MLive’s Ansar Khan posted a column discussing the Red Wings’ 3-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens last night, noting that Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill and defenseman Danny DeKeyser were completely dissatisfied with their team’s effort against the struggling Canadiens, who still sit at 3-and-8 after last night’s game vs. 4-4-and-2 Detroit:

“You have a chance to come out and have a great third period against a team that’s come off a West Coast trip, that lost a player early with (Jonathan) Drouin, and we didn’t come close to mustering the effort we need to have in order to win the hockey game,” Blashill said. “I think we’ve worked hard to develop an identity as a team that’s hard to play against, and tonight we weren’t.”

The Red Wings have lost twice in 10 days to a struggling Canadiens club (3-8-0), getting outscored 9-1.

“It’s a tough building to play in. It’s a momentum building,” DeKeyser said. “They came out right from the first shift and kind of tilted the ice. We weren’t able to really push back at all. We didn’t have enough shots, didn’t get enough traffic in front of the net, made it too easy on them.”

The Red Wings last week came back from 0-2 deficits to defeat Washington and earn a point in an overtime loss to Florida. That same urgency was lacking on this night.

“We had a whole bunch of players not even close to what they’re capable of, so we didn’t create any pressure on their D at all, in the third especially,” Blashill said. “We didn’t create a lot of chances. In the third we had zero. To me, it’s inexcusable. We got to find a way to make sure we’re way better than that.”

Continued; here’s hoping that, this year, anyway, the players heed their coach’s words.

The Athletic’s Max Bultman offers 10 Thoughts about the Red Wings after 10 games this morning, and several of his observations involve Tuesday night’s 3-0 loss to Montreal, and some involve the schedule ahead:

The big question coming out of these first 10 games is which team represents the real Red Wings? Is it the shot-blocking, willing-to-fight-for-each-other team that showed up against Tampa Bay, Washington, Vancouver and Florida? Or is it the flat-footed group that has now reared its head twice against the Canadiens?

All fall, we’ve known Detroit would be playing with thin margins, especially without Jakub Vrana. And losing Bertuzzi for those games in Montreal cannot be ignored; he’s a tone-setting player, and losing him surely factors into the Red Wings’ 0-3 results in Canada thus far. But his absence was far from the only reason the Red Wings came up short, and now the question shifts to which Detroit team will show up more often.

It’s hard (frankly, impossible) to play the way the Red Wings want to play for 82 straight games in the regular season. So, slip-ups and off nights are to be expected. And by and large, Detroit has seemed to make legitimate progress from last year to this one.

I buy that it can win games by being resilient and hard to play against, and I’m increasingly sold that Seider and Raymond can keep making big impacts (even if I think the point production is destined to slow down a bit soon).

Bultman continues (paywall), noting that the Red Wings have 11 more games to play between now and U.S. Thanksgiving on November 25th. 10 of those games will be played over the course of 17 nights, and we’re definitely going to know a lot more about the Red Wings by the 20th.

NHL.com’s Dan Rosen posted a mailbag article this morning, and he addresses the emergence of a pair of surprise Calder Trophy candidates from the Red Wings:

What is your take on the Calder Trophy race right now? Cole Caufield being sent down by the Montreal Canadiens while Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider are bringing it all. Who are you picking? — @alehtonen_

I picked Florida Panthers goalie Spencer Knight to win the Calder Trophy voted as NHL rookie of the year before the season. It’s early to move off that pick, especially because Knight has played well, but if Sergei Bobrovsky continues to play like a candidate for Vezina Trophy, given to the goalie voted best in the NHL, it’ll be hard for the 20-year-old behind him to play enough games to earn enough Calder votes. 

Bobrovsky is 6-0-0 with a 1.81 goals-against average and .944 save percentage (11 goals on 198 shots) in six games. Knight is 2-0-1 with a 1.95 GAA and .929 save percentage (six goals on 85 shots) in three games. I picked Knight thinking Bobrovsky could struggle, and Knight would have the No. 1 job by December of January. Clearly, Bobrovsky has thrived so far.

