How to Watch

Puck Drop: 9:00 PM EST
Place: Mullett Arena – Tempe, AZ
TV: BSD, BSAZ
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
Coyotes SB Nation Blog: Five For Howling

I mean… the Wings have to win this one… right?

The Arizona Coyotes have lost nine straight games. When you go up and down the stats sheet, they’re at or near the bottom of virtually every major category. Two of their three best players are simply on the roster as trade fodder at this point. The Yotes are fully embracing the tank, years away from assembling a core that might compete, and simply treading water and hitting the “sim” button through seasons until they get to that point.

The Red Wings should win this. And yet…

Old habits from Red Wings teams past are creeping back into the picture. Just like we’ve seen the past two games — including yesterday’s 6-3 loss to Colorado —, they’re falling asleep for long stretches, starting lackadaisically before being forced to try and mount wild comebacks in the final period. Defense and special teams have become non-existent. And the goaltending which helped the Red Wings steal games early in the season has come plummeting back to Earth.

So yeah, maybe it would be best if the Red Wings didn’t count their chickens before they hatch in this game.

The Red Wings are in desperate need of a win, if for no other reason than just to have something positive to talk about. Another bad loss, like the past two, will turn the temperature up amongst the fanbase.