Off-day Kulfan: 20 games in, Wings remain a work in progress

The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan filed a subscriber-only article discussing the Red Wings “at the quarter pole” as the 8-9-and-3 Wings hit the 20-game mark in Saturday’s 2-1 OT loss to the Arizona Coyotes.

There are many positives for the Red Wings ahead of a more favorable practice and game schedule in December, after playing 11 games in 17 nights this past month, but the Wings’ good habits have fallen on hard times as the games piled up and the lack of practice time hurt their structure:

The way the Wings played when starting the season 4-2-1, then winning four of five games after losing four consecutive games to open November, was encouraging for a team that was learning how to win.

“(The) swagger starting the season, we played hard and confident,” Larkin said.

But on this recent four-game trip, issues on team defense, inconsistent offense, and signs the Wings hadn’t completely learned how to put teams away all surfaced.

“This past road trip we haven’t been as confident,” Larkin said. “With a one-goal lead (such as Saturday), we have to be a way more confident hockey team. We haven’t been able to practice much. But we’re going back home, have a couple of hard practices and start figuring things out and get back to what it takes for us to be successful. Playing hard, together and playing fast.”

Saturday’s gut-wrenching loss was a sign this particular Wings’ roster still is grasping for contender’s status. The Wings held that 1-0 lead on the Coyotes for much of the game, and yet, weren’t able to snare that second goal, which could have been the difference in the game.

The Wings played too much in the defensive end as the game progressed, and ultimately, it cost them.

“We didn’t have enough push, maybe not push, but sustained pressure and it’s a balancing act,” Blashill said. “We have to keep working and figuring it out. We haven’t won enough as a group here over the last number of years to say that we know how to do that. We’re still working to do that, and we’ve made progress at times, but it’s something we have to keep getting better at. This is the area, probably the biggest area, when you have leads, and you’re not able to build on that lead, finding a way to win. And I do think it’s a big area we have to keep growing as a group.”

Continued (paywall)

Off-day Khan: Wings lack killer instinct

As the Red Wings return home from an 0-3-and-1 road trip, MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses the Red Wings’ inability to close out games, as illustrated by both their road and home records of late:

“You got to find ways to grind out those games like that to a win,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “We played good enough to win the hockey game, so it’s unfortunate to walk out and not have won. We created enough scoring chances to win. I thought overall we defended much better.”

The Red Wings (8-9-2) continue to be streaky. In the past three weeks, they have gone 0-3-1, followed by a 4-1-0 run and now another 0-3-1 skid.

They squandered an opportunity to pick up two points against the team with the worst record in the NHL (3-13-2).

The Red Wings started the trip with a 5-3 loss in Columbus Monday, a game they led 3-2 with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.

“I thought the biggest thing that hurt us tonight was we got to continue to learn how to play real smart, how to not give them much in the third but sustain pressure and score the next goal,” Blashill said. “They had more pressure than we did in the third. They double-shifted that line with Keller and (Phil) Kessel and they sustained a ton of pressure. So, it’s a learning process for our group and it’s something that at times I think we’ve done well. This is a hard league and you got to continue to find ways to grow as a group.”

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Bultman in the morning: is the ‘shine’ off the Wings, or do we need to see more pluck from this turkey of a team?

The Red Wings hit the 20-game mark in last night’s 2-1 OT loss to the Arizona Coyotes, and, at 8-9-and-3, I’d suggest this much:

In terms of progress when compared to last year’s team, the Red Wings are one game short of where I expected them to be–at NHL-level .500–and 4 games short of where I hope they finish this season, at .500, overtime and shootout losses included.

As stated in the HSJ post, the Red Wings got to the 20-game mark earlier than any other team in the NHL not named the Montreal Canadiens, and the vast majority of the NHL’s teams have played between 14 and 18 games, not 20 over the course of 37 nights, as coach Blashill told Bally Sports Detroit’s Trevor Thompson last night.

The last stretch has been particularly difficult for the Wings in terms of the ratio of games vs. practices–the Wings played 11 times in 17 nights–and as the Wings aren’t very good on the road, you and I could probably see the team’s 0-3-and-1 stint away from Little Caesars Arena (over a stretch of 4 games played in 6 nights) coming.

Long story long, for this year’s Wings team, going 0-3-and-1 on the road is unacceptable, and there’s a lot of room for improvement as we look for this year’s Wings to at least hit .500, if not exceed it, but those kinds of expectations not being met by a total of a “lost week” ain’t bad, in my opinion.

This is a very long way of leading into The Athletic’s Max Bultman’s take on the Wings’ status at the “quarter pole” as being a sign that this year’s team isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, star rookies named Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider included:

Continue reading Bultman in the morning: is the ‘shine’ off the Wings, or do we need to see more pluck from this turkey of a team?

HSJ in the morning: Red Wings need to RR&P (rest, recover and practice)

The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted a morning column which discusses the Red Wings’ 2-1 OT loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday–and their 4-game road losing streak overall (0-3-and-1)–as a product of a heavy schedule (the Red Wings and Canadiens are the only 2 teams to have already played 20 games), a lack of practice time and a cavalcade of mental mistakes:

[The Red Wings] capped an unsuccessful trip with an overtime loss to the worst team in the NHL, falling 2-1 to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday. The Wings don’t play again until Wednesday, and that three-day break is welcome after playing 11 times in 19 days, including two sets of back-to-backs.

