At one end, the Detroit Red Wings weren’t going through the traffic.
In their own end, they basically rolled out the red carpet.
The end result was predictable, another setback, this one a 3-1 loss Friday at Joe Louis Arena to the Ottawa Senators, leaving the Wings mired in a 1-5-1 skid.
“We talk about owning each crease and we didn’t own each crease tonight,… Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “They scored two net-front goals and we couldn’t get to the net, so not good enough there.
“Their D did a better job of keeping us out than our forwards did of getting there. We’re going to have to be way better at that. It’s hard to score in this league for sure. Our guys know that and we’re going to have to do a better job of getting to the net.…
The Senators didn’t allow the Wings to get a second chance and that was one of the key reasons why Detroit again ended up second best.
“Not enough seconds,… Blashill said. “We still haven’t got enough guys getting to the inside and then certainly we didn’t win the battles in front of their net, they won the battle, so not enough seconds for sure.…
Power Outage The Wings did manage to net their lone goal on a second-period power play, but overall were one-for-five with the man advantage.
“The biggest thing is I thought we had a lot of chances on the power play,… Detroit right-winger Gustav Nyquist said. “We scored one but to win games when you get that many opportunities (to not capitalize), that was a big part I thought.
“We need to do a better job on the power play.…
With much of the same personnel as last season when they were the NHL’s second-best power-play unit, the Wings are baffled as to why they aren’t clicking with the man advantage.
“I think we’re pretty much doing a lot of the same things, maybe a couple of tweaks,… Nyquist said. “I think for the most part to be honest with you we’re creating some chances out there. We’ve just got to find a way to put them in the back of the net instead of missing the net or having the goalie save them.
“The execution can also get better but it’s just a matter of bearing down and scoring some.…
“We’ve got to create more,… added Zetterberg. “We're trying, we're trying but the puck's not really going in.…
Familiar Refrain The day changes, for the most part the result doesn’t and the answers become repetitive.
Such is life in the midst of a slump.
“It does (sound the same),… Zetterberg admitted, “but I don't know what else to say.
“We're talking about it. We're trying to do the right things, keep it simple, get the pucks in, play in their end. Obviously they're going to spend some time in our end.
“It is frustrating. After the first three games, this is downhill pretty fast. We have bits and pieces here and there where we were showing what we can do but the lowest level has got to be way higher than this and it goes for everyone.…
Since a 3-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning to improve to 3-0, the Wings appear as if they’ve been skating in quicksand and Zetterberg isn’t the only Detroit player feeling as if he’s trapped inside an echo chamber.
“There’s a lot of different things we talk about,… Nyquist said. “Today I think we skated pretty hard. I thought our D were really active. They followed up, they had jump. The forwards I thought had jump, too. The skating was better.
“That hasn’t been as good as the Tampa game. This game was game I thought was close to that game so I think that’s a step along the way.…
While it is coming in spurts and starts, Zetterberg felt the team still needed to ramp up its compete level over the course of a 60-minute game.
“I think we have to be more consistent with it,… Zetterberg said. “I think we see it once in a while and we have a few good shifts in a row where we're creating a lot of momentum and we spend a lot of time in their end but it's too short.
“We have to shift by shift, line after line, go in and do that. We’ve got to keep working.…
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