Where Do They Go From Here?

To paraphrase what the Alan Parsons Project once asked, where do they go from here? Bad (2-6-2 in their last 10 games) turned to worse when the Detroit Red Wings were humbled 5-1 by the Dallas Stars in their last game. As they prepped for their traditional New Year’s Eve home date, this season against the Florida Panthers, the Wings were wondering whether they should stock up on red lights, since it’s been going on behind their own net with such frequency. The Dallas loss marked the third time in a row that the Wings have coughed up five goals in a game. “We gotta quit giving up so many goals,… Wings coach Jeff Blashill told Detroitredwings.com. “If you give up this many goals, you’re constantly deflated and you’re constantly giving momentum to the other team. “I talked the other day about not letting it bother you, but when you’re giving up five, six goals you’re not going to win. We gotta find a way both individually to be way better, systematically to be better and as a group to be better.… The Wings have surrendered four goals or more in six of their last nine games. With 136 goals against, only the Ottawa Senators (153) and Chicago Blackhawks (149) have fished more pucks out of their net than Detroit. “We gotta be better as individuals I would say,… Blashill said. “I thought too many guys didn’t play good enough (against Dallas). “They gotta play better. That’s just the reality of it. “We talked to the group after the game, the coaching staff and said ‘Why are we giving up so many?’ And it’s not necessarily one thing or another thing, it’s a combination of bad plays. We gotta get it corrected in a hurry.… And blaming it all on the defense and goaltending would also be pure folly. “You can look at the mistakes you make on the back side but our forwards gotta put more pressure on them,… Blashill said. “We didn’t have enough pressure on their D corps (in Dallas), so we were defending the whole night. Well, if you’re defending the whole night, it’s hard to win. We gotta apply way more pressure and that comes from work.… Sunny South Lots of snowbirds pack up and head for Florida when the winds of winter arrive, but as far as the Panthers are concerned, winter in Michigan has proven to be much more rewarding for them. Including that 2-1 setback on Dec. 22, the Wings are 1-2-2 in their last five home games against the Panthers. The struggle dips to 2-4-5 in Detroit’s last 11 home contests against Florida. World Junior Woes None of Detroit’s prospects are exactly lighting it up at the World Junior Championship, either. The hopes that the tourney would ignite right-winger Filip Zadina, Detroit’s top pick at sixth overall of the 2018 NHL entry draft, have not materialized. Zadina, who scored seven goals in last year’s tourney, has yet to tally a single point in three games for the Czech Republic. Exasperated head coach Vaclav Varada even tried putting Zadina back with Martin Necas and Martin Kaut, the forward line that was so dominant a year ago, but the magic didn’t materialize. Detroit’s other 2018 first-round draft pick Canadian forward Joe Veleno (30th overall) has two assists in three games for Canada and has mostly toiled on left wing on the fourth line. Canadian defenseman Jared McIsaac (36th, 2018) has one assist and is plus-four through three games, but he will watch Monday’s game against Russia from the press box. McIsaac was issued a one-game suspension by the IIHF for checking to the head or neck area on Czech forward Jachym Kondelik in Canada’s 5-1 win on Saturday. Defenseman Malte Setkov (100th, 2017) of Denmark has no points through three games and is a minus-eight. Follow me on Twitter @asktheduffer