Second verse, same as the first

The Detroit Red Wings’ season is quickly evolving into a Herman’s Hermits song. “Second verse, same as the first . . .… Or maybe it’s a Blues Brothers tune, because to hear the Wings tell it, they’ve got everything they need . . . almost. And yet, the same maladies afflict this team night after night. Go ahead, go down the list from Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to the the New Jersey Devils in their first post-Christmas break game, and you can check off the Wings in all of the usual categories. They started slowly, falling behind 2-0. They generated very little five-on-five, and couldn’t score at all with the man advantage (zero-for-five). They gave the puck away like it was a Christmas gift and didn’t fight much at all to get it back. “What it comes down to is we’ve got to find ways to win games instead of coming up on the wrong side,… Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard told detroitredwings.com. Turnovers helped the Devils gain their 2-0 advantage. On the first goal, defenseman Niklas Kronwall lofted the puck from the Wings zone up the middle of the ice and directly on to the stick of Devils forward Taylor Hall, who was speeding in the direction of Howard’s net. On the second goal, Darren Helm made the mistake of moving laterally with the puck and had it chipped away from him by New Jersey’s Nico Hischier. “We don’t have much margin for error,… Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “You can’t give away easy goals. We’ve got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot. “We’ve done it the last two games.… A scoreless 10 minutes of power-play time also didn’t help Detroit’s bottom line. “We got the puck in spots and we gave it away or we didn’t want to battle,… Blashill said. “They do a good job of pressing. You’ve got to have your support in the right spots. “We’ve got to be better from our execution standpoint.… The Wings now sit 12 points out of third spot in the Atlantic Division and 11 points away from the final Eastern Conference wildcard spot. “We just need a little bit more,… Detroit defenseman Trevor Daley said. “We’ve been right there, right there, right there, but it’s not enough. “When you get into a situation like this, you can’t keep thinking. We’re right there. We just need to get a little bit more out of our group. That’s going to be the focus for our group from here on in.… No worries, though, because they have plan in place to make up the ground. “We’ve got to find a way to grind out some wins and get feeling good, and try to get on a run where we can win five, six, seven in a row and get back in the mix,… Detroit left-winger Justin Abdelkader. Probably not the best time to point out that this team hasn’t won three games in a row in nearly a year. Suddenly, it’s Supertramp lyrics that come to mind. “Dreamer, you know you are a dreamer . . .… Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer