The Detroit Red Wings dropped a 4-0 decision to the St. Louis Blues on Monday night, wrapping up the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule with 3 consecutive losses.
Everyone who is a Red Wings partisan in any way, shape or form is feeling gloomy right now. Detroit’s won something like 3 of their last 13 games, per one Mickey Redmond, and things are bad right now. Really, really bad.
And there should be questions about the player personnel and coaching staff right now, as managed by GM SY and the management team (and ownership, honestly, at this point).
But I’m gonna go through this one like a regular recap, because that’s what we try to do here at TMR–we try to at least keep things sane when it’s all going to shit. And we’re going to let the players and coaches speak for themselves, for good or for ill.
So, let’s begin.
The Blues’ media didn’t offer a whole lot of quotes about St. Louis’ victory, but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Matthew DeFranks offered this take on tonight’s affair…
The Blues gave themselves an early gift on Monday night, snapping a three-game losing streak with a 4-0 win over the Red Wings in their final game before the Christmas break.
Dylan Holloway had his first career hat trick and Alexandre Texier added another as the Blues (16-16-4) reached back up to .500. Jordan Binnington made 18 saves to earn his second shutout of the season.
Holloway’s empty-net goal with 4:06 remaining in the third period secured his hat trick and pushed his goal total to 13 on the season.
St. Louis controlled the game most of the evening, limiting the Red Wings’ chances, rushing through the neutral zone and possessing the puck. The result was one of the Blues’ most thorough games of the season (until a lukewarm third period) and a game that ended the team’s recent offensive struggles.
In scoring four goals on Monday, the Blues scored more than one goal for just the second time in the past six games.
“Detroit wants to go into the break on a positive note, too,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said before the game. “But most importantly for us is developing consistency in how we play. I really like the standard of effort and execution of last game. We just need to continue to do that, and I truly believe that the goals are going to come because we had plenty of odd-man rushes, we had plenty of Grade-A’s, enough to win the hockey game. We just need to start being a little harder offensively like we’ve talked about.”
The Hockey News’s Lou Korac offered this take on the game…
The well dam would break at some point for the St. Louis Blues.
Goal scoring has been at a premium for them as of late, scoring only one goal in four of the past five games. But the tone in the room was that they’re building in the right direction even though the results haven’t been there.
They were rewarded on Monday against the struggling Detroit Red Wings when Dylan Holloway scored his first NHL hat trick, and Jordan Binnington made 19 saves to move past Glenn Hall into sole possession of fourth on the franchise list for shutouts with his 17th in a 4-0 win against the Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena.
Alexandre Texier, moved up to a line with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich after a pair of strong games on the trip, also scored, and Robert Thomas and Colton Parayko each had two assists as the Blues (16-16-4) head into the Christmas break having split their points on the road trip, going 1-1-1.
They dominated the struggling Red Wings (13-17-4) from the opening face-off and rewarded themselves for a couple tough results despite playing solid overall but simply not being able to score.
And NHL.com’s Dave Hogg actually spoke with both the Red Wings and Blues’ players and coaches:
Dylan Holloway scored his first NHL hat trick, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-0 at Little Caesars Arena on Monday.
“That’s every kid’s dream — scoring three goals in an NHL game,” Holloway said before posing for the traditional three-puck picture. “It feels pretty good, but I obviously couldn’t have done it without my teammates setting me up.”
Jordan Binnington made 19 saves for his second shutout of the season and 17th in the NHL.
“I thought we were very strong defensively from start to finish, and we had a lot of chances offensively,” Binnington said. “It was a very complete game and it showed our commitment to playing for each other.”
Alexandre Texier also scored for St. Louis (16-16-4), which had lost three straight and five of six. Colton Parayko and Robert Thomas each had two assists.
“That was 60 minutes with high compete and playing the right way,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “I think we were connected in all three zones and we played really fast tonight.”
We’ll utilize Hogg’s recap to transition from the Blues’ perspectives to those of the Red Wings’ rather despondent players and coach…
Detroit’s top defenseman, Moritz Seider, was paired with Justin Holl — another right-handed shot — with lefties Simon Edvinsson and Ben Chiarot both out with upper-body injuries. Holl was minus-2 in 21:23 and Seider was minus-3 in 22:59.
“Obviously, when any team loses its top two left-shot defensemen, it is going to look like that,” Lalonde said. “I thought our defensemen elevated — our young guys who aren’t even everyday NHL players — and we held that team to 21 shots.”
