With each passing day, it feels like virtually every NHL team is vulnerable to reports that boil down to “That win will cost you.”
The Detroit Red Wings experienced that mixture of good and bad news on Friday.
On the bright side, they won a back-and-forth game against the New Jersey Devils by a score of 5-4 thanks to Mike Green’s overtime-winner:
So that’s good. Now, for the “Yeah, but ...”
Jimmy Howard suffered a lower-body injury in this game, and according to reporters including the Detroit Free-Press’ Helene St. James, Jeff Blashill believes he’ll miss a week “for sure.” With that, Jared Coreau was called up from the AHL.
It’s nice for the Red Wings to get a hard-fought win, one that moves them to 10-10-1, particularly against a team that - for all we know - could jostle with Detroit for one of the final East playoff spots.
Losing Howard won’t make it any easier for them to stay alive in the East bubble, however.