PREVIEW: Big playoff implications in play when Red Wings host Bruins on Saturday

DETROIT -- Both boasting identical records and battling to stay above the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs line in the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins will wrap up their four-game regular-season series when they meet at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night.

“This is what it’s all about,” James van Riemsdyk said. “This is what makes it fun. As you get down the stretch, you’re jockeying for position and trying to make the playoffs. You’re playing against the teams that are doing the same, so it makes it a lot of fun and for a fun buzz in the building. You can feel the desperation from shift to shift, just how attentive everyone is out there right from the get-go.”

The two Original Six clubs will drop the puck at 8 p.m., with TV broadcast coverage airing exclusively on ABC and radio coverage on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit. Detroit (38-23-8; 84 points) earned a 5-4 victory at Little Caesars Arena on Dec. 2, while Boston (38-23-8; 84 points) took both games at TD Garden -- first a 3-2 shootout win on Nov. 29 and then a 3-0 shutout victory on Jan. 13.

“You can feel that a lot of guys in this room have been part of what’s happened the last few years, with the playoff race starting early,” Simon Edvinsson said. “Nothing has changed, because every game right now is a must win and we have a lot of confidence…For everybody in here, it’s about continuing to play the way that we have been.”

Saturday’s nationally televised outing continues a four-game homestand for the Red Wings, who rallied with three unanswered third-period goals to defeat the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1, on Thursday. Detroit also registered a season-high 35 hits against Montreal, but head coach Todd McLellan was quick to point out that specific statistic doesn’t always reflect how physical a team truly plays on a given night.

“Physicality isn’t just hits first of all,” McLellan explained. “And even how some of these stats get charted around the League, it’s often confusing because you can go into one building and all of a sudden, you got a 70-hit night you go into another and you got a 12-hit night and you don’t feel like the game was played any different, and you rewatch it. So, the definition of a hit is pretty convoluted, in my opinion…In any case, going back to the physicality, it happens in many different ways for many different players.”

Not only will Detroit need to “play with grit” on Saturday, according to Edvinsson, but the club needs to bring a high level of intensity every time it takes the ice this late into the campaign if it expects to pocket as many points as possible given that there's less than a month left in the regular season.

“That’s going to be the biggest part for tonight, are the battles in front of the net and on the boards,” Edvinsson said. “It’s going to be a huge battle out there. It’s going to be a lot of intensity and physicality, so the team that can stand up the most is going to win this game.”

At TD Garden on Thursday, the Bruins defeated the Winnipeg Jets, 6-1. Goalie Jeremy Swayman made 23 saves in that game and brings a 27-14-4 record with a 2.73 goals-against average and .907 save percentage as well as one shutout across 46 appearances into Saturday’s rivalry clash.

David Pastrnak is Boston’s current leader in both assists (57) and points (84), while Morgan Geekie has a team-high 34 goals and the second-most points (58). 

“Certainly know the brand of hockey they want to play,” said van Riemsdyk, who spent the 2023-24 season with the Bruins. “A little bit of a throwback in that sense, just kind of the physicality. We know it’s going to be a hard game…They’re going to be finishing their checks and things like that, so we got to be ready to match that and ready to go.”