And the drought continues.
For the second straight night, the Detroit Red Wings came out on the wrong end of the final score, and for the 11th time in 13 games, they scored two goals or less.
A 3-1 loss in Boston to the Bruins left the Wings again grasping for answers as to why this supposedly richly talented team can’t find the net.
“We’ve just got to get more on the inside,… Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “Play with a little more grit. We’ve got to bear down in practice, and bear down in games when we get our chances.
“You’ve just got to bear down even more. Get on the inside, get pucks to the net. Do a lot of the little things right.
“I think we did that in the third and we created more chances. We’re creating chances but we’re not finding the back of the net.…
Detroit coach Jeff Blashill saw things differently than his captain, feeling his team didn’t do enough to gain opportunities to score.
“Tonight’s a different story than the four games previous to that,… Blashill said. “We’re not necessarily scoring but the chances we got in those games, the shot opportunities, the number of shots, that process was right. We took a left-hand turn tonight and the process wasn’t good enough.…
Blashill felt the problem Saturday simply came down to a lack of getting pucks on the net and forcing Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask to make saves and possibly surrender secondary scoring chances off rebounds.
“Previous games we’d done a lot of the things right that would allow you to score and if you kept doing it you’re going to score,… Blashill said. “I really believed that. I thought we did tons of really good stuff last game. We just didn’t score.
“Tonight, we didn’t do enough good things. Ultimately, one thing we have to do is hit the net in order to create second opportunities. Most goalies in the National Hockey League aren’t giving up one on the first one, so you got to be able to get to those seconds but you can’t do that if you don’t hit the net.
“I don’t think we passed up tons of shots, I think we’ve got to be more shot-ready, especially from our defensemen. We’ve got to be ready to shoot the puck but we also have to do a better job of hitting the net.…
Forward Riley Sheahan figures the Wings are trying too hard to be creative when they need to simplify their game.
“I think just from the get-go we’ve got to get the puck deep rather than try to make cute plays through the neutral zone,… Sheahan said. “We’ve just got to get puck in deep, cycle around, throw some pucks at the net and then make plays from there.…
Sheahan didn’t feel it was time to push the panic button, though.
“It’s still early,… Sheahan said. “We’ve got a lot of time. We know we’ve got a good team and we’re confident with what’s in the locker room. It’s not frustrating but obviously we need to be better.
“We need to play together as a team but it’s still early. There’s a lot of time to be successful.…
Off The Snide Left-winger Justin Abdelkader netted Detroit’s only goal, ending a personal 14-game goalless drought.
“It's always nice to score,… Abdelkader said. “I had some chances tonight. As a team, I thought we had some chances. We’re just giving up too many Grade A chances against.
“Anytime you're struggling to score goals, you've got to play really tight defensively. I thought we gave them too many good chances. We’ve just got to keep at it here, know we've got to be better. We did a lot of good things tonight, but made big mistakes that cost us.…
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