PREVIEW: Still in the Wild-Card race, Red Wings host Devils for Eras Night: People of Hockeytown on Saturday

DETROIT -- Reaching their 2025-26 regular-season home finale, the Detroit Red Wings will host the New Jersey Devils for Eras Night: People of Hockeytown, presented by Coca-Cola and Meijer, at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.

“It’s do-or-die now for the rest of the way until the end, and we need to win every single game because every point really matters,” Carter Mazur said. “We got to show up for the fans and get it done for them.”

Detroit (41-29-9; 91 points) and New Jersey (40-36-3; 83 points) will drop the puck at 5 p.m. with broadcast coverage on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit and 97.1 The Ticket. Ahead of tonight’s game, the Boston Bruins (43-26-10; 96 points) and Ottawa Senators (42-27-10; 94 points) are each scheduled to play and currently hold the Eastern Conference’s first and second Wild-Card spots, respectively.

“Ottawa is going to do their own thing, and whatever the outcome is, the outcome is,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “We have to play at 5 p.m., and that’s what we have to do. The tiebreakers and all that type of stuff, if we’re even lucky enough to get involved in any of that, we’ll know those scenarios in the last game. They’re really irrelevant right now. Any result that Ottawa has, we’ll still have to play and win.”

Moritz Seider (one goal, four assists) and captain Dylan Larkin (three goals, one assist) fueled one of Detroit’s most explosive offensive efforts of its Centennial campaign in a 6-3 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday. With the win, the Red Wings snapped a five-game home-ice winless skid and improved to 21-15-4 inside Little Caesars Arena this season.

“When the leaders take over, it’s easy to follow them,” Mazur said. “They just lead in the right way. Hopefully, they keep it going and we keep following them.”

McLellan expressed strong belief that the emotional lift from Thursday’s big Eastern Conference clash can serve as a springboard heading into his group’s final three regular-season contests. 

“We had a fairly quick practice [on Friday afternoon], but there was some energy in the group,” McLellan said. “They felt better about themselves. All of that’s positive, so anything leading into the game indicates that we’re set to go. Just like losing can take you down, I think winning can lift you up. But, you can’t just do it one night. We got to keep doing it and see where it takes us.”

The Devils, who are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games, were eliminated from 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs contention on Tuesday. They most recently suffered a 5-2 setback to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Prudential Center on Thursday.

Jack Hughes leads New Jersey in points (73) and is tied with captain Nico Hischier for the most goals (26), while Jesper Bratt ranks first in assists (48). Netminder Jake Allen is expected to start, bringing a 16-17-2 record with a 2.74 goals-against average and .904 save percentage across 35 starts into the first half of his club’s weekend back-to-back set.

“If I have to give them a message to make them aware of where they’re at … forget about where Jersey’s at,” McLellan said. “It’s about where we’re at and what we need to get done. And that’s not showing any disrespect to our opponent. They’re a very dangerous team…But, I expect that our guys at five o’clock will be as ready to play as they’ve been in any game throughout the year.”