Ah consistency, thy name is not Red Wings.
Fresh off an impressive 4-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings, the Detroit Red Wings lost their way again in San Jose, falling hard by a 6-3 count to the Sharks on Saturday to finish 1-2 on the California leg of their seven-game road trip.
The Wings were seeking to win back-to-back games for just the fourth time since they opened the season 6-2 via a season-high six game winning streak, but it was not to be.
Since Detroit put together consecutive victories Dec. 4-6, the team has played 13 games without ever winning more than one game at a time, going 4-7-2 over that span.
“Obviously it feels terrible,… forward Anthony Mantha said. “We wish we could be 15 straight (wins) but that’s not how it’s going and we just need to work harder.…
Columbus won 16 in a row. Minnesota won a dozen straight. Philadelphia took 10 games in succession.
Detroit struggles to put together even two wins. So what gives?
“I don’t know,… center Frans Nielsen said. “It’s a good question. Hopefully we don’t feel too good about ourselves because we win one game. I don’t know if we have a different mentality after a loss, coming out maybe you want it a little more. Maybe there’s a little too much confidence in here after a win.
“You’ve got to go out there and work, you got to work for 60 minutes and then see what happens. Yeah, it’s been too many times we win a game and then we come out and the next game we don’t show up.…
The drive to keep Detroit’s playoff streak alive should begin any day now, right?
“I think we’ve got to realize we’ve got to win a lot of games here now,… Nielsen said. “It’s kind of been our problem this year. I think we played great in L.A. but we struggle to put a couple games together for some reason. We play good and then we can’t follow up.
“It’s kind of been the way it’s been lately. We have to find ways to start putting a streak together.…
The Wings continue to be better at fixing what ails the opposition. Saturday marked the first time all season that the Sharks had scored more than four goals in a game. They were the last NHL team that had yet to reach five goals in a game but Detroit took care of that for them.
“It’s hard to win when you let the other team score six,… captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “I would say though that I thought we created a lot of stuff ourselves. Those two (San Jose) goals in the third were bang bang plays and it really kills the game. Going into the third (down 3-1) we were feeling pretty good about ourselves.…
The feeling didn’t last long, thanks to Detroit’s inability to play any semblance of sound defensive structure.
“I think they were just running around and we were trying to follow them instead of playing our defensive zone play,… Mantha said. “We started running around. We started being impatient. When we do have the puck, we don’t quite make the smart plays.
“We just try to get it out of our zone and it comes back against us.…
The Sharks schooled the Wings in the ways of getting bodies to the net and pucks through traffic, scoring three times on tip plays.
“I thought the difference in the game was when they got the puck up top, they were able to get it through and have tips and we didn’t do a good enough job on our box-outs and getting sticks and things like that,… coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought we had opportunities to get it through and didn’t do a good enough job of it.
“I just think from one O-zone to the net, ours to theirs, they just did a better job of getting pucks through and getting tips and things like that.…
And the beating goes on.
Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer