DETROIT — There is an air around the Red Wings right now of a light emerging from the end of a long tunnel.
Heading into Thursday’s game against the Islanders, the Red Wings have won six straight games. If they beat the Isles, the seven straight will be their longest winning streak since the Before Times — January 2012 — when Detroit was still in the midst of a playoff streak that lasted 25 seasons and four Stanley Cups before finally falling.
The Red Wings are fun, stacked with young talent and starting to reap the rewards after a long rebuild. The next playoff streak probably won’t last a quarter-century, but it looks set to start this season and there is no reason to think Detroit will be an easy out.
For the Islanders, however, it is the Red Wings’ path to this point that could prove instructive.