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Red Wings just can't score |
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They’re not frustrated, the Detroit Red Wings insist.
“No, I think we talked about it today, if we play that way that we did yesterday that we’ll win a lot of games,” Detroit forward Gustav Nyquist said. “I thought we played good.
“We created a lot of chances. I think we probably out-chanced them by a good margin. Even (Petr) Mrazek was great in net again.”
The thing is, right now the Wings look a lot like a 17-year-old with acne in search of a prom date. No matter how hard they try, they just can’t score.
“I think we had a lot of chances to score that we couldn’t score on, so we’ve just got to find a way, keep plugging away,” Nyquist said.
Since returning home from a 5-1 road trip, the Wings have been limited to one goal in consecutive home-losses to the Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues.
But while the Blues got a goal in Wednesday’s win that banked in off the hockey pants of forward Ty Rattie, the Wings struggle to even hit the net.
Even the Magic Man, Pavel Datsyuk missed a wide-open net in Detroit’s latest defeat.
“Yeah, I would say I think that Pavel would score that 999 times out of a thousand,” Nyquist said. “But right now the puck’s just not going in for the team. It’s not just one player; it’s a lot of players that’s not scoring right now. That’s not a good formula, so we’ve all got to bear down and find a way to score.
“I thought I had a couple chances yesterday where I missed the net. First shift of the game I get one right in the slot and I blasted it right over, and then in the third I have a two on one, shoot high again, you know, so I’ve just got to hit the net and find a way to score goals. I think the chances are there, we’ve just got to find that net.”
Every Day He’s Shuffling
Looking to break his team out of their scoring funk, Detroit coach Jeff Blashill again juggled his line combinations during Thursday’s practice.
Nyquist was with Datsyuk and Darren Helm, while the unit of Henrik Zetterberg, Justin Abdelkader and Dylan Larkin was reunited.
“It looks like that’s the way,” Blashill said of his forward units. “We wanted to see it today in practice, so I’m not saying it’s 100 per cent. We wanted to evaluate it today and see where it was at.
“We’re just trying to look for line combinations. Obviously, the time they spent together as a line they had a lot of success and it’s a line we think can be real productive.”
Richards Out
Brad Richards will miss Friday’s game at Buffalo to attend the funeral of his grandfather.
“Unfortunate, for sure,” Blashill said. “Those are things that unfortunately you have to go through in life, so it’s good he’s going to get a chance to be with his family.”
Richards will rejoin the Wings for Saturday’s game at Joe Louis Arena against the Anaheim Ducks.
Maintenance Day
Defenseman Brendan Smith also didn’t skate Thursday but Blashill indicated that there was no cause for concern.
“We expect Smith to play tomorrow,” Blashill said. “It was a maintenance day. He’s sore. It’s that time of the year they get bumps and bruises.
“He needed a day to rest but we expect him to play tomorrow.”
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