The Free Press’s Helene St. James posted an article which discusses the Red Wings’ belief that their reinforced roster can play “repeatably” better hockey over the next couple of weeks. As St. James notes, Wings coach Jeff Blashill and forward Bobby Ryan gave very similar answers regarding the team’s ability to find a winning formula now that its COVID-sidelined players have returned:
“It’s kind of cliche, but the answer kind of never changes,” Ryan said. “When you look at video and dissect the game, you have to look at the things that you did well and then find those bullet points and build on them. The first game (against the Lightning), we gave them the neutral zone and they had a field day with it. So when you look at the difference between the two, it’s a major contrast. We clogged the neutral zone up and made it hard for the to get through.
“We have to understand, we are not going to win track meets and things like that with offenses in this league. We are going to have to be low-scoring, one-goal games. Mentally those can get wearing when you are on the losing side of those things, but you just have to continue to go to work, and continue to do those little things and then eventually you start to see the fruit of the labor. The games get a little easier to play like that and then you build and you hope it turns. Especially in a year like this, you have to do it fairly quickly because there’s no runway to get behind teams.”
