OctoPulse podcast: Red Wings on red alert, Craig Laughlin interview
Ted Kulfan takes a look at the final seven games of the regular season for the Red Wings and Capitals analyst Craig Laughlin is the special guest.
The Wings and Capitals are tied with 82 points in the battle for the second wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference. Washington holds the final playoff position by percentage points because they've played one less game than the Wings.
"It's really a five-team race," Kulfan said on the podcast. "The Islanders and the Penguins have some momentum here. Pittsburgh has that Hall of Fame nucleus there (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang) and they actually seem to have the hot goaltender now in Alex Nedeljkovic, who Red Wings would be familiar with.
"The Islanders play a tough, playoff brand of hockey, but just like those other teams though, they haven't really gained any traction. It hasn't been very impressive. These five playoff teams haven't shown any sort of playoff caliber or playoff worthiness. Can you imagine if we had a play-in tournament right now? What would be the reason?"
Laughlin, who scored his first NHL goal with Montreal in 1981 on assists from Hall of Famers Guy Lafleur and Larry Robinson, has been Washington's TV color commentator with play-by-play announcer Joe Beninati since 1996, one year before Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond started together on the Red Wings' TV broadcasts in 1997.
"I thought it was going to be a two- or three-team race, too," Laughlin said. "Now with us losing to Buffalo and the Islanders squeaking out a win last night and Pittsburgh doesn't go away, it's a five-team race. Some are going for the Metropolitan spot. We're trying to chase down Philadelphia and we have them the last game of the season, which might have playoff implications.
"We've still got games in hand, but we've got a tough schedule. We've got Pittsburgh tomorrow at home, which is always a rivalry. It doesn't matter where we are in the standings. Pittsburgh and the Caps are one of the best rivalries in the NHL. Sid vs. Ovie (Alex Ovechkin) is always going to be intriguing. Then, we play Carolina and the surging Senators before coming to Detroit."
In the Capitals' last game against the Red Wings, Detroit coach Derek Lalonde publicly criticized center Andrew Copp for a mistake on Dylan Strome's third-period goal in the Red Wings' 4-3 overtime loss. Lalonde said, "I don't know what our center was thinking. He lost it (faceoff) clean and then lost the center, and that's the guy that banged it home. That's minor hockey. That's hockey 101."
Kulfan, who asked Lalonde about the third-period collapse in Washington, said the coach's comments were made "in the heat of the emotion of a very frustrating loss." Laughlin said, "Andrew Copp knows it was a mistake, but mistakes happen in games. Unfortunately, for Lalonde and his team, it cost them the game."
"In my day, you knew you made a mistake because you didn't play. If you made a mistake, you wound up at the end of the bench. Andrew Copp has been around the block, but at the end of the day, he'll go about his business. He's part of a very diligent third line (Michael Rasmussen and Christian Fischer are Copp's wingers) that shuts down a lot of teams."
Here are other highlights from episode 101 of the Detroit News/Detroit Red Wings podcast:
▶ 1:10: Five-team playoff race
▶ 3:30: Derek Lalonde's comments on Andrew Copp
▶ 5:50: Dylan Larkin's return
▶ 8:30: Craig Laughlin interview
▶ 27:10: Alex Lyon's track record in Florida
▶ 28:40: Handicapping the final seven games
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Previous OctoPulse podcasts
Wings-Caps' battle looms, Kirsten Simms interview
Trade deadline recap, Ted Nolan interview
Mickey Redmond's bold prediction, Madison Packer interview
OctoPulse guests in alphabetical order
▶ A: Trey Augustine, Dave Andrews
▶ B: Riley Brengman, John Bacon, Red Berenson, Matt Beniers, Scotty Bowman, Joe Bowen
▶ C: Steve Coates, Leo Carlsson, Mike Cammalleri, Logan Cooley, Caley Chelios, Cole Caufield
▶ D: Nate Danielson, Dave Drinkill, Jamie Drysdale, Ken Dryden
▶ E: Cole Eiserman, Simon Edvinsson, Mike Emrick
▶ F: Jordan Forgione, Everett Fitzhugh
▶ G: Cutter Gauthier, Dylan Guenther, Jerry Green, Stu Grimson, Gerard Gallant
▶ H: William Horcoff, Mark Howe, Cross Hanas, Luke Hughes, Murray Howe, Milan Hejduk
▶ I: Greg Innis
▶ J: Kent Johnson
▶ K: Joakim Kemell, Mark Kirton, Megan Keller, John Kelly
▶ L: Ryan Leonard, Nick Libett, Chaz Lucius, Brian Lawton, Pat Lafontaine, Nicklas Lidstrom, Craig Laughlin
▶ M: Doug MacLean, Al Montoya, Tim Mayer, Wes McCauley, Dan Milstein, Max Namestnikov, Ken Morrow
▶ N: Ted Nolan, Frank Nazar, Dwayne Norris, Pat Nagle
▶ O: Mark O'Brien
▶ P: Madison Packer, Dave Poulin, Gabe Perreault, Jakub Petr, Doug Plagens, Cole Perfetti, Darren Pang
▶ R: Abby Roque, Jason Ross, Manon Rheaume, Lucas Raymond, Marco Rossi, Luc Robitaille, Marcus Ragnarsson
▶ S: Riley Sawchuk, Bob Stauffer, Will Smith, John Shannon, Paul Stewart, Moritz Seider, Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson, Craig Simpson, Kirsten Simms
▶ T: Tripp Tracy, Bryan Trottier, Tim Taylor
▶ V: Rick Vaive
▶ W: Paul Woods, Shane Wright
▶ Z: Rick Zombo, Trevor Zegras