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Red Wings general manager Ken Holland acknowledges the urgency the team is facing to make up ground.

(Mike Mulholland/MLive.com)

DETROIT - The Detroit Red Wings return from the Christmas break Tuesday facing a daunting challenge - how to erase a seven-point deficit and leap-frog four teams to reach the final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.

They have 48 games remaining, but because these teams play each other many times and there are a multitude of three-point games, the standings typically don't change much at this point of the season.

"I'm hoping going into the Christmas break, it's a time to get flushed, get away from the game a little bit," general manager Ken Holland said Monday. "I understand that starting tomorrow ... you don't have 48 games. In the next 20-25 games, we need to play our way back into it because as the year goes along every organization has got to make decisions.

"Obviously, the trade deadline dictates decisions - buy, sell or stand pat. So, it's not like you can wait until the last 10 or 15 games and all the sudden you're going to put something together. We all understand the next 20-25 games are going to be really critical in determining how this season plays out for us."

At 15-15-4, the Red Wings are on pace for 82 points. They slipped into the playoffs last year with 93 points. It likely will take that many or more to make it. That means they need to put together some runs.

"You're going to have to be in the 90s to qualify for the playoffs; we're going to have to play well above .500," Holland said. "We're going to have to hit the ground running tomorrow."

The Red Wings, off the past three days like the rest of the league, host the Buffalo Sabres Tuesday (7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit), the only team below them in the division. Then they'll play their next seven on the road.

The main reasons the Red Wings are in this predicament is their lack of offense (tied for 26th at 2.29 goals per game) and bad home record (7-9-3 - 3-9-3 in their past 15). They have played well on the road, where they are 8-4-1 in their past 13 after dropping their first two.

Too many players counted on to produce are underachieving. Gustav Nyquist is tied for second on the team with 18 points but has just four goals, only one in the past 28 games. Tomas Tatar has just seven goals and 14 points.

Riley Sheahan, who finished strong in 2015-16, has no goals in 34 games. Coach Jeff Blashill hasn't scratched him, citing his defensive play, ability to win faceoffs and net-front presence on a power play that has been atrocious (last in the NHL at 11.9 percent). But, it's not like he has many options. Tomas Jurco hasn't been effective (no points in nine games) and they have injuries to Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader and Tyler Bertuzzi.

Blashill, for the second year in a row, hasn't maximized their abilities. Holland declined to comment on how much of the blame is on coaching.

"It's a fine-line league," Holland said. "You think of all the games we've lost in the last minute or the last 9-10 minutes at home.

"We need to play a little better, collectively and individually. If you play good for long enough stretches, things will take care of themselves."

Help isn't likely to arrive via trade. Holland said teams aren't looking to move 20-goal scorers or top-four defensemen until closer to the deadline. The value of the Red Wings' most viable trading chips (Nyquist, Tatar, Sheahan, Jurco) is down. And the club isn't going to relinquish top young players they are building around (Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Andreas Athanasiou) or move a first-round pick that might end up being in the top five).

"We put ourselves in a tough spot. Seven points is a lot of points. We're a long way back," Holland said. "But if you look at some of these teams that have had long winning streaks, you can make up a lot of (ground)."

But, if they can't chip away at the deficit by the Feb. 28 trade deadline, they might concede their 25-season playoff streak is over and start selling (impending unrestricted free agents Tomas Vanek, Brendan Smith and Steve Ott would top the list).