larkin's determined attitude to be the best. He reiterated that point after Monday's practice at the BELFOR Training Center.
"Dylan wants to win. He doesn't want to be the leading scorer on a bad team. That's what we are right now. Our record says it. He wants to win. He wants to be the best player on the best team," Blashill said. "That's what drives him. So, if you want to be the best player on the best team, first of all you got to be unreal self-accountable.
"You got to be able to look in the mirror and say, 'I'm getting lots of ice time and lots of opportunities. When I make those mistakes, I got to find a way to get better from them.' That's what he does. It's a healthy self-accountability in the sense that although he will beat himself up a little bit, he gets back up and is able to have a short memory and play the next shift and the next game.
"He's been in lots of those moments where maybe in overtime it was a crucial mistake that he made where we lost, and he wants to turn those into wins. We've played an unreal amount of one-goal games. That's what the league is. The history of the Red Wings, I think the last three years have been each single season has been the most one-goal games, I think we rank one, two and three. That's what the league is becoming.
"So, every single mistake and play is critical. He wants to be the best player on a team that's great, and to do that you better be self-accountable. That's what makes him special."
ROOTING FOR MICHIGAN:Blashill, Larkin and alternate captain Justin Abdelkader were all born and raised in Michigan.
Each of them attended college in the Wolverine state -- Blashill at Ferris State, Larkin at Michigan and Abdelkader at Michigan State, where he scored the game-winning goal in the 2007 national championship game for the Spartans against Boston College.
With Michigan playing for the national title Monday night, the three Michigan natives were asked if they'd be pulling for Michigan against Villanova.
"Yes, I would like to see them win," Abdelkader said. "You want to see the Big Ten do well and Michigan obviously has had a great run, it's been fun to watch and I'd like to see a new national champion."
Abdlekader believes Michigan being the underdog is an advantage for the Wolverines.
"They're the pretty heavy underdog and we were a pretty big underdog when we played," Abdelkader said. "I think just making sure that the other team knows that they're the heavy favorite, they get all the media and the press, so just go about your business and not worry about the media. It's actually a good thing if people are counting them out. For us, it gave us extra motivation."
Larkin is all jacked up to see his Wolverines win the title, but he doubts if he'll stay up to watch the entire game. With a 9:20 tip-off, he'll be in bed because the Wings have a game on Tuesday in Columbus.
He usually turns in at 10 o'clock the night before a game, but he'll tune in for as long as he can.
"I probably won't make it through the second half, but I'll be able to watch," he said.
When asked what is the key for a Michigan victory, Larkin didn't hesitate for a second.
"They need to play the same game as the Texas A&M game, but I didn't get to watch because we had our own game," he said. "It was nice on Saturday, we had an early game, so we finally got to watch the game and it was fun."
Blashill will also be cheering for Michigan, but he is a bit miffed with one aspect of the championship game.
"Why do we start these games so late? I don't understand it," Blashill said. "It's late, boy, I don't know why they start them so late, it's incredible. I probably will, I'll probably stay up for the whole game."
A former college coach, Blashill understands what it takes for a team to make it to the NCAA championship game.
"The NCAA Tournament is unique in that it's one and done. Those are really, really hard ones to win. But they also increase the odds for teams that aren't always the best team, but the team that gets hottest and plays the best," Blashill said "I was part of some really good teams in college, especially in Miami (Ohio) where we felt could have went deeper than we did and we lost the one game. The team after I left wasn't as good during the year and the next thing I know they're in the final game. That's what makes the NCAA Tournament unique and special."