OctoPulse podcast: Wings' McLellan pushes right buttons in Philly

In this edition of The Detroit News' OctoPulse podcast, Ted Kulfan takes a look at the Red Wings' 4-2 win in Philadelphia and the team's odds of making the playoffs with seven games remaining. Detroit is tied with Ottawa at 88 points for the final playoff position, but the Senators are in the final wild-card spot because of more regulation victories as the first tiebreaker. ▶ Eastern Conference standings Red Wings coach Todd McLellan made a number of lineup changes which paid dividends against the Flyers.

Captain Dylan Larkin centered a checking line with Emmitt Finnie and Mason Appleton, J. T. Compher was placed on a line with high-scoring Lucas Raymond and David Perron ("the best line of the night, by far," Kulfan said) and Marco Kasper was limited to 5:18 of ice time because of a team-worst minus-15 among the forwards.

Here are other highlights from episode 143 of The OctoPulse podcast: ▶ :05: Varsity Ford of Ann Arbor ▶ 1:00: Eastern Conference race going down to the wire ▶ 2:15: Dylan Larkin centers checking line with Emmitt Finnie, Mason Appleton ▶ 4:00 : Marco Kasper's ice time cut drastically vs. Flyers ▶ 5:10: Simon Edvinsson makes play of the game ▶ 7:20: March collapse with 5-7-2 record ▶ 8:30: Senators in the driver's seat Subscribe to Detroit News podcasts ▶ iTunes ▶ Spotify Previous OctoPulse podcasts ▶ Faulk to make debut vs. Devils; Larkin sidelined ▶ USA Hockey 'on top of the mountain' with double gold medals ▶ Unlikely assist on Red Wings goal; playoff chances ▶ Edvinsson injury tests Wings' blueline depth ▶ Fedorov, Kane cap historic week in Red Wings' history ▶ Nate Danielson demoted; Dave Goricki tribute OctoPulse guests in alphabetical order ▶ A : Trey Augustine, Dave Andrews , Kenny Albert, Kashawn Aitcheson ▶ B : Riley Brengman , John Bacon, Red Berenson, Matt Beniers, Scotty Bowman, Joe Bowen, Cooper Black, Phil Bourque, Jason Bukala, Nick Bogas ▶ C: Steve Coates, Leo Carlsson , Mike Cammalleri, Logan Cooley, Caley Chelios, Cole Caufield, Mitchell Clinton, Mellissa Channell-Watkins ▶ D : Nate Danielson, Dave Drinkill, Jamie Drysdale , Ken Dryden, Jake Davis ▶ E: Cole Eiserman, Simon Edvinsson , Mike Emrick, Emerson Etem ▶ F : Jordan Forgione, Everett Fitzhugh, Jim Fox , John Forslund ▶ G : Cutter Gauthier, Dylan Guenther, Jerry Green, Stu Grimson, Gerard Gallant , Liam Greentree, Bruce Garrioch, John Garrett ▶ H: William Horcoff, Mark Howe, Cross Hanas, Luke Hughes, Murray Howe, Milan Hejduk, Brian Hayward, Brandon Hawkins ▶ I : Greg Innis ▶ J : Kent Johnson ▶ K: Joakim Kemell, Mark Kirton, Megan Keller, John Kelly, Mike Keenan, Emily Kaplan, Rich Kincaide , Alex Kannok Leipert, Ryan Kennedy ▶ L : Ryan Leonard, Nick Libett, Chaz Lucius, Brian Lawton, Pat Lafontaine, Nicklas Lidstrom, Craig Laughlin, Dave Legwand, Bill Lindsay ▶ 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, Phil Osaer ▶ P: Madison Packer, Dave Poulin, Gabe Perreault, Jakub Petr, Doug Plagens, Cole Perfetti, Darren Pang, Zayne Parekh, Julie Petry ▶ R : Abby Roque, Jason Ross, Manon Rheaume, Lucas Raymond, Marco Rossi, Luc Robitaille, Marcus Ragnarsson, Sam Rosen, Daryl Reaugh ▶ S : Riley Sawchuk, Bob Stauffer, Will Smith, John Shannon, Paul Stewart, Moritz Seider, Tim Stutzle, Jake Sanderson, Craig Simpson, Kirsten Simms, Mats Sundin, Brad Stuart, Melissa Szkola, Callie Shanahan ▶ T: Tripp Tracy, Bryan Trottier, Tim Taylor, Jacob Truscott, Amanda Thiele ▶ V : Rick Vaive ▶ W : Paul Woods, Shane Wright, Bob Wilkie ▶ Z : Rick Zombo, Trevor Zegras Want to comment on this story?

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