Month: January 2022

Khan in the morning: Wings frustrated by result, but not process, vs. Capitals

The Detroit Red Wings lost a disappointing and frustrating 3-1 decision to the Washington Capitals last night, beginning a stretch of 32 days in which the team plays on an average of once every other day.

This morning, MLive’s Ansar Khan filed his game recap, which notes that the Wings were frustrated with their inability to close out Friday night’s game, but relatively satisfied with their overall play:

“I thought we played well enough to win the hockey game, put ourselves in position to win,” Blashill said. “You’re super-disappointed. You want to find a way to win the game. We’re sitting there with the game to be had. Unfortunately, they made the play late and we didn’t.”

The Red Wings (15-14-3) hadn’t played since Dec. 18, having had four games postponed due to an excessive number of COVID-19 cases. They had 11 players in protocol at one point; all except for Nick Leddy returned this week and played in this game.

The Capitals (20-6-7) returned to action in Thursday’s 5-3 victory over Nashville.

“It was physical, emotional, tight-checking,” Red Wings defenseman Marc Staal said. “We were right there. It’s a tough way to lose it at the end for sure. After that long of a break and with guys in and out of protocols, I liked our effort and our intensity and our emotion. It’s something that we’ve got to repeat.”

Staal likely wasn’t alone among Red Wings questioning why Fabbri was called for a penalty at that stage of the game.

“It’s five minutes left, and a lot of stuff was going on during the game. I thought it was a tough time to call a penalty,” Staal said. “But it is what it is, and we got to try to kill it, and we (essentially) didn’t.”

Continued; I’m still confused as to what Fabbri was called for, and as several of you noted on Twitter last night, it was a shame that the Capitals were given a center-ice faceoff after an intentional offside on their power play, ultimately facilitating the play that led to Ovechkin’s goal.

Red Wings-Capitals wrap-up: Ovechkin’s milestone spoils Wings’ Rockin’ (Seider) New Year’s Eve show

The Detroit Red Wings lost a 3-1 decision to the Washington Capitals on Friday night, losing what was a tighter game than the score, due to a penalty that was either needless and stupid by Robby Fabbri, needless and stupid by the refs, who’d been given a bee under their bonnet by the chirping Caps after Moritz Seider got off Scot free from hitting Nic Dowd (unsportsmanlike conduct penalties aside), or maybe it was a little bit of both.

In any case, it was a bitter way to end what was in fact a good half-season for 15-14-and-3 Detroit, and Seider put on a masterclass in terms of poise as fellow Super-Rookie Lucas Raymond struggled a bit coming off the COVID list.

It was a game where a little more sustained offense, a little more discipline, and a little more finish would have given the Red Wings at least a point, if not two, but there are still apparently lessons that this year’s team needs to learn, and, shit, man, if the Capitals aren’t a team that teaches you lessons the hard way, I don’t know what team is a sterner teacher out there.

All of that being said, this makes Sunday’s matinee game vs. the Boston Bruins, who sit 5 points behind the Wings with six games in hand, absolutely monumental in terms of shifting the balance of power for that Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference standings, and even if you and I don’t believe that the Wings will make the playoffs (and I don’t), keeping the B’s off the Wings’ tails for a longer period of time would at least feel good.

That’s something that’s in short supply in Detroit sports these days.

Anyway, Friday’s “learning experience” for the Red Wings in terms of consistency of effort was yet another exclamation point upon a fantastic career for Alex Ovechkin, whose goal was–then wasn’t–then was again his 275th power play goal, breaking Dave Andreychuk’s record for the all-time power play goals record.

Continue reading Red Wings-Capitals wrap-up: Ovechkin’s milestone spoils Wings’ Rockin’ (Seider) New Year’s Eve show