Thomas Greiss snapped his stick in half against the goal post and then swatted what remained of it on the crossbar for good measure.
The Detroit Red Wings goaltender had every right to be frustrated after the Chicago Blackhawks’ fifth goal in a span of 13:51 in a third-period outburst that led to a 7-2 loss Sunday at the United Center.
Granted, Greiss hasn’t played as well as the Red Wings expected when they signed him to a two-year, $7 million contract in free agency. His numbers are unsightly (1-11-3, 3.46 goals-against average, .882 save percentage).
But most of the Red Wings’ worst defensive performances have come with Greiss in goal – losses to Dallas (7-3), Tampa Bay (5-1), Florida (7-2) before this latest effort.
The Red Wings were fine through two periods, trailing 2-1 but generating chances and putting pucks on Kevin Lankinen (season-high 46 shots). But their structure collapsed in the third period, leading to a five-goal outburst.
“We get down a couple and were pressing for offense, but we can’t give up odd-man rushes and leave our goalie out to dry, have to find a way to buckle it down defensively,” Sam Gagner said. “The only way we’re going to be able to create and come back in that game is making sure we’re solid defensively.”
Gagner said it’s disappointing because Greiss has battled hard for the team.
“He made a lot of big saves early and when you give a team like that odd-man rush chances, they’re going to make you pay,” Gagner said. “It’s not fair to Greisser. We need to do a better job of playing hard in front of him and limiting their chances.”
The Red Wings were trending in the right direction defensively, with sound structure in 11 of their past 12 games.
“I thought our track and sort in our end was as bad as it’s been all year and it’s actually been pretty good all season,” coach Jeff Blashill said. “They do a good job on the rush, so they make it hard on you, but we did a terrible job of sorting those out over the (blue) line. A lot of them were not really hard sorts. We had numbers back and we didn’t pick up the right people, gave too many free looks.”
This team, overall, still struggles to score and its special teams have been dreadful. But goals-against is one area the Red Wings have shown improvement, dropping from a league-worst 3.73 in 2019-20 to 3.25, which has been inflated due to a few bad nights.
“You’re pressing for offense at the end, guys are doing what they can to create, but it can’t be at the expense of our structure defensively,” Gagner said. “That’s when we have success, that’s what drives it. We need to make sure we stick to our identity regardless of what’s happening in the game. At the end you live with the results.”
The results have been tough on Greiss. He appeared to come out of training camp slightly ahead of Jonathan Bernier in the goaltending competition, earning the start in the season-opener while Blashill, as planned, stuck to a strict rotation.
Bernier, since returning on Feb. 13 after being out two weeks with an injury, has been the better of the two and earned most of the starts. Opportunities for Greiss to get into a groove figure to be few and far between the rest of the way, as long as Bernier continues his solid play.
“I thought (Greiss) actually was good for a long stretch of the game,” Blashill said. “When you give up that many high-quality scoring chances, back-doors, you’re going to sink back in your net a little bit. He might have been frustrated, but it’ll be behind him and he’ll re-attack the next time he gets a chance to play.”
More: Jonathan Bernier showing value to Red Wings for this season and beyond
The Link LonkMarch 01, 2021 at 06:05PM
https://www.mlive.com/redwings/2021/03/frustration-evident-for-red-wings-thomas-greiss-during-difficult-season.html
Frustration evident for Red Wings’ Thomas Greiss during difficult season - mlive.com
https://news.google.com/search?q=Red&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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