The Detroit Red Wings practiced at Little Caesars Arena ahead of Tuesday’s match-up with the Boston Bruins, who are 12-1-and-1 of late against Detroit (via MLive’s Ansar Khan).
Neither Henrik Zetterberg (maintenance) nor Darren Helm (groin) practiced with the team, but coach Jeff Blashill told the attending media that the pair will most likely be ready for Tuesday’s game.
After practice, Zetterberg and Blashilll were still steamed about Saturday night’s controversial ruling against the team, as noted in video form by the Wings’ Twitter account:
Henrik Zetterberg following today’s practice: pic.twitter.com/CmyTsEtfRe
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 5, 2018
“We gotta get out of our zone faster and we gotta make sure we do a better job on those, and that’s what I can focus on. I can’t control the other stuff.”
Jeff Blashill speaks with the media ahead of tomorrow’s game. #LGRWpic.twitter.com/0glsCzEjMh
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) February 5, 2018
The Wings hope that, having voiced their frustrations, that they’ve addressed the problem and can move forward, as noted by DetroitRedWings.com’s Dana Wakiji:
“I still think you have to be really careful and you still have to get to the edge of that crease and not go into the blue, because I think once you get in the blue you’re subject to them calling the goal off,” Blashill said. “So let’s play as we have all year.”
Zetterberg said he would be paying attention to other games around the league to see how things are called when it comes to goaltender interference.
“I don’t think I’m the only one who has expressed their feelings lately,” Zetterberg said. “So it is hard for us to know what rules apply for us. I’m pretty certain it’s hard for the refs to know, too. I don’t think they’re doing it on purpose. If we go to the goalie interference rule, obviously it changed during the All-Star break, but we’re not really certain what it changed to. So just got to keep playing and see what happens.”
Although Blashill will continue to tell his players to keep out of the blue paint, the players believe they should have a little more leeway now.
“You obviously can do more stuff now than you could at the start of the year,” Zetterberg said. “We have to go in there and try to get those ugly goals and battle hard in front of our net and in front of the other team’s net.
“There’s a pretty good chance we’re going to talk about it more. There’s games tonight, and if there will any controversy about goalie interference it will just add to the fire. So it would be nice to get some kind of explanation so we all know.”
Wakiji continues, discussing the Wings’ power play woes and the challenges that the Boston Bruins present.
The Free Press’s Helene St. James also posted a clip of Zetterberg and Blashill addressing the issue:
The power play has been 1-for-11 in its last five games, something that has to change if the Red Wings have any hope of turning around the rest of their season.
“We’re not getting what we want to get from our power play,” forward Henrik Zetterberg said. “You want to get goals, obviously. We got some momentum lately. It’s been a little better than it was a while ago, but we need some goals.”
Coach Jeff Blashill talked in training camp, and hasn’t stopped, about the need of both special teams to be in the NHL’s top 10 to be a playoff team. That isn’t happening right now, particularly with the power play.
Entering Monday’s schedule the Red Wings ranked 18th on the penalty kill (79.7 percent) — but a meager 21st on the power play (18.2 percent). All of which is a key reason the Red Wings are on the outside of the playoff race.
“It’s not good enough, it has to be better,” Blashill said of the power play. “I still think for us to be a playoff team the rest of the year, they have to be in the top 10. Our PK has been better the last little bit, but our power play hasn’t been good enough.
“We have to eliminate unforced errors and we have to have a better attack mentality.”
