PREVIEW: Red Wings continue busy three-game road trip, battle Wild on Thursday

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Going for their fourth straight victory, the Detroit Red Wings will also wrap up their NHL-leading 11th back-to-back set of the season when they square off against the Minnesota Wild at Grand Casino Arena on Thursday night.

“What I’ve figured out, since I’ve been here, if you just let our guys play, sometimes they go and play,” head coach Todd McLellan said following Detroit’s 2-1 overtime victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday. “But if you challenge them with different stats or moments, you get their attention and they seem to be better that way.”

The first of two contests between the Red Wings (31-16-4; 66 points) and Wild (28-14-9; 65 points) this season will feature a 9:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. CT puck drop, with TV broadcast coverage airing exclusively on ESPN and radio coverage on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit.

“[Thursday’s game] will be another challenge for us,” McLellan added. “Travel, border, late game -- you can go on and on and look for reasons why you shouldn’t play real well. Yet, I think our group will respond.”

After Wednesday’s big overtime win in Toronto, Detroit entered Thursday tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning (66 points), who had three games in hand, atop the Atlantic Division and Carolina Hurricanes (66 points), who had one game in hand, for first place in the Eastern Conference.

Goalie John Gibson, who finished with 30 saves on Wednesday for his seventh straight win, said being in the middle of a neck-and-neck race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs is energizing -- something he hasn’t experienced since his time with the Anaheim Ducks earlier in his career.

“That’s why I came here,” Gibson said. “I want to help [the Red Wings] get to the playoffs. That’s the spot we’re in. I think if you ask anybody around, they’d be more than happy to be in this spot, and I am too. Not going to take it for granted, but there’s still a long way left.”

Like Gibson, Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin spoke about a club that, although encouraged by its current position in the standings, also knows it still has over two months left in the regular season.

“Yes, winning is fun,” said Larkin, who netted the game-winning goal at 3:08 of overtime against the Maple Leafs. “Coming to the rink when you’re winning is way better than when you’re losing, but I think our team is pushing for more and maybe not even satisfied with where we’re at. That’s Todd and Yawns coming in and creating that environment of pushing and pushing. I think we’ve responded well to it. It’s been kind of interesting -- we’re in this position, and it feels like we’re pushing even harder than we have before.”

Most recently dropping a 4-3 decision to the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Tuesday, the Wild are 4-4-2 in their last 10 games and sit third in the Western Conference’s Central Division.

In terms of Minnesota’s offense, Kirill Kaprizov has a team-high 59 points on 25 goals and 34 assists while Matt Boldy leads the group in scoring with 27 goals and ranks second in points with 51. Then there’s Quinn Hughes, who has recorded 21 points (two goals, 19 assists) in his first 19 games with the Wild since being acquired via trade on Dec. 12.

Minnesota’s goalie tandem of Filip Gustavsson and rookie Jesper Wallstedt have combined for 28 wins, a 2.63 goals-against average, .912 save percentage and seven shutouts.

“We have a lot of work that we need to still put in,” McLellan said. “Equate it to a boxing match: If you drop your guard, and somebody throws a big punch at you, it will take you a while to get off the mat. That’s not what we want. We want to build our game, day in and day out. I think the resiliency and belief in the group are where it needs to be now. And you know, with that respect we’ve earned, it comes with responsibility. That’s a tough thing to hold up to. But I expect our guys to do it, night in and night out.”