The NHL is a tough league to play in and the Red Wings found out why this weekend. Detroit faced a back-to-back against two tough opponents in the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers, so maybe there wasn’t much of an expectation to win these games. Detroit gave the game away Friday night and the offense was a no-show on Saturday.
Detroit now sits at seventh in the Atlantic Division, only ahead of Montreal, yet are still 5-4-1 over their last 10 games. I’m having a tough time summing up what kind of team this is, but the word “underwhelming” is probably the best way to describe it… Still, a lot can change since we’re only 14 games into the season.
Wings vs Leafs Box Score
Rangers vs Wings Box Score
Silver Linings
The offense absolutely dried up this weekend — there’s no doubt about that. BUT, Saturday night’s game was probably the best Detroit has played so far this season. Hard to believe because the score does not show that at all, but the Wings had the edge in shots on goal over New York at 37-24 — Detroit simply ran into Jonathan Quick who stopped everything that came his way. Same goes for their game against Toronto Friday night a slightly smaller edge in shots.
The offense looked the sharpest it has all season, still only scored one goal on a back-to-back… So this is probably the crappiest silver lining you will ever get.
Offensive Woes
You’re simply not going to win much when you manage to score just one goal like the Wings did this weekend. The defense has been a primary concern for so many (and rightfully so, even though they are starting to button that part of their game up), but now all I can think about is the lack of offense. I haven’t been impressed by Patrick Kane at all and Vladimir Tarasenko has struggled to provide much. The only guy who seems to have the scoring touch is Dylan Larkin. The Wings need their “finishers” to finish.
The Red Wings, at this point, are 31st in the league in goal-scoring. The only team worse than that are the Anaheim Ducks. That stat speaks for itself.
Costly Mistakes
In the closing minutes of the game in Toronto it seemed like Detroit got too conservative with pulling its goalie, and when they finally got around to that, Moritz Seider made probably the ugliest mistake of his career that led to an empty-net goal. This was a rare mistake for Seider but it underscores just how razor-thin the margin of error is in this league — especially against division rivals like the Maple Leafs. That won’t cut it.
I wish I had more to say, but I’m not really having fun watching this team right now. It kinda seems like when one thing goes right for the Red Wings, something else goes wrong and we’re back to square one. There are a couple of days off before resuming action on Wednesday in Pittsburgh, then the Wings head out for a west coast trip. If there was ever time to “get right,” the time is now.