Seider was named NHL Rookie of the Month for October. I would say the Detroit Red Wings defenseman is the early favorite for the Calder with about 11 percent of the schedule completed (143 of 1,312 games have been played to date). Seider has been physical, aggressive in the corners, strong with the puck on his stick, smart with his reads, and a weapon on the power play. He leads Detroit and NHL rookies with eight assists, including four on the power play. He was also the first Red Wings defenseman in history to score eight points in his first nine NHL games. Nicklas Lidstrom scored seven points (one goal, six assists) in his first nine games, and he’s one of the best defensemen to play in the NHL. Seider is playing 22:26 per game, first among rookies and second on the Red Wings behind defenseman Filip Hronek (23:05). He looks like a future franchise defenseman.

Raymond looks good, but three of his four goals and four of his nine points (four goals, five assists) came in a 6-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 24. If he continues to produce at a point per game pace, then he’ll be running neck and neck with his teammate in the Calder Trophy race. 

Continued (welcome to the new world order)

Detroit dropped their 3rd straight game overall (Detroit is 4-4-and-2 now) and their 3rd straight game in Canada (without Tyler Bertuzzi and Dylan Larkin alike) on Tuesday night, losing 3-0 to the Montreal Canadiens in La Belle Province.

To say that the Montreal Canadiens are dominant at home vs. Detroit is an understatement:

Defeating the Red Wings 3-0 tonight, the #Canadiens have now gotten 2 of their 3 wins in 11 games so far this season against the Wings and by a combined score of 9-1. Overall, the Habs are a superb 15-3-3 in their last 21 home meetings with DET (dating back to the 2003-04 season) pic.twitter.com/M60fDfTMFn— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) November 3, 2021

Nick Suzuki, Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher each scored as the @CanadiensMTL skated to a 3-0 win. Montreal has now scored nine straight goals against Detroit dating to Oct. 23.#NHLStats: https://t.co/vnOf7gR16Z pic.twitter.com/VTR6RaIXfE— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) November 3, 2021

I’m in the minority here, but I’m not buying the whole, “Oh, the Wings didn’t have Bertuzzi or Larkin, so you can write the game off” theory tonight. Tonight, I’m actually pretty pissed off at the Red Wings for not showing up the way they should have against a struggling, now 3-and-8 Canadiens team.

The Wings had every opportunity to pounce upon the Habs coming back from a West Coast trip, and instead, they laid an egg, and that’s on the personnel that was on the ice and the coaches who were behind the bench.

As you might imagine, the Canadiens were delighted after the game, none more than Nick Suzuki, who scored a goal and added two assists as the Habs pounced on the Red Wings early and often. Suzuki told the Montreal Gazette’s Pat Hickey that it was easy to “bounce back” from the Habs’ 4-2 loss to Anaheim:

Of prospect-related note from North America on Tuesday:

In the WHL, Red Wings prospect Sebastian Cossa was named the WHL’s goalie of the month on Tuesday, and Cossa pitched a 28-save shutout as his Edmonton Oil Kings won 7-0 over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Cossa was named the third star for Edmonton; Alex Cotton finished at -4 for Lethbridge, with 3 shots.

The Detroit Red Wings attempted to snap a two-game winless streak against the struggling Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, and Detroit laid an egg against the now 3-and-8 Habs, dropping to 4-4-and-1 via a 3-0 loss to Montreal that was not in doubt in terms of its result once Montreal took a 2-0, 1st period lead.

This one was very hard to watch because the Red Wings just seemed to have no jump without Larkin, Bertuzzi, etc., and Montreal has struggled tremendously, but they were explosive and opportunistic, scoring their first goal only 2:06 in, and taking it from there.

The Canadiens are now 2-and-0 against the Red Wings, who play 10 more games over the course of the next 17 nights, and the Red Wings move on to Boston.

