Call the game what it is — a low point for the Detroit Red Wings this season.
Wings fans had hope for about 30 seconds in this game and then it all unraveled rapidly and put them back in a place they were hoping to never see again. (hope is not a strategy)
Detroit is fighting for a wild card spot. Every game is crucial — and they got their butts whooped up-and-down by the Senators on back-to-back nights. With very few words and little care or critical thought/analysis, here’s how this really stupid game unfolded.
1st Period
It was a fun start.. for a minute.
Dominik Kubalik opened the scoring in the very early stages of the game:
Kuby’s 17th on the season. 👌 pic.twitter.com/kv9kJsAvB2
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) March 1, 2023
After Kubalik’s goal, things just went downhill and landed up a creek without a paddle. In my opinion it was propelled by a horrible call on Filip Hronek that resulted in a penalty shot and eventual game-tying goal by Tim Stutzle. Here’s the play in question:
This was called a penalty shot (which Stützle then scored on). Mickey Redmond doesn’t like it. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/Y9ahCQnC58
— Ryan Hana (@RyanHanaWWP) March 1, 2023
Terrible call but what transpired after this penalty-shot goal was nothing short of pathetic from the Wings. They let the Senators score in just about every situation you can in the sport of hockey. It was particularly bad for Filip Hronek, who apparently fell apart at the seams following Stutzle’s goal.
The Wings got a fair share of chances on the power play — four total, actually. Not a single thing to show for it. An overall poor 20 minutes of hockey that somehow lasted forever. In fact, it’s probably still happening somewhere in this universe. No notes. It sucked.
2nd Period
I had trouble watching the second period because I was so bent out of shape over the first period.
The quick story is that despite a couple of more looks on PP, Detroit couldn’t figure anything out. Ottawa would eventually get a chance with the advantage and cashed in thanks to Claude Giroux.
Claude sauces it right in! 🚨#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/bcPaqKOAYo
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 1, 2023
The biggest headline out of the second period was Filip Hronek going to the locker room after taking a hit from Auston Watson. He wouldn’t return to the game.
3rd Period
Things didn’t get worse, but they certainly didn’t get any better.
Ottawa managed to notch one goal in the third so I guess maybe that’s a positive:
💪 https://t.co/Tof24mN4pc pic.twitter.com/ooBTUuHo6B
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 1, 2023
The Wings PP failures continued to make this a pretty flat loss. Zero goals on eight chances. Six unanswered goals. WOOF.
These back-to-back losses are completely deflating. You would think after getting a six dropped on them Monday night they would manage to at least put up a fight. Not the case. The Wings scored the opening goal and then completely mailed it in for the remainder of the game.
Wings have a day to sort themselves out before hosting Seattle at LCA Thursday night, then all eyes are set to Friday for the NHL trade deadline. I’m not convinced the Red Wings should be in “buy” mode.
