The Detroit Red Wings are winless in six and play their next six on the road starting with a pair against the defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning, who have defeated them in 16 of their previous 17 meetings.
Then it’s on to Florida for two games against the Panthers, who have won eight in a row from Detroit, including a pair this weekend at Little Caesars Arena.
By the time the Red Wings get to Nashville on Feb. 11, they will be one-quarter of the way through this 56-game season and, considering the dauting task ahead of them, possibly buried in the Central Division cellar.
“I’m sure there’s frustration and that’s what can mount in these situations,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said following Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Florida. “We got a lot of the season ahead of us. I know it goes fast, not many games. I think we made strides in the right direction the last couple games.
“All we can do on Tuesday is look at the film, learn from the film, have some meetings and then get better and try to win a game (Wednesday) against the defending Stanley Cup champions. We sat around for 11 months. We want these challenges. The record isn’t good enough, but we got a chance to change it on Wednesday, so let’s go out and change it.”
On the bright side, several players not available during this 0-4-2 slide due to COVID protocol will return this week. Blashill said Robby Fabbri, Adam Erne, Sam Gagner and Jon Merrill should be available for Wednesday’s game and Filip Zadina for Friday’s contest.
These players were in the lineup when the Red Wings started 2-2 and were optimistic that their solid play up until that point was repeatable.
The Red Wings played well enough to win both games against the Panthers, outplaying them five-on-five. But they lost the special teams battle, going 0 for 7 on the power play while yielding four power-play goals to Florida.
“We out-chanced them and didn’t win. That’s disappointing,” Blashill said. “I thought given the circumstances, back-to-back and (Tyler Bertuzzi, day-to-day with an upper-body injury) out and not everybody 100 percent, we played really hard. We played good enough to win but we have to find a way to win these close games.”
The Red Wings are 2-6-2, with the same number of points (six) they had after 10 games during a disastrous 2019-20 season.
“We’re trying to build things here; nothing great happens with a giant leap, it happens in small steps,” Blashill said. “My job is to make sure we’re taking steps in the right direction and we’re not taking any shortcuts to try to win short-term. We want to win long-term. So, we’ll keep focusing on making sure our individuals are getting better and we’re getting better as a group.”
Costly penalties
The Red Wings got a goal from Dylan Larkin and led 1-0 after a strong first period. But the Panthers scored twice on the power play in the second. Michael Rasmussen was called for boarding MacKenzie Weegar in the neutral zone and Darren Helm was whistled for slashing Anton Stralman in the offensive zone.
“Ras tried to be physical, trying to bring that element to his game,” Blashill said. “He’s been told by everybody in the organization it’s an important part of what he can bring to the table. He caught the guy kind of as he’s turning and took a penalty.”
Blashill said of the Helm penalty: “Ultimately, we got to keep our stick on the ice and not slash around the hands. It’s something we talked about. Those are easy penalties to eliminate. We want to take as few penalties as possible while still playing hard. The consequence of playing hard is sometimes you might take a penalty like Ras, but you can certainly get away from the stick penalties. Those penalties, unless you’re saving a goal, don’t serve any purpose.”
Said Larkin: “We got to be disciplined, we got to be hard to play against, but we can’t cross over that line into taking bad penalties and penalties away from our net and needless mistakes. We got to figure a way to get through this little slump on the penalty kill, and I know we will.”
Smith contributing
Givani Smith made a nice pass to set up Larkin’s goal. It was the second assist in four games for Smith, who has been shuffled back and forth from the taxi squad to the main roster.
“I think Gio has done a solid job,” Blashill said. “He’s very good when he gets in the offensive zone, both on the forecheck and certainly in the O-zone. He’s really strong on the puck and knows how to get to the net. He does a pretty good job of using his body and is a bit of an agitator. He’ll provide some energy.”
It remains to be seen if Smith will maintain his roster spot when players return this week from the COVID list.
“Givani’s been great for us,” Larkin said. “He’s not only hard to play against in being physical but he’s making plays, he’s hanging onto pucks down low and he’s starting to generate a cycle and spending time in the offensive zone, which is huge for our team and huge for the line he played on. He’s a heads-up player, he plays hard and plays the right way.”
More: Red Wings start strong but lose special teams battle again
The Link LonkFebruary 01, 2021 at 06:01PM
https://www.mlive.com/redwings/2021/02/red-wings-road-ahead-daunting-but-help-on-the-way.html
Red Wings’ road ahead daunting, but help on the way - MLive.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=Red&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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