DETROIT - Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill didn't go all Jim Mora on Tuesday with a high-pitched, incredulous rant of "Playoffs, playoffs?"

Instead, he pulled out examples from the past where seemingly down-and-out teams have gone on remarkable second-half runs to reach the postseason.

The Red Wings returned to the practice ice Tuesday, following a four-day All-Star break, facing a monumental task. They are 11 points out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. And if that isn't a tough enough hurdle to overcome, there are five teams ahead of them also chasing the final spot.

The Red Wings (19-21-8) haven't won more than four in a row this season. What makes them think they're capable of such a run?

"You're right, the past hasn't predicted a run. That's why all of you and pretty much everyone in the hockey world would bet against us right now," Blashill said. "Where do you get confidence from that? One would be history. I don't know where Ottawa's run came from that year? All the sudden, they're as hot as can be. I don't know where Philly's run came from a couple years ago, but all the sudden they got hot and couldn't lose.

"I know we have the players to do it. I think we play good hockey almost every night. We just need to get that little fraction better on a night by night basis, gain that confidence and go. I understand why people wouldn't believe me. I have no problem with that. I don't care what anybody else thinks. I care what the group in this room thinks. In the end, it doesn't matter what any of us thinks. It matters what we do."

The Senators went 21-3-3 in their final 27 games in 2014-15 to reach the playoffs. The same season, the Minnesota Wild went 26-12-7 to close out. The Flyers went 28-9-3 in their final 40 games in 2015-16 to reach the postseason.

They talked about their task at a team meeting.

"Basically, what was discussed is we have 34 games left to do something special here," goaltender Jimmy Howard said. "Teams have done it before, there's no reason why we can't do it. We just got to find a way to get on a roll and that starts with not getting too far ahead of ourselves, just starting with the Sharks."

Petr Mrazek will start in goal Wednesday against San Jose at Little Caesars Arena (8 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit). Blashill said he expects to have injured players Trevor Daley, Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm back in the lineup.

"You've got to go on a run right now," Daley said. "There's still a lot of games left with a lot of points out there. It's one game, one shift, one period at a time, but we realize how desperate this is right now.

"It is frustrating, because most nights I feel like we did enough to win, but you just don't come out with those points. We put ourselves in a tough position, but we could take ourselves out of it, too."

They must be better in all areas.

"We've got to score more goals," Blashill said. "We've had chances, so you've got to bear down on your chances. We've got to shoot the puck more and get more people at the net. We've got to score more greasy goals. We can't give up easy goals. We can't shoot ourselves in the foot."

Blashill and captain Henrik Zetterberg said some players weren't prepared at the start of Thursday's 5-1 loss to Chicago.

"We got to demand and strive for perfection and make sure we don't have nights where there's certain guys not ready," Blashill said.

"If we play our best hockey, I'll take our chances all day long."