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The terrible month of March cost the Detroit Red Wings quite a bit of their wiggle room in the standings, and a similarly slow start to April might have cost them home ice advantage in the playoffs. That's bad news for a team that has been as bad on the road as the Wings have been as of late.
Make no mistake, the Wings are in the playoffs and will be in a seed that will give them a chance to make a run -- it's just not the seed they were hoping for as the St. Louis Blues streaked to the win in the Central Division and untimely injuries gave the Wings loss after loss away from Joe Louis Arena to knock their seed down step by step. The Wings had a chance to take over the fourth seed in the playoffs with two wins in their final two games but they lost to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.
The Wings can still get the fourth seed assuming they win their final game and the Nashville Predators don't win or get an overtime point. The Preds have 102 points to the Wings 101 with one game to play.
For the full NHL conference standings, check out the NHL website.
For more on the Detroit Red Wings, check out Winging It In Motown. For more on the NHL's playoff race and more, head over to the SB Nation NHL hub.