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Flunking the litmus test

October 18, 2017, 11:27 PM ET [24 Comments]
Bob Duff
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
If this week truly is the litmus test for where the Detroit Red Wings are as a hockey team, what color does the stripe turn for full-fledged panic?

It’s not so much that the Wings are 0-2 so far this week - 6-3 losers to the Maple Leafs Wednesday in Toronto after a 3-2 home-ice setback Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning - it’s the way that they lost which should be most alarming.

They haven’t played all that badly, and they have nothing to show for it, which would lead a person to suggest that maybe this team isn’t as good as their 4-1 record entering the week suggested.

Beating up on the Arizona Coyotes, and Las Vegas Golden Knights of the hockey world turned out to be completely different than lining up against some of the NHL’s elite squads.

Even Detroit coach Jeff Blashill had to acknowledge that for the most part, the Wings have been playing the way they want to this week.

“I think the process on Monday was very good, the process tonight in large parts was good,” Blashill said. “We’ve got to eliminate some mental errors, make sure all 20 guys are going. But we’ve also got to get results.”

The urgency has to be real high here come Friday.”

Friday being the third leg of this triple crown of hockey terror, a home-ice tilt at Little Caesars Arena against the Washington Capitals.

Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg also had to agree. The Wings did perform all that badly on Wednesday.

“I thought we really came out pushing them,” Zetterberg said. “I thought we came out with good speed, had a good forecheck.

“Unfortunately, they were scoring the goals.”

Boy, were they ever. The Leafs put their first two shots past Jimmy Howard, who was hooked in favor of Petr Mrazek. And two of the first three shots he faced also illuminated the red light behind him.

“Obviously it’s not fun when that happens but it’s part of the game,” Zetterberg said of Detroit’s sieve-like netminding. “It happens sometimes. We just had to put that aside and keep doing what we were doing.

“I thought we played good in the first and were still down 4-1.”

What we’ve learned so far about the Wings is that when they put it all together, they can beat the NHL’s mediocre and weaker clubs. But if they come off it even a bit, as they did in their first loss of the season at Dallas, they will go down to defeat.

Can they put it all together and beat a quality team? That hasn’t happened yet, and they get their chance to do so on Friday.

“We didn’t get any points here,” Zetterberg said after Wednesday’s loss. “We didn’t get any points last game. That’s what it comes down to.

“Now we’ve got to refocus here and keep playing good hockey at home here against Washington.”

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