Home sweet home?
Not for the Detroit Red Wings.
Their final season at Joe Louis Arena is starting to resemble their first season at the Joe.
Back then, the Wings were a terrible bunch, going 8-17-3 on their new home rink after moving into the Joe on Dec. 27, 1979, a dismal .339 winning percentage.
OK, so this hasn’t season been that bad - at least not yet. Detroit is 6-7-3 at the Joe, a .468 winning percentage. But if you eliminate the 4-0 home-ice start to the season by the Wings, their winning percentage on home ice since drops to an alarming .291.
“We’ve got to establish a little better home ice here,… Detroit right-winger Thomas Vanek said. “We’re struggling on home ice.
“We’ve just got to get some momentum early, get the fans behind us and keep that momentum going.…
There’s no time like the present for the Wings to rectify the problem. Tuesday they play host to the Arizona Coyotes in the third game of a season-long five-game homestand, a set that thus far has seen Detroit go 0-1-1.
“We've got to find a way to put more points on the board,… Detroit defenseman Xavier Ouellet said. “We're playing hard, but we have too many games at home where we aren't putting up two points.
“I'm not sure what is going wrong, but we have to find a way to fix it.…
If the Wings want to heat up and get into an Eastern Conference playoff spot, they must get the home fires burning.
“We have this home stretch, now, three more games home, we have to pick up as much points as we can,… left-winger Tomas Tatar said. “Obviously it’s a big advantage to play at home, you don’t have to travel and the fans are obviously helping you too.
“So home games is an advantage and we have to use it.…
No Support
Sunday’s 1-0 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers was Jimmy Howard’s first start in goal since his groin injury but little had changed in terms of the offensive support given to Howard by his teammates.
The Wings have scored 14 goals in Howard’s 11 decisions (5-5-1), an average of 1.27 goals per game. Sunday was the fourth time Detroit has been shut out. Howard was in net for all four. The team has scored more than two goals in only two of Howard’s decisions.
Petr Mrazek has been supported much better in his 17 decisions (6-8-3), with 49 goals, an average of 2.88 per game.
The Wings scored three goals in Jared Coreau's lone start, something they've done only twice for Howard.
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