“We’ve played a ton of hockey,” said captain Dylan Larkin after the game at Gila River Arena. “We’ve really grinded, and you know what, it hasn’t been going our way but there’s a lot to look back on this stretch. We’ve played some good hockey, especially at home. The schedule till Christmas is a lot less games, so we have to find a way to play some good hockey before Christmas.”

The Wings (8-10-2) host the St. Louis Blues on Thanksgiving eve and then have two days before hosting the Buffalo Sabres. That will offer a chance for some high-energy practices, which have had to be limited this month to conserve energy for games.

“We’re going to get home, and we’re going to have a couple hard practices and start figuring some things out and get back to what makes us successful, which is playing hard, playing together and playing fast,” Larkin said.

I’m not sure how he does it, but coach Jeff Blashill found some positives to take out of Saturday’s loss, and they’re valid ones, especially given the fact that the Wings didn’t give up 5 goals in a loss for the first time in five tries:

“We played good enough to win the game, so it’s unfortunate to walk out and not have won,” coach Jeff Blashill said “But over a long period of time, you just have to do it right. And if you do it right and defend more similar to how we defended tonight — we created enough scoring chances to win, I thought overall we defended much better — you’re going to find yourself to lots of wins. Ultimately we have to get back, get ourselves reset, and try to find a way to win on Wednesday.”

Red Wings-Coyotes wrap-up: no cash no trash

The Detroit Red Wings lost a 2-1 overtime decision to the Arizona Coyotes that was controversial in nature, but the Red Wings’ 0-3-and-1 road trip record could not be denied, no could the fact that the Red Wings have lost 5 of their past 6 games (albeit the last in overtime).

The Red Wings wrap up their ugly stretch of 11 games played over the course of 17 evenings with an 4-6-and-1 record, which would be expected last year, but is not good enough this year–personnel and coaching concerns by the fan base included–and the Red Wings will finally be able to go back home and practice as the schedule lightens, and one of the league leaders in games played goes back to the pack.

Now the level of competition does not lighten up alongside the schedule as November turns to December, but Detroit (8-9-and-3) can at least push its way to .500 before Thanksgiving, and, as coach Blashill said on Bally Sports Detroit’s post-game interview with Trevor Thompson, the Wings will be able to practice and reestablish some good habits after playing 20 damn times in only 37 days.

That’s baffling, as baffling as the fact that this goal stood after Jakob Chychrun hacked Alex Nedeljkovic’s glove, and Phil Kessel pitchforked the Wings’ goalie to keep him at the lip of his crease:

The comeback is complete! @ClaytonKeller37 ends it in @EASPORTSNHL overtime. pic.twitter.com/dPsno1SomZ— NHL (@NHL) November 21, 2021

If you don’t win the game, however, you can only complain so much about its outcome, and the Red Wings did blow holding a 1-0 lead for 53:31 of regulation because the Red Wings also did not display a killer instinct against the Coyotes.

Instead of capitalizing on their opportunities, the Wings went 0-for-2 on the power play, and after out-shooting Arizona 16-6 in the 2nd period and 24-14 over two periods of play, Arizona out-shot Detroit 15-10 the rest of the way.

Long story long, the Coyotes earned the win, even if the Red Wings did not deserve the result, as ArizonaCoyotes.com’s recap noted:

Continue reading Red Wings-Coyotes wrap-up: no cash no trash

Red Wings-Coyotes quick take: sucker punch

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a 3-game losing streak as they faced the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.

Detroit got f***ed over by the refs en route to a 2-1 Arizona Coyotes overtime win, but the Red Wings would not have been in the situation to get f***ed in the butt if they had displayed a killer instinct.

That’s my take on the game. Plain and simple, if the Red Wings didn’t take the pedal off the gas in the 3rd period, in which they were out-shot 12-10, the Red Wings would not have surrendered the 1-1 goal off a lazy icing by Michael Rasmussen, and they wouldn’t have surrendered the 2-1 OT goal in which Chychrun hacked the puck out of Nedeljkovic’s glove and Kessel pitchforked Nedeljkovic out of his crease.

Continue reading Red Wings-Coyotes quick take: sucker punch

Monroe: Walleye name roster for Alumni game vs. Red Wings alums on December 30th

The Toledo Walleye have named their roster for the Toledo Walleye Alumni vs. Red Wings Alumni game to be held outdoors at Fifth Third Field on December 30th, per the Toledo Blade’s Mark Monroe:

The Toledo Walleye have announced the roster for the upcoming alumni game against the Detroit Red Wings alumni.

The exhibition game will be played outdoors at Fifth Third Field on Thursday, Dec. 30 at 6:30 p.m. as part of the Winterfest event.

Eleven former Walleye players will be playing in the game: Kyle Rogers, Jeff Lerg, Evan Rankin, Kyle Bonis, Greg Wolfe, Justin Mercier, Scott Czarnowczan, Phil Rauch, Kyle Page, Dominic Osman, and Joel Chouinard.

Twelve former Toledo Storm players also will play in the event: Mike Whitton, Taylor Raszka, Doug Teskey, Bruce MacDonald, Pat Pylypuik, Andy Suhy, Chris Blight, Gordy Hunt, Rick Judson, Mark Deazeley, Nick Vitucci, and Rick Corriveau.

Three former Toledo Goaldiggers also are expected to participate: Rick Piche, Bill Joyce, and Jim McCabe.

The Detroit Red Wings alumni roster will be announced closer to the date of the game. The Red Wings team also will consist of former NHL players, as well as professional players from various international and North American leagues.

Continued