And we’ll let the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan offer a succinct take on the players and coach’s remarks:
The Wings (13-17-4) head into the break with three consecutive losses and only three wins in their last 12 games (3-7-2). The way they’ve lost the last several games, also, will not dampen the speculation on coach Derek Lalonde’s job security or social media calling for every last Wings player to be traded.
And the holiday crowd at Little Caesars Arena made their frustration and anything but festive feelings known, with boos after each period and end of the game.
“They’re frustrated and we’re frustrated, and rightfully so frustrated,” captain Dylan Larkin said. “When you play at home on a big night like tonight with the holidays coming up, a great crowd, and we didn’t give them any reason to cheer and have a good night. We feel it. They were frustrated as well. It’s just a disappointing effort and game for playing at home ice before the holiday.”
Closer to the Eastern Conference basement than a playoff spot, the Wings have yet to gain any sort of traction and move upward in the standings. They’re eight points from a wild-card playoff spot, but only two points ahead of Buffalo for last place in the conference.
Coach Derek Lalonde acknowledged concern for the trajectory of how this season is headed.
“Of course, that’s common sense and it’s a really fair (question),” Lalonde said. “It’s not a good spot to be in. But it’s just about finding our game. We’ve had moments that we’ve found our game. You kind of live in the moment and our moment is break, recharge and try to get our game back.”
Lalonde mentioned several times the time away from the rink might be a good thing right now for the Wings.
“A little out of rhythm,” said Lalonde of his team. “The break is coming at a real good time. Our last two and half games, we’re definitely searching. A little fragile, maybe. It’s frustrating the way this homestand started (with two victories), so the break is coming at a real good time.”
The Hockey News’s Sam Stockton noted that Larkin and J.T. Compher, the players plucked out of the locker room to speak at the press conference dais, were blunt in their assessment of where things stand after tonight’s game…
Larkin called it “unacceptable.” “Not enough execution, not enough jam,” added center J.T. Compher. “We turned the puck over way to much tonight to give ourselves a chance to go play offense.”
The Red Wings’ performance was lethargic, allowing the visitors to play the exact game Detroit covets. St. Louis occupied sound defensive positions. The Blues stayed above the Red Wings and pounced on turnovers to create fast, vertical offense. They held off pressure with offensive zone possession and altogether smothered Detroit. At the end of two periods, the Red Wings had just nine shots, and St. Louis led 3–0.
We’re very disconnected,” said Larkin, before saying that his team hadn’t wanted for effort but rather efficacy: “A lot of hard work, but we’re not getting anything accomplished.” “A lot of skating, not a lot of creativity,” he would add later.
It would be tempting to pin the night’s result on the absences: Simon Edvinsson and Ben Chiarot—the first two names on the left side of Detroit’s defensive depth chart—both unavailable due to injury. And it wouldn’t be without justification: Edvinsson has been the biggest (perhaps the only) reason for optimism about the future during a heretofore futile season, and no team is well equipped to absorb the loss of its top two left-handed defensemen. Yet the void those two left fails to encapsulate the scope of the evening’s failure and frustration.
“The D were fine tonight,” said coach Derek Lalonde, unwilling to accept the excuse Edvinsson and Chiarot’s absences might have offered as cover for the game his team had played. “I thought our D gave us a really good game tonight, considering where it’s at.”
In all honesty, Moritz Seider may have been the worst of the Wings’ defenders on Monday night, because he was trying too hard to force things.
Albert Johansson was revelatory at times with his smart offensive pinches. Erik Gustafsson was actually good and capable. Justin Holl did a lot of work bailing Seider out. Jeff Petry’s really found a bit of a career renaissance this season, though his defending is still spotty, and William Lagesson looked like he belonged in the NHL.
Anyway, Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff, who’s been the leader of the gloom and doom brigade–and understandably so–offered this:
Those gathered at Little Caesars Arena on Monday night sent the Red Wings off to their Christmas break by serenading them with a carol of boos, and deservedly so.
“I mean, they’re frustrated, we’re frustrated,” said Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin, seeming to comprehend the frustration of the faithful. “They’re rightfully frustrated. 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.”
On a three-game losing skid heading into the NHL’s Christmas break, Detroit is 13-17-4 and second-last in the Eastern Conference. A year ago at the holiday break, the Red Wings were 16-14-4.
Making matters worse, they are a dismal 6-9-2 on home ice.
Detroit could muster up only nine shots on goal through the first two periods on Monday. While a confident St. Louis team was winning shift after shift, driving forcefully to the net to create scoring chances, the Red Wings were playing that cutesy passing game they appear to be so fond of, consistently moving the puck away from scoring areas in search of a perfect play that would never materialize.
