PREVIEW: Red Wings, Rangers meet at Madison Square Garden for Saturday matinee

NEW YORK -- Hoping to return home with two more critical points as their push for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs continues to accelerate, the Detroit Red Wings will end their three-game road trip when they take on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday afternoon.

“We know what’s at stake here,” Simon Edvinsson said. “We need to win most of the games we have left here. I think everybody is very dialed into that, so everybody wants to show that our game speaks for itself. It’s going to be two weeks here that we’re going to be putting everything into the games. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Puck drop for the third and final regular-season clash between Detroit (40-27-8; 88 points) and New York (31-36-9; 71 points) is set for 12:30 p.m., with TV broadcast coverage exclusively on ABC and radio coverage on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit. The Red Wings secured a 2-1 win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16 after dropping a 4-1 decision at Little Caesars Arena on Nov. 7.

Thursday’s big 4–2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena opened the April portion of Detroit’s regular-season slate, which, after Saturday’s matinee, includes a four-game homestand from April 5–11 and a two-game road trip from April 13–15.

“We see the new light here,” Edvinsson said. “So, to get a win to start [the month of April] was great, especially to play the team game that we played was huge. I think that gave us a lot of energy as well.”

The Red Wings achieved their goal of responding to Tuesday’s setback in Pittsburgh by getting off to a stronger start against the Flyers -- Alex DeBrincat’s first of two goals on the night gave them a 1-0 lead late in the first period -- and James van Riemsdyk felt they maintained a high level of focus the rest of the way.

“I think we came in with a really good mindset, just as far as our execution and desperation levels, and making sure we valued the correct things on the ice,” van Riemsdyk said. “I thought all of our details were really sharp for the most part, as far as making strong plays on the boards, not giving too much for free to the other team and then, obviously, yeah, Gibby’s playing unbelievable for us. He’s a big part of our team in that way too, but I liked our mindset right off the bat.”

Now, Detroit’s task is to replicate that performance and sustain that approach down the stretch to bank as many points as possible before April 15.

“I don’t know what the outside world thinks it’s like in here,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “It’s a grind. It’s not an excuse, but not everybody has their best day all the time…Emotions come into it and stress comes into it. So, teams have good days and bad days. If you didn’t there’d be a team with 82 wins. We’re trying to have more good ones than bad ones right now. Maybe yesterday is a contagious game, we can catch that energy again and put it into a string of wins.”

The Rangers, who are currently at the bottom of the Eastern Conference and were eliminated from postseason contention on March 25, saw their three-game winning streak end with a 3-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at Madison Square Garden on Thursday.

Mika Zibanejad leads his Original Six squad with 71 points on 33 goals and 38 assists, followed by Alexis Lafrenière with 52 points (22 goals and 30 assists) and Vincent Trocheck with 50 points (15 goals, 35 assists). Across a team-high 48 starts, netminder Igor Shesterkin is 24-17-6 with a 2.53 goals-against average and .912 save percentage with one shutout.

“They know where they are and know what’s ahead of them,” McLellan said of the Rangers. “There’s not a lot of stress. They can play relaxed, and when they do that, they sometimes play with a little more risk which can lead to reward at the other end. But, it can also make you pay. Teams tend to play loose once you’re out. It can be dangerous.”