PREVIEW: Red Wings return from Olympic break, battle Senators for opener of three-game road trip on Thursday

OTTAWA -- Now that the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 have wrapped up, the Detroit Red Wings will embark on the stretch drive of their regular season when they play the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night.

“We’re at 24 games left,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “For as much as it is about putting points in the bank, it’s also the opposite side of it where points disappear. You don’t have the opportunity to get them anymore, and it just gets squashed so fast. We’ve put ourselves in a good position, but we have to go play now. It’s really as simple as that.”

Puck drop is set for 7 p.m., with broadcast coverage on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network (97.1 The Ticket in Detroit). The Red Wings (33-19-6; 72 points) have already secured at least a split of the four-game season series with the Senators (28-22-7; 63 points), previously earning a 5-3 victory at Canadian Tire Centre on Jan. 5 and a 4-3 overtime win at Little Caesars Arena on Jan. 18.

“Very excited,” Lucas Raymond said. “Coming back from the Olympics, I’ve missed playing with the guys and Detroit. All these guys have been working hard and grinding it out, so everyone is excited to get out there.”

Ahead of the Olympic break, the Red Wings dropped a 4-1 decision to the Utah Mammoth at Delta Center on Feb 4. And now, after holding a productive mini-Training Camp over the last week-plus, McLellan said the players are itching to return to game action.

“If you look at how we approached it, we took the first day to just get our legs, hands and lungs back underneath us,” McLellan said. “And then we built from there. We took it down a little bit [on Wednesday]. Players are sick of practicing. They’re not used to that type of rhythm, especially at the NHL level regardless of Olympics or not. Even in a regular season, you don’t get that much practice time in a row, so this was odd for them.”

But getting that extra practice time was valuable for Simon Edvinsson, who McLellan confirmed will return to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 21. The 23-year-old blueliner has missed the last seven games due to a lower-body injury.  

“We get a top-pairing defenseman back that can play 25 to 30 minutes if needed,” McLellan said of Edvinsson, who has recorded 17 points and a plus-6 rating in 48 games.  “He plays in every situation. He’s got size, mobility and confidence. When you talk about a player like that, you’re thankful he’s back.”

Sixth in the Atlantic Division, and just six points behind the Boston Bruins for the Eastern Conference’s second Wild-Card spot, the Senators won five of six games heading into the Olympic break – their most recent a 2-1 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Flyers at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Feb. 5.

Tim Stützle leads the Senators with 61 points (28 goals, 33 assists), followed by Drake Batherson’s 49 points (19 goals, 30 assists) and Jake Sanderson’s 46 points (11 goals, 35 assists).

Netminder Linus Ullmark is set to start for Ottawa -- he’s 16-8-5 with a 2.86 goals-against average, .884 save percentage and one shutout in 30 games this season.

“They’re the exact same team, but getting better goaltending right now,” McLellan said of the Senators. “That was probably, I can’t speak for or analyze their team, an issue they wanted to fix and they have. All their underlying numbers…they’ve got all the elements that a real good playoff team needs.”