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Sheahan looking to hatch goose egg |
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You don’t need to tell Riley Sheahan about the goose egg next to his name in the goals column. The Detroit Red Wings center is quite aware that 24 games into the NHL season, he has yet to light a red lamp behind an opposition net.
“Yeah,” Sheahan shrugged. “There’s a few of us that have struggled to put up goals. It’s hard but you can’t really let it get to you.”
Sheahan isn’t the only NHL forward to play all of his team’s games this season and have yet to score. Philadelphia’s Pierre-Edouard Bellemare has played in every one of the Flyers’ 25 games without denting twine. Jay McClement of the Carolina Hurricanes hasn’t scored and he’s suited up for all 23 of the Hurricanes’ games so far. Brendan Gaunce of the Vancouver Canucks, like Sheahan, is 0-for-24 games, and Derek Grant of the Buffalo Sabres is goalless through 23 games.
Detroit coach Jeff Blashill has advised Sheahan to continue to focus on his all-around game and if he sticks to the details of his play, that goals will eventually come.
“Shea and I have talked about just making sure that what you can control is your play,” Blashill said. “You can’t control necessarily whether it goes in. One way you can help with that is to hit the net and that’s something we try to focus with him.
“I think his last two games might have been his best two in a while. Two games ago he had six hits, that’s a measurable we look at with him to see if he is physically involved. (The) game (against Dallas) we had him, according to our numbers - we put a whole bunch of things together that we think matters - we had him as our top-ranked forward. That’s even strength, without having a whole bunch more ice than other people.
“He just needs to keep building off that.”
In case you were wondering, in NHL history, two forwards – Craig Adams of the 2009-10 Pittsburgh Penguins and Ken Baumgartner of the 1997-98 Boston Bruins – have played all 82 games of a season without scoring a goal.
From a Red Wings perspective, Aaron Downey (2007-08) and Stu Grimson (1995-96) share the club record for most games played in a single season without scoring of 56.
Sheahan isn’t thinking about getting either mark. His goal production has trended upward in each of the last three seasons – from nine in 2013-14, to 13 in 2014-15, and to 14 last season – and like Blashill he’s confident that it’s just a matter of time until his goals start coming.
“I think the biggest thing is they come in bunches,” Sheahan said. “Once you get one it starts to get a little easier from there. You’ve just got to do the little things right, put yourself in the right positions. You can’t really think so much about it.
“Just go to the net. Hopefully you get a dirty one and go from there.”
Abdelkader Out
The Wings confirmed that left-winger Justin Abdelkader would be lost to the team for 2-4 weeks with a slight medial collateral ligament sprain of his right knee.
“He’s a force for us every night,” defenseman Niklas Kronwall said of Abdelkader. “He’s one of those guys that wears his heart on his sleeve and just does it right out there.
“Of course it’s a big loss.”
The Wings will likely call up a forward and possibly a defenseman from AHL Grand Rapids to take on their three-game road trip that goes to Pittsburgh, New York (Islanders) and Winnipeg and gets underway Saturday against the Penguins.
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