“There’s . . . a lot of skating, a lot of hard work, but we’re not getting anything accomplished,” Larkin said. “We’re working hard and not accomplishing anything. I think 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. So you gotta be committed to compete, and we’re just not doing that. We’re very disconnected.”
I’m not going to deny that the Red Wings need to play north-south hockey much more regularly, and get to the dirty areas–George does not often recommend a trade for Chris Kreider in the “quick take” for shits and giggles’ sake–and the fact that the Joe Veleno-Marco Kasper-Jonatan Berggren line, which doesn’t have a whole lot in the way of size, was by far the Wings’ grittiest and most effective line speaks volumes.
Not good volumes, especially for the Wings’ stars. Larkin among them, because he and Raymond were just like Seider–not so good, because they were trying to force simple plays to happen in the most difficult ways imaginable…
But the Wings are where they are…
“It’s not a very good spot to be in,” Lalonde admitted. “As far as losing the season, I don’t think you look at that. I think you kind of live in the moment. And our moment is break, recharge and try to get our game back in order against Toronto.”
As MLive’s Ansar Khan also noted…
The score doesn’t reflect how badly the Red Wings were outplayed, especially through the first two periods, just 48 hours after some players said they were outworked and out-competed in a 5-1 loss at Montreal.
The Red Wings (13-17-4) have lost three in a row. They are 7-9-2 at home and were booed off the ice again. They are only two points ahead of the last-place Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference. The Blues are 16-16-4, 7-4-3 since Jim Montgomery replaced Drew Bannister as coach on Nov. 25.
Speculation about coach Derek Lalonde’s job security is sure to increase in the next few days before the Red Wings take the ice again Friday at home against Toronto (7 p.m., FanDuel Sports Detroit).
Buffalo has lost 13 straight games…Well, except for tonight. Tonight, those Gord-Damned Sabres beat the New York Islanders 7-1, on Long Island, no less, and as MLive’s Khan says, the standings are ugly…
So yeah, the Red Wings are 13-17-and-4, their winning percentage is .441, they have given up 23 more goals than they’ve scored, which is worst in the entire Eastern Conference in terms of goal differential, and the upcoming schedule includes Toronto on Friday the 27th, Washington on Sunday the 29th, and Pittsburgh on Tuesday the 31st, all at home…
Before the Wings head to Columbus on the 2nd of January, and then head into Winnipeg to beat the towering Jets on the 4th.
January’s schedule is scary:
It does not get any easier from there, but captain Larkin told DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills that a bag skate tomorrow would be the worst idea for his team–and the current coach seems to agree:
“Get away, spend time 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 this. When we come back, we got to push before another break. It’s a lot of games. We got to get something going. I hope guys take advantage of the rest.”
A similiar postgame sentiment was shared by head coach Derek Lalonde.
“Just a little out of rhythm,” Lalonde said. “The break is coming at a really good time. Obviously, our last probably two-and-a-half games we’re definitely searching, a little fragile maybe. That’s frustrating [after] the way this homestand started.”
The Red Wings have a 3-day break, mandated by the NHL, so tomorrow (Christmas Eve is the “big holiday” for the Swedes, anyway), Wednesday and Thursday are mandatory “off days.”
As such, we won’t know how Simon Edvinsson or Ben Chiarot’s “upper-body injuries” are doing until Friday morning’s morning skate at the very earliest.
Mills offers more quotes from the team regarding its tenuous status…
Lalonde on if missing Edvinsson and Chiarot had a significant influence on Monday’s end result
“D were fine tonight. I thought our D gave us a really good game, considering where it’s at. Obviously, any team loses two top left-shot D, it’s going to look like that. But I thought our D, our young guys that aren’t even everyday NHL guys, did their job.”
Again, Lagesson looked good, and Johansson may have been the best defenseman in the game for Detroit…
Larkin on what the club must do to have consistent success
“We played against the Leafs at home, especially on home ice, it was probably our best performance of the year. We go from one week to this week, and we play like that tonight. That’s our identity. You go watch that game [against Toronto], we were on our toes, forechecking, skating connected and had great shot scrambles. All the things Newsy talks about, we did them. We had a great performance. I don’t think we can’t do that consistently. That’s what it’s got to look like for us.”
Larkin on if there’s been a lack of energy the past few games
“I don’t know. It’s hard to make excuses. When you show up to play, you got to show up to play. There’s just not enough guys doing that right now, myself included. You got to be committed to compete. We’re just not doing that. We’re very disconnected. The forwards and the D on the ice; the wingers and the centermen. It’s just all over. There’s just a lot of disconnect, a lot of skating. A lot of hard work, but we’re not getting anything accomplished. I never really think our work ethic is poor.”
Good. You don’t want the captain to complain or make excuses. And he’s not doing that. He’s blaming himself, first and foremost, and telling the truth–that the Red Wings are working hard, but aren’t working hard together.
Compher on the communication between players on the bench to try to get each other going
“It was not enough execution, not enough jam. We turned the puck over way too much tonight to give ourselves a chance to go play offense. And like Dylan said, get to the net and create. We just fed their transition all night.”
When you miss the net or hit Blues shin pads as many times as you shoot on the net–and the Wings had 19 shots on Binnington and 21 shots wide or blocked–that’s not good.
Among other things, the Wings have been shooting shots and not skating after their rebounds, and if you don’t follow up your shot attempts with meaningful attacks, you’re skating the other way in a hurry.
The Athletic’s Max Bultman isn’t usually a post-game poster, but he offered this take on the Wings’ situation, and it’s not a cheery one:
Yes, the Red Wings were without their top two left-shot defensemen Monday and for part of Saturday’s 5-1 drubbing in Montreal. That hurts. Particularly when it comes to getting out of the defensive zone, which was once again a major problem for Detroit on Monday.
But it’s been a problem plenty of times with everyone healthy, too. Enough that the question is no longer just whether this Red Wings roster is fatally flawed, but rather how (or if) it can realistically be remade. Because even with the defense being battered Monday, Detroit’s forward group is intact. And it simply did not hold up its end — and not for the first time.
“We’d get a good shift from one line, and then we’d lose the shift on the next line,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “Then we’d get a good shift from another line, then we’d lose the shift, lose the (next) shift. We’ve go to start piling on with each other.”
Lalonde singled out the line of Marco Kasper, Jonatan Berggren and Joe Veleno as a group that consistently won its shifts, notable for three of the team’s youngest forwards, but that’s a small silver lining in a shutout loss. Really, the forward corps has been a central problem all season with Detroit seldom able to find much offense beyond its top three scorers in Larkin, Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat. Even Larkin has now gone 13 games since his last goal.
Detroit has jumbled lines in every which way, but nothing has seemed to stick. The forward group as a whole just hasn’t seemed to have enough players who complement each other. And in these recent games with two heavily-relied-upon defenders out, that lack of cohesiveness has been exposed in a big way.
Detroit’s players and coaches emphasized the chance for a reset going into the three-day holiday break this week, and maybe that solves a few issues. But it won’t fix all of them.
Bultman points out that the Wings have a gaggle of veterans on non-expiring contracts, so it’s going to be pretty difficult for the Wings to make meaningful moves if they are to save the season–and Bultman isn’t sure that’s a good idea at this point.
Me?
It’s my blog, and I can be a relentless optimist if I want to.
The Red Wings are 34 games into the regular season. That’s 41.4% of the season gone. That means that the Wings have just about 59% of their regular season to go.
That’s still a majority of the season. And if the Red Wings do make some meaningful moves, find some secondary scoring, some net-front presence, and regain health on defense and in goal, I still believe that they can at least “make a run.”
And it’s sure as shit a lot easier to sell tickets and it’s sure as shit easier to live with the incredibly unlikely odds of winning the draft lottery if you do more than half-ass it for 48 more games.
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: these are professional athletes, professional coaches and former pro players for the most part in the management group. These are highly competitive individuals. And they’re not going to “tank” unless they’re told that they must in absolutely, positively, no uncertain terms stop trying.
That’s highly unlikely. So if, as Bultman suggests, one Steve Yzerman has a lot to think about during the Holiday Break (and happy Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa to you, by the way)…
He’s probably going to be thinking about constructive ways to build the team up as opposed to destructive ways as to how to tear the team down.
The situation is what it is. Where the Red Wings go from here is what truly matters.
Multimedia:
Highlights: NHL.com posted a 10:12 highlight clip:
Sportsnet posted a 10:21 highlight clip:
Post-game: The Blues posted a 3:49 clip of comments from Jordan Binnington, Dylan Holloway and coach Jim Montgomery;
The Red Wings posted a 10:40 clip of Dylan Larkin, J.T. Compher and coach Derek Lalodne’s post-game comments:
The Free Press’s Helene St. James also posted a 6:12 clip of Larkin, Compher and Lalonde’s remarks, and the Free Press posted it to its YouTube channel:
Photos: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch posted a behind-the-paywall gallery;
The Free Press posted a 16-image gallery;
The Detroit News posted a 28-image gallery.
Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:
