The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan posted an off-day notebook which discusses the frustration which the Red Wings conveyed to the media corps after the team’s 4-0 loss to St. Louis on Monday night, noting that the Wings aren’t giving up on their season just yet…
“There’s care in the group,” [Coach Derek] Lalonde said. “(The Wings need) being connected, get some rhythm in our game. We’d get a good shift from one line (Monday) and then we’d lose the shift on the next line.”
The Wings were without defensemen Simon Edvinsson and Ben Chiarot — both out due to upper-body injuries but are expected to return Friday against Toronto — but Lalonde felt the Wings’ defense played fine. That wasn’t the main issue in Monday’s loss.
“Our D gave us a really good game, considering where it’s at (decimated with injuries),” Lalonde said. “Any team loses two top left shot (defensemen), it’s going to look like that. But our D, our young guys are guys that aren’t even NHL everyday guys, but everyone elevated, they did their job.”
Now, the rest of the lineup has to match that.
“We got to show up to play and we don’t have enough guys doing that right now, myself included,” Larkin said. “We have to be ready to compete and we’re not doing that. I never really think our work ethic is poor. We have a bunch of guys who work hard. But we’re working hard and not accomplishing anything.”
Larkin agreed with Lalonde in that this three-day NHL break was arriving at a good time for the Wings. A do-over is definitely what this team needs.
“Reset and get away, get time to spend with your families and try to come back refreshed,” Larkin said. “It’s been difficult to come to the rink and continue to build yourself up and then have games and performances like (Monday). Get away, spend time with your family and when we come back, we have to push before another break (two-week 4-Nations Face-off tournament break). It’s a lot of games and we have to get something going. I hope the guys take advantage of the rest.”
And Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen offered, well, gloom and doom:
Detroit’s record now leaves the team eight points out of a playoff spot. The Red Wings’ .441 points percentage is the second worst in the Eastern Conference.
How bad is the situation?
Over the past 10 games, the Red Wings are 2-for-26 on the power play.
Captain Dylan Larkin has gone 13 games without a goal. He’s minus-6 in his past six games.
Vladimir Tarasenko is on place for a 10-goal season. He’s gone 10 games without a goal. is minus-6 in his past eight game. His failure to clear a puck out of the Detroit zone led to the Blues’ first goal Monday.
Detroit is one of three teams with a penalty killing percentage below 72%. Their 68.8% efficiency ranks 31st out of 32 teams.
The Motown offense is 29th at 2.56 goals per game. Detroit’s defense, giving up 3.26 goals per game, is 25th.
It’s easy to complain at this point. I have a list of 25 players from whom I want to see better performances. But the Red Wings are where they are at, and they can only take care of the present and the future now.
