Ahead of tonight’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, MLive’s Ansar Khan asked Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill about the state of one Thomas Greiss, who will be starting this evening as an 0-6-and-2 goaltender during the 2020-2021 season:
“I’m not worried about Greisser at all,” Blashill said. “He’s mentally in a great spot. He’s been through the rigors of the NHL. He’s an even-keeled person. He knows games like (Wednesday) happen and he’s going to move on. I think said he it to our goalie coach (Jeff Salajko), he’s been in those games before and he’ll be in them again. That’s just the reality of playing goal. I think he has a good demeanor about him. We just all have to grind together and find ways to play better hockey and find ways to win.”
The Red Wings (2-7-2) face the Lightning (6-1-1) again tonight at Amalie Arena (7 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit), when Greiss, in all likelihood, will get another chance for his first win. He will need more support from a team that is winless in seven (0-5-2) and is averaging only 1.91 goals per game (30th in the NHL).
“He started off playing real good, he just didn’t get much offensive support,” Blashill said. “He should have wins on the board. He certainly played good enough to win. Like the rest of our team, all our games have slipped a bit. I think confidence is a factor in that.
“We have to find a way to grind through and get our confidence back. The only way is to grind your way to some wins. I think Greisser is in the same boat. We certainly don’t want to give up the kind of chances we gave up (Wednesday) at the start of the game. We want to make the game easy on him, and I think for the early part of the year enough times we did that.”
