The Free Press’s Helene St. James took note of a pain-in-the-ass part of the NHL’s COVID regulations–beat writers are limited to Zoom calls with players and coaches, who are picked at the whim of the teams’ public relations departments–in no small part because the Red Wings appeared to hold a team meeting after Wednesday’s 5-1 loss to Tampa Bay:
“It’s frustrating,” [Luke] Glendening said. “As a group we have to take a look in the mirror and ask ourselves who we are and what we are doing and how we are helping this team. I’ve got to do a better job, we all have to do a better job of doing our jobs and getting it done.”
There was about a 20-minute gap — longer than normal — between the end of the game and the first postgame video interview.
“We’ve talked a lot about it as a group over the past six or seven games, about what we need to do,” Glendening said. “Those are private conversations. Every guy in here is frustrated with the way we have been playing and sometimes the effort we have been giving.”
The Wings don’t have the superstars to match guys like Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman, but not giving at least a decent effort is tough to excuse — and to explain.
“I don’t have the answer to that,” Blashill said. “If I did, we would have played better. We go out every day, we practice and we try to get better and come out the next day and try to get better. For whatever reason, we got on our heels early and they pushed and they scored every time we gave them a chance.”
Continued (paywall)