Bally Sports Detroit’s Manon Rheaume and Mickey Redmond engaged in a little bit of French-Canadian dialogue on Bally Sports Detroit’s pregame show:

We certainly appreciate culture here in the Motor City! Let’s take a look as @ManonRheaume and Mickey Redmond brush up on their French ahead of tonight’s @DetroitRedWings matchup in Montreal this evening. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/zvLRDvIVLi— Bally Sports Detroit (@BallySportsDET) November 2, 2021

The Grand Rapids Griffins have posted their weekly notebook ahead of Friday’s game vs. Iowa:

Of Red Wings prospect-related note in Europe today:

In the Finnish Liiga, Otto Kivenmaki finished even with 1 shots in 12:04 played as the Lahti Pelicans lost 5-1 to IFK Helsinki;

In the SHL, Albert Johansson had an assist, finishing at +2 in 20:10 of ice time as Farjestads BK lost 5-3 to Djurgarden;

William Wallinder finished even in 16:44 played as Rogle BK won 6-2 over Vaxjo;

And, in the Frolunda Indians’ 3-1 win over Timra:

Simon Edvinsson missed the game with a cold;

Theodor Niederbach had an assist, finishing even with 1 shot in 10:09 played:

Theodor Niederbach intercepts a pass and helps create a Frölunda goal, picking up his 4th point of the season.#LGRW pic.twitter.com/DpGtLPRzgM

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) November 2, 2021

Elmer Soderblom finished at +1 with 1 shot in 18:02 played;

Liam Dower Nilsson took a penalty in 6:02 played.

Of Red Wings-related note this evening from the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan and MLive’s Ansar Khan:

Kulfan penned a notebook regarding Michael Rasmussen’s status as stepping in for Dylan Larkin, who will miss tonight’s game due to personal reasons…

Unlike past seasons, the Wings are better prepared for situations where key offensive players are out of the lineup.

“We have improved our depth,” Blashill said. “We’ve worked hard as a coaching staff to make sure we’re getting ice time to other lines and the other lines have responded. Other people have responded with good play. We’ve moved a number of young players into our lineup and they’re growing with the added responsibility.”

Blashill wouldn’t speculate as to how long Larkin would be out, but he looks upon it as a day-to-day situation.

“I’m not going to expand further than that,” Blashill said. “He’ll just miss tonight’s game for personal reasons and that’s it.”

Bertuzzi is expected to rejoin the Wings on Wednesday in Boston and be available to play Thursday against the Bruins. But with scoring depth from the likes of Lucas Raymond, Robby Fabbri and Filip Zadina, among others, there isn’t the blatant concern there would be in previous seasons.

“Depth matters a ton and part of that depth might be Joe Veleno coming in and can he have a real good game for us?” Blashill said. “Carter Rowney is a guy who has played well the last little bit after being a healthy scratch. Can Givani Smith chip in offensively, something we know he’s capable of doing. Certainly depth matters.”

And Khan let Rasmussen speak about his role on the team:

“I’m going to try to help out Razor and Fabbs, create some space for them, make some plays,” Rasmussen said. “But just play the same way, play hard, play good defensively. Just give the puck to those guys. They can make a lot of plays.”

Rasmussen is averaging 16:05 in ice time, playing more on the penalty kill than before while continuing to rotate in on the power play in a net-front role.

“Ras has been tasked with lots,” Blashill said. “He’s out there a lot of times against other team’s good players and I think he’s done a good job. He’s a big body, his skating has improved dramatically from when he first turned pro, he’s played hard, he’s doing lots of good things. He’s a guy whose impact isn’t going to be felt just on his offense, it’s going to be felt in his overall game and it’s continuing to grow.”

Blashill said Rasmussen’s skating has improved significantly from his rookie season of 2018-19.

“It’s shown in the impact of his game,” Blashill said. “He’s a big body that’s had to fill into his frame and that’s not easy. A lot of times those big bodies take a little longer. He’s worked really hard in the offseason, spent lots of time in Detroit and really built up his body and his skating has definitely improved.”