DETROIT — The NHL trade deadline is Friday afternoon, and the Red Wings are giving general manager Steve Yzerman plenty to think about.

Is this a team capable of reaching the playoffs? Or is it fading?

It's difficult to tell exactly, but Thursday's 4-2 loss to Utah was the Wings' fourth consecutive loss and they have the toughest schedule remaining in the NHL.

The deadline is at 3 p.m. (EST) and Yzerman has been speculated to be looking for a depth defenseman and center to fortify the Wings' lineup. But with the Wings' losing streak now reaching four games, and the Wings having won two of their last eight games (2-5-1), how aggressive will Yzerman be?

The Wings (30-26-6) stayed one point behind Ottawa and the New York Rangers and two points behind Columbus in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.

Utah's Kevin Stenlund and Lawson Crouse scored third-period goals, breaking a 2-2 tie.

Wings defenseman Albert Johansson blocked Michael Kesselring's shot but Stenlund got to the loose puck and snapped a shot past goaltender Alex Lyon at 13:19 giving Utah a 3-2 lead.

Crouse then scored his 10th goal at 7:51, getting behind the Wings' defense and beating Lyon net-front.

Dylan Larkin and Jonatan Berggren had the Wings' goals. Dylan Guenther and Nick Schmaltz (power play) answered with Utah tallies.

The Wings couldn't convert on three power plays, including two in the third period.

The big news heading into this game was the NHL debut of Jackson native Carter Mazur, who was recalled Thursday morning by the Wings.

But Mazur's debut was short and not very sweet.

On his second shift, Mazur was hurt on his second shift while entangled with Utah's Jack McBain along the boards. Mazur, who battled an upper-body injury much of the first half of the season in Grand Rapids, came out hurting, and headed straight to the locker room.

Mazur played two shifts for a total of 1 minute, 10 seconds. The Wings announced Mazur was not going to return because of an upper-body injury.

"You can ask me that question for the next 45 days and I'll probably have the same answer," McLellan said. "It feels like for the last 25 days that question has been asked. We're in that phase right now, it all matters. Every day, every minute, every second of our play matters. Are we going to be elite and on top of our game for all of those 45 days?

"No, you have to be realistic. But we can do a better job of when we're not on top of our game, we don't always get to play the way we want to play and whether that's speed and skill and making plays, sometimes we have to play the other team's game for periods of time - and we have to accept that and find ways to excel at it.

"That's part of the phase we're in right now. We don't always get what we want and if that's the hand we're dealt, we have to make something out of it. We're learning that and it's part of figuring out how to win."

It doesn't have to be the team what the most talented roster, said McLellan, that dictates play.

"(My) years in San Jose, we had 50-win seasons and we didn't dictate play all the time," McLellan said. "But when you're not dictating play, can you? This is what I"m saying. Can you adapt your game a little bit, so it's still productive. If you're a skating team and it becomes a grinding game, can you figure out a way to be productive in that moment or are you just going to wait for the next skating game? Those are things we have to figure out.

"The Columbus outdoor game (Saturday), (faulty) game management skills, elite upper echelon teams probably don't let that point get away on them (a 5-3 loss). We did, so we have to learn. That's where we're at."

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