The Free Press’s Helene St. James penned a practice article which, in part, discusses the Wings’ power play issues:
Since operating at 22.7 percent through the first 34 games, their power play has gone into a deep freeze, with four goals on 48 opportunities (8.3 percent) since Dec. 23.
“It’s not good enough,” Blashill said. “I said at the beginning of the year our special teams need to be in the top 10 in order to be a playoff team, and I still think for us to be a playoff team, our specials teams are going to have to be in the top 10. Our PK has looked better the last little bit but our power play hasn’t been good enough.
“We have to eliminate unforced errors and have a better attack mentality. If you get a puck, you have to make sure you talk and you hold on to it until you know where that puck is going — we can’t throw the puck away.”
The Wings are 0-for-8 the past three games.
“We’re not getting what we want out of our power play,” Zetterberg said. “I think we got some momentum lately. It’s been a little bit better than it was a while ago, but we need some goals. We are creating shots and chaos in front of the net, now we just have to get the puck behind the goalie.”
St. James also addresses the frustration the Wings have with the goaltender interference rules, and she discusses Patrice Bergeron’s status as something of a league-wide role model.