With the Detroit Red Wings, the defense has been resting too much, and therein lays the problem.
For the eighth time in 13 games, the Wings squandered a third-period lead in Friday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Devils on the road in New Jersey, and the team considers defensive breakdowns to be the issue that’s making leads unsafe.
“There’s two areas where I think we're starting to swing to the wrong side of the pendulum,… Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “That's on turnovers. I think we're turning too many pucks over, and on risk, taking too much risk.
“I want to be able to have reward without lots of risk. That's what I think really good teams do. I think we've swung it too far. I think the challenge to be an offensive team is to also be a really good defensive team.
“I think we've, in the last three or four games, we've swung to where we've had too many turnovers and we've given up too many easy chances, mostly because of risk or poor decisions, so we have to eliminate that. We've done some good things, too, but to be a really good team, you have to create lots of stuff without giving too much up and I think we've given too much up here, in at least two of the last three games.…
Even though the Wings have collected points from an NHL-high 13 consecutive games, they recognize that to continue to play the way they have of late will soon bring that stretch of success to a halt.
“I think the last three or four games, or something like that, we haven’t been playing as well as we want to,… defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. “Too many turnovers in the wrong areas, basically feeding their offense way too much.
“That’s one area we have to tighten up if we want to be successful in the long run. Sure we have been getting away with points, but you can only cheat the system for so long.…
Fancy That At 83.7 per cent, Detroit's penalty kill ranked seventh in the NHL when forward Drew Miller suffered a fractured jaw in a Dec. 3 game against the Arizona Coyotes.
Without Miller, Detroit’s PK has dropped to 14th in the league at 81.2 per cent. The unit is 10-15 (66.7 %) in the four games since Miller was hurt.
“I'd say a couple things,… Blashill said. “Obviously Drew Miller is an elite penalty killer. That's why he's such an important piece of our team.
“With that said, we've got other guys that we think can really do the job but we've got to execute at a higher rate.
“I think you're always going to have some ebbs and flows, I think that's part of the season, but we made a point to tell our team we've got to be better on the kill than we've been in the last five-game segment.…
Quincey Skates Defenseman Kyle Quincey, who underwent ankle surgery Nov. 14, was back on the ice and skated on his own for 40 minutes Sunday at Joe Louis Arena.
“It’s good to just be on the ice again, obviously,… said Quincey, who was last on the ice Oct. 23. “It’s been six weeks, seven weeks, so you start from scratch. It’s just good to get the ball going.
“Skating for 40 minutes is pretty good. I’ll keep doing that and hopefully get on with the guys and get up to the speed of the game in the next week or so.…
He noticed an immediate difference in his ankle.
“Oh, yeah,… Quincey said. “That’s not a question.
“I still have a little bit of pain but it’s different pain. It’s surgery pain, it’s not bone chips and other stuff.…
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