Tired old refrain of go to the net re-emerges

Go to the net. Where have we heard that one before? Oh that’s right, every season with frequency where the Detroit Red Wings are concerned. It’s the constant mantra of Wings coach Jeff Blashill, and a constant complaint about this hockey team, that they don’t score dirty, greasy, garbage goals often enough, preferring the pretty passing plays to the drive to the net and find a way to scrum the puck into the enemy net. As the Wings readied to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday in the second game of a three-game road trip, the familiarity of the contempt for his team’s willingness to go to the dirty areas again permeated Blashill’s conversation. I didn’t think we produced enough chances,… Blashill said of their most recent defeat, a1-0 loss at Buffalo to the Sabres. “I didn’t think we were bad by any stretch but we certainly didn’t produce enough. “I’ve been harping on this and I’ve got to get our guys to do it better - we need to get more bodies to the net. We look off shots at times because we know the net’s not occupied. We’ve got to be way more belligerent about getting bodies to the net so that we can score those dirty goals. “I talked about that lots early in the year that it’s a dirty goal league. That’s the reality of the league. We gotta get to the net more.… The reality of the Wings is that maybe they can’t get to the net more, because they suit up a roster that for the most part, isn’t suited to play the game the way it needs to be played, at least not with any level of consistency. Naturally, Blashill disagreed with this assessment. “Some of that is some young guys learning that it’s part of their responsibility,… Blashill said. “It’s not just, ‘Well I’m not a big guy so I don’t go to the net.’… Left-winger Tomas Tatar, far from a behemoth of a man at 5-10 and 185 pounds, is willing to do his part. “I would say for bigger guys it’s probably easier to get there but if you look around the league, even smaller guys are getting there,… Tatar said. “It’s a dirty area, we need to score those dirty goals. We miss those. We did some battle drills yesterday to practice that and we just need to get more in. “I think that’s our problem right now. We need to get more bodies to the net for sure. For the forward who has the puck and shoots, we need some traffic in front of the net and make it hard on their goalie. I think that’s what we’re going to focus on tonight.… Against a goalie like Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy, a towering puckstopper at 6-3 and 207 pounds, if the Wings aren’t willing to get a little dirty, they will likely find themselves 0-5-1 in their last six games by the end of the night. “Anyone can get a rebound and put it in,… Detroit forward Anthony Mantha said. “If there’s no net presence or anything, it’s hard to get that rebound, the goalie’s just going to freeze it easily. I think it’s a message (Blashill) did try to send to us and we need to maybe put a little bit more details into it.… Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer