You can chalk it up to rink rust if you want, but Jeff Blashill wasn’t having any of such talk.
If you’re looking to point the finger of blame at someone for the Detroit Red Wings’ 4-3 shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks Friday at Joe Louis Arena, look no further than the man that the coach of the team looks at when he’s standing in front of the mirror.
In this instance, Blashill put this one on his own shoulders.
“My job is to make sure we’re prepared to go at the start of the game,… Blashill explained. “I didn’t do my job. That was I thought our worst game, maybe all season, really through the first and maybe even at times through the second.
“I thought we started to go a little bit at the end of the second, so again, my job is to make sure the team’s ready to go, that we’re prepared to go and we weren’t, so that falls on me.…
That doesn’t mean the coach won’t address the issue with his players and collectively search for answers so that history doesn’t repeat itself.
“We’ve got to look at it and say, ‘What happened? Why?’… Blashill said. “You can’t play with that lack of effort, you can’t come not ready to play against a team that’s been struggling a little bit, so they’re fighting for their lives a little bit.
“I know it’s early in the season but everybody understands how critical every point is. So I don’t know why, but I know it’s on me and we better do a better job of that come Sunday (at home against Calgary).…
The Detroit players, who’d just enjoyed a three-day rest while Vancouver played Thursday night at Philadelphia and lost star center Henrik Sedin to injury, couldn’t understand why they were unable to kick it into gear until well into the game.
“I would say the first period was bad,… Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg assessed of a frame in which the Wing were outshot 17-5 and extremely fortunate to go to the dressing room down only 1-0.
“We should be better after the kind of schedule we had here at home. We should have better legs. They played last night, they have some key players off but they really outplayed us in the first.
“I think after that, I think we were slowly into the game.…
It was Vancouver that carried the play to the Wings, certainly completely against the blueprint Detroit had drawn up prior to the game.
“They’re a desperate team for sure,… Detroit forward Joakim Andersson said of the Canucks. “We talked before the game that we’ve got to get going right away, that they played last night, so we should have jump, but they were way better than us in the first period.…
It was well into the second period before the Wings started to play with any sort of urgency but that didn’t surprise Blashill.
“My experience is when you’re not ready to play, it’s extraordinarily hard to kick it in gear and it takes a long time to get yourself going,… Blashill said. “That’s what happens when you’re not ready to play.
“We’ve got to be way better than that from the drop of the puck. I think we have been (this season) but this tonight was unacceptable.…
Detroit was able to salvage a point when Zetterberg knotted the count at 3-3 with 1:07 left in regulation time and goaltender Jimmy Howard, who made 37 saves, on the bench in favour of the extra attacker.
“I’m just happy that Z was able to at least find the back of the net there in the six-on-five to at least give us one point, but you know, it’s sort of bittersweet,… Howard said.
Joakim In Rhythm It was Andersson who finally got the Wings rolling when he redirected a Danny DeKeyser shot past Canucks goalie Ryan Miller for his first goal of the season with Detroit down 2-0 and 1:07 left in the second period.
“It’s always nice to get that zero out of the column there,… Andersson said. “It’s nice to get goals.
“We needed that goal. That’s what we talk about, to get there (in front of net) and get the pucks more there and the people there, too and we’ll score more goals.…
Utilized in a checking role, Andersson isn’t expected to light the lamp often, but he also won’t accept that he shouldn’t score goals.
“I want to score more than I do obviously but you have different roles and my role is not to score tons of goals but we’ve got to chip in to sometimes,… he said.
PK Powers Rally Down 3-2 with less than seven minutes left in regulation, the Wings penalty killers were called into action for the first time all game, but were asked to deliver yeoman service.
Detroit was shorthanded for a consecutive span of 3:37, which included 1:28 of four-on-three play, 32 seconds of five-on-three and 1:37 of five-on-four.
“We were down three-on-four and three-on-five but I don’t think they had many shots on the net,… Andersson said.
Vancouver managed just five shots on goal during its 3:37 of advantage time.
“That was a huge moment for the penalty kill, especially when you’ve got four-on-three, five-on-three, those are big, big, moments any time in the game,… Blashill said. “Certainly at that point, I think everybody in the building knew if they scored it was going to be real tough.…
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