Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

Relying on help from the outside is a dangerous road to the playoffs.

The Red Wings return home for three games starting Thursday, when they host the Montreal Canadiens. It’s a stretch the Wings would do well to turn into a winning streak, as their latest excursion saw them drop out of the playoff picture.

The Wings used Wednesday to rest up after a late arrival home from Tuesday’s 6-2 letdown at Tampa Bay, where the Wings again fell prey to their own sloppiness.

“We’ve had to play from behind too much,” coach Jeff Blashill said afterwards. Again he talked of how the Wings are too easy to score on, as they trailed 3-0 before getting on the board.

“You can’t give up goals early,” Blashill said. “The first four or five shifts, we’re fine, but then we give up a free look. You can’t give up free looks early and expect to win.”

The Wings pulled off a rally last Saturday at Florida and got within 3-2 at Tampa Bay before penalties derailed that comeback attempt. It is a dual-sided solution they seek, as they want to both score early and not give up those early goals that skewer a whole game.

“I think some periods we’ve been pretty good, and we’ve just been down goals,” forward Justin Abdelkader said. “We’ve got to find ways to keep pucks out of our net, because playing catch-up hockey is losing hockey in this league. It’s too hard to come back against good teams. We’ve got to create our own breaks, force the refs to get us on the power play a bit.”

The Wings are only one point out of the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference because at the same time the Wings were getting hammered at Tampa Bay, the Columbus Blue Jackets robbed the Flyers at the last second and ended up beating them in shootout.

That left both the Wings and Flyers at 83 points, but the Flyers have a game in hand — one they will retain until the day after the Wings finish their regular season, because the Flyers-Islanders snowstorm make-up game was rescheduled for April 10.

All the more reason it behooves the Wings to secure their own ground.

“There’s not going to be any knight in shining armor that comes over the fence here or through the door that is going to get the job done for us,” veteran Jimmy Howard said. “It’s got to come from within here.”

BRIEFLY: The Wings will host their fourth annual “Wings for Wishes” Night to benefit Make-A-Wish Michigan Thursday night. Fans attending the game can support the cause by purchasing autographed pucks for $40 on the concourse. Fans also can buy Make-A-Wish T-shirts for $20.

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.

Anthony Mantha's home Detroit Red Wings debut is a hot ticket