Which is more alarming? That the Detroit Red Wings have lost five straight games, or that the Wings have lost five straight games while not really playing all that badly? If you said the latter, you win a cookie. If this current 0-2-3 skid has taught us anything about this hockey team, it may be this - they simply aren’t talented enough or deep enough to win consistently in the NHL. “It’s a tight league,… Detroit forward Gus Nyquist said. “We’ve got to play great to have success, and we’ve talked about that. We’ve got to make sure we come out on the winning side of these games. It’s just not good enough.…
At times during Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, the Wings played with purpose. And at time, the Kings made the Wings looked like they were the junior varsity team trying to keep up with the big kids.
“It’s not easy, it’s a muddy track out there,… Blashill said of playing against the rough and tumble Kings. “They’re good at that. It wasn’t as fast a game back and forth like the Rangers game was. But they just play differently. That has a little bit to do with your opponent.
“I thought last year against them in this building (JLA), we slowed ourselves down. I didn’t necessarily think that this year.…
Again, this admission should be taken as somewhat alarming. Blashill just indicated his team is playing better than it did in the past, and yet they still are proving incapable of getting results.
“I think we’ve been fairly focused and consistent at playing our game,… Nyquist said. “A few games in a row we’ve lost in overtime, so we’ve let some points slip away. We played pretty good games but haven’t been able to finish them off. It’s something we’ve got to change.…
Knowing it needs to change and implementing that change are two different animals.
“We had big-time chances and we didn’t score,… Blashill said. “I don’t know if you can create a whole bunch more better chances than that.… Amazingly, in the addled Atlantic Division, the Wings are still currently a playoff team. But with resurgent Montreal in town on Thursday, that situation may be about to change if the Wings can’t change their own situation. “I think if we could have won two of the games in overtime we’d been fine, but we haven’t,… Blashill said. “So now we have to have tons of urgency on Thursday.… Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer