A bit of luck and a lot of toughness has the Detroit Red Wings headed into their next game on a confident note.

As they get deeper into the season's second half and intensity ramps up as teams key in on playoff positioning, the Wings are showing they belong in that mix. They'll take on the defending Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday coming off a gritty, bounce-back victory Thursday.

"These are the kind of meaningful games we want to play, we want to be in," Moritz Seider said after scoring a goal in Thursday's 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. "We played a really solid team and we shut them down defensively, and I think we could hopefully remember that in the long run, hopefully pushing for that playoff spot."

THE GAME: Detroit Red Wings bounce back with blanking of Philadelphia Flyers, 3-0

The Wings (25-18-5) are neck-and-neck-and-neck with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Toronto Maple Leafs in the battle for third place in the Atlantic Division and the wild-card spots in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers are a tough opponent, sitting in a playoff spot in the Metropolitan Division, and pushing back against their physicality was a good test. Klim Kostin dropped the gloves for his second fight of the season; he looked worse after fighting Nicolas Deslauriers, but it meant something to the Wings.

"I think we came together as a team and have a big front-runner in Klim there," Seider said. "He's not scared of anyone in this league. He gave ourselves a boost a little bit. He told us, we shouldn't be scared of anyone out there, and I think that's a great message we should take forward."

Seider usually extricates himself from scrums with a smile, a good approach since he's far more valuable playing.

"I don't like yelling at other guys or talking too much," he said. "I want to concentrate on my game."

His game against the Flyers included aiming a pass at Alex DeBrincat, only to see the puck deflect into the net.

"I saw 'Cat on the far side and wanted to get the puck over to him," Seider said. "I just saw the puck floating in. It was pretty lucky. But a goal is a goal in the end of the day and I'm really happy with it.

"It was huge to get that win. It keeps us in the race and gives us a little bit of confidence."

Dylan Larkin extended his point streak to 10 games when he made it 1-0, and Andrew Copp made it 3-0 on a shorthanded goal. Alex Lyon made 30 saves, continuing his brilliant stretch as the Wings held an opponent to two goals or less for the fifth time in the last six games.

"A shutout against that team, in a moment like this — these games are becoming increasingly bigger," coach Derek Lalonde said. "Love the fact that we pitched a shutout. It felt like a good team shutout."

Lalonde has talked multiple times about how the DNA of the team leans towards making plays with the puck, so to see the Wings withstand the Flyers' bit was a positive.

"Different matchups create different problems," he said. "We struggled a little bit with real heavy [opponents], that's just our makeup. I thought our pushback was great. Great on Klim — it really energized our group, energized him. It's just sometimes you have to do that. I thought it was the right opportunity for Klim to do that, and it goes a long ways."

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from  Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings show toughness as playoff push gets tighter