The Red Wings dropped a 4-0 decision to the St. Louis Blues on Monday night, dropping their 3rd straight game, and, given that the Red Wings have lost 8 of their past 12 games, it was not surprising that the Wings were booed off the ice at Little Caesars Arena.
MLive’s Ansar Khan has posted a subscriber-only article which discusses Dylan Larkin, J.T. Compher and coach Derek Lalonde’s reactions to their fans’ frustration, as well as their suggestions for improving their team’s 13-17-and-4 record
“They’re frustrated, we’re frustrated,” Larkin said. “When you play at home on a big night like tonight with the holiday coming up, it’s usually a great crowd, and we didn’t give them any reason to cheer and have a good night. So, you feel it, we feel it. It’s just a disappointing effort and disappointing game for playing on home ice before a holiday.”
They’ll have a three-day Christmas break to stew over it before hosting Toronto on Friday (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Detroit).
Speculation about coach Derek Lalonde’s job security is sure to increase.
“It seemed like (fans) are just as frustrated as this group,” Lalonde said. “It’s the frustration because this group’s showing (positive signs) at times. We’re not a perfect team by any means, but we’ve shown that we can play at a pretty good level, and it wasn’t enough tonight.”
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“When you show up to play, you got to show up to play, and we just don’t have enough guys doing that right now, myself included,” Larkin said. “You got to be committed to compete, and we’re just not doing that. We’re very disconnected, the forwards from the D, wingers from centerman. It’s just all over. A lot of skating, a lot of hard work, but we’re not getting anything accomplished. And I never really think our work ethic is poor. We have a bunch of guys that work hard. It’s just we’re working hard and not accomplishing anything.”
Continued; the Free Press’s Helene St. James also posted an overnight recap of Monday night’s game which discusses the Wings’ reactions to the fans’ booing:
Lalonde described the Wings as looking “not connected. A little out of rhythm. The break is coming at a really good time. Our last two and a half games, we’re definitely searching. A little fragile maybe. It’s frustrating the way this home stand started. We need the break. It’s coming at a really good time.”
For Lalonde, the boos showed “frustration because this group has shown it at times. We’re not a perfect team, but we’ve shown the ability to play at a pretty good level.”
It’s exactly the dichotomy of how the Wings can play like they did when they beat the Leafs Dec. 14, and then play so poorly in back-to-back losses to the Canadiens. Even the lack of top-pair defenseman Simon Edvinsson in three games and second-pair workhorse Ben Chiarot on Monday doesn’t explain the lackluster work ethic against the Blues.
“Dichotomy is a good word,” Lalonde said. “I will say this, I think there’s care in the group. I think it’s there. But that’s exactly the question — how can you look so good against Toronto and then have this three-game stretch? Probably a little of that is just being connected and having some rhythm in our game. Maybe a little fragile with the group. Again, we need the break. We need a little recharge.
“It’s not a very good spot to be in but I just think it’s about finding our game. We’ve had moments when we’ve find our game. Live in the moment and our moment is break, recharge and try to get our game back in order against Toronto.”
Continued (paywall); I understand that the Wings’ responses may ring pretty hollow right now, but it’s a whole hell of a lot better that they empathize with their fan base than it would be if they blew off the boos.
