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Trust In The Process

December 12, 2017, 11:39 PM ET [12 Comments]
Bob Duff
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
When the Detroit Red Wings win a hockey game - granted, a rare occurrence these days - Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing blares from the Little Caesars Arena sound system. It’s become a Red Wings tradition - just like winning used to be.

It’s also become the mantra of Wings coach Jeff Blashill. Blashill is certain that his team, currently mired in a 1-5-4 skid, is not that far off from turning the corner toward more regular success, so he continues to emphasize to them that they must stick with the process, believe in the process, trust in the process.

“One of the hardest things to do in life is trust the process when you’re not getting results, in any facet of life,” Blashill said. “The mistake people make is they go away from the process. They panic too early and they don’t stay with it. You have to trust the process.”

He pointed to Monday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers as a prime example.

“We out-chanced them before their goal 19-6,” Blashill said. “When you out-chance people 19-6, you generally win the game. We’ve out-chanced out opponents 49-34 over the last three games and the worst of that was the Winnipeg game (a 5-1 Detroit win). It was the most even of the chances.

“We’ve got one point to show for it. That’s not enough. Are you frustrated? Sure, you’re frustrated, but that doesn’t help you. You have to understand that if you keep playing that way, you keep trusting the process, we know guys getting scoring chances have scored in this league, we believe they’re going to score again, so stay with it. If we stay with it, I believe we’ll get the results we want over the long-term.”

Selling success stories to teams in the midst of failure can rank up there with convincing a Michigander currently huddling from sub-zero temperatures that the one thing lacking from their life is a brand-new air conditioner.

This is the challenge facing Blashill.

“The biggest challenge I think you have as a coach and I think the biggest challenge you have as a group is to not let emotions override your view of what you did,” Blashill said. “Nobody is saying this is good enough, nobody wants to be down. No chance. But I think if you look at it through a clear lens, not a frustrated lens, you say OK, if we replicate that again, I think we’re in a great spot. You’ve just got to keep replicating it.

“It’s easy to not believe that. I think lots of people around that aren’t in the middle of athletics don’t always believe that. It’s hard to do but that’s what you have to do, because if you stay with it, you end up getting the success you want and you look back and say, thank goodness we stayed with it.”

They need to find the pipeline to that success in short order. Wednesday, the Wings play host to the Boston Bruins, who hold down the third and final Atlantic Division playoff spot, four points ahead of the Wings. But with Boston holding three games in hand on Detroit, it’s not a stretch to suggest that this is a must-win game for the Wings.

Bertuzzi Demoted
Tyler Bertuzzi’s latest Detroit stint lasted one game. The left-winger was dispatched Tuesday to AHL Grand Rapids after seeing his only action with the Wings in Saturday’s 6-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues.

“My biggest thing on Tyler, and I said it after the game that night, is do we have enough minutes for him?” Blashill said. “He’s different than (veteran left-winger David) Booth in that he’s at the beginning stages of his career.

“If we don’t have enough minutes for him, then he’s better off playing in GR, so that when injuries arise or opportunities open with more minutes, he’s more ready to jump through that window of opportunity.”

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