Detroit — The Red Wings didn’t want this bad taste to linger into the offseason, and take away what they’d accomplished earlier in the schedule.
The six-game winless streak that stretched over last weekend, the losing over the last month, it was beginning to take a toll.
The Wings wanted to reverse course, and did so by defeating Boston and Winnipeg on back-to-back nights Tuesday and Wednesday. They need to maintain this momentum a few weeks more, until the season concludes.
But, for now, there’s finally a good feeling around the Wings’ locker room.
“You don’t want to ever have a bad feeling about yourself or your team going into the offseason,” said forward Michael Rasmussen, who has been one of the keys in this turnaround. “Everyone just wanted to finish off these last games well and have a good feeling and take some steps forward in the right direction for the coming years.
“We’re just trying to build and put ourselves in the right direction.”
Two weekend losses against Ottawa, a team beneath the Wings in the standings, might have been rock bottom.
Players spoke out within the locker room, about the direction this season was headed. Nobody wanted the negativity to continue.
“Everyone collectively was frustrated with how things were going, and as a group we decided to collectively get our heads down and work harder and try to come up with some results,” Rasmussen said. “The past two games have been good for us. Top to bottom, everyone has had great efforts and we’ve come out with two wins.”
Particularly, Wednesday’s victory in Winnipeg was an eye-opener.
The Wings had an emotional victory at Little Caesars Arena the evening before against the Bruins, and arrived in Winnipeg in the wee hours of the morning.
The Jets were a desperate team needing every possible victory to stay in the playoff race, while playing in one of the best home-advantage rinks in the NHL.
All the Wings did was play one of their better all-around game of the season, getting timely goaltending from Thomas Greiss and dominating play over the final 40 minutes to win consecutive games for the first time since Feb. 9-12.
“Something we talked about before the game was these are the games we haven’t been good enough,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “When we’ve had our legs and everything sets up, we’ve been on top of people and we have had great energy. In these types of games (back end of challenging back-to-backs), we have to be better at.
“Every back-to-back is not the same, and this (was) a more difficult one for sure. When you see this one on the schedule, you know it’s going to be a difficult one. But you have to find a way if you want to be a good player to be effective in these types of games.
“This can be a real hard building to play in, and we did a decent job of taking the energy out of the building. That’s what you have to do on the road. You have to try to make it a boring game and find a way to win and we did that.”
What has pleased Blashill is the fact the Wings are again playing with the intensity and passion they were earlier in the schedule. When the losing continued over a long period of time, the Wings’ mindset changed a bit.
“We’ve done a better job here lately with that level of sacrifice,” Blashill said. “A lot of guys, and specifically some young guys, have really raised their game.”
Rasmussen rolling
Rasmussen has been one of the keys in this Wings’ turnaround, with four goals in the last five games, including the game-winner Wednesday.
Rasmussen has 12 goals for the season, and is playing some of the best hockey of his young career.
“He’s playing at another level; he’s one of those guys who has really raised his game,” Blashill said. “He has a burning desire to be good and he works at it. He cares a ton and that has never wavered. There have been moments when he’s needed to play better and he’s lost some confidence because from a coaching aspect we were trying to push him to be better.
” But he’s got all that back and he’s playing excellent hockey.”
Rasmussen insists nothing has changed much for him, even during this hot streak.
“I try my best every night to compete as a hard as I possibly can and just play as hard as I can,” Rasmussen said. “I don’t know, they’re just kind of going in. I guess for maybe a little bit I was snakebit. I’m just trying to work as hard as I can every night, be a good teammate and just do well by my teammates.”
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Sage veteran
Forward Sam Gagner scored two goals Wednesday, a shorthanded tally to open the scoring and an empty-netter to clinch the victory.
The two goals gave Gagner 500 points in his career.
Gagner’s influence on and off the ice has been a huge benefit for a young roster the past couple seasons.
“Sam’s been really good in a lot of ways,” Blashill said. “He’s really turned himself into an accountable 200-foot player. He’s got good poise. He’s really, really smart. He’s very, very thoughtful as a person, and he’s provided really good leadership.
“At times, when it’s been easy for us to kind of point fingers and place blame, he’s a good who stood up and said, ‘We have to look at ourselves first.’ And he’s done a real good job of that.”
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan