Mentally Weak Wings Lose to Wild

There are a number of factors that led to the 4-2 defeat the Red Wings suffered tonight at the hands of the Minnesota Wild, a team who had not won on JLA ice since 2006.  Even the final score is misleading, as the match wasn't even technically as close as it might lead one to believe. Devin Setoguchi scored a pair and multiple miscues by Detroit made this an easy one for the Wild.  Gustav Nyquist and Drew Miller notched the two Wings goals, though Miller's came with mere seconds left on the clock in the 3rd.  For all intents and purposes, this game should be treated as a 4-1 loss.

The Red Wings came home for a brief pit stop in the midst of all their road-game travels, and boy did it ever look as though they full of the home cooking, so much so that they barely moved their legs for large portions of this game, especially in moments where it was critical they do so.  Overall, the Wild control the flow of the game despite Detroit seemingly having a foothold throughout the whole contest.  It was the little mistakes that sprouted up all over the place that once again did in the Wings.

The Setoguchi goal mere minutes into the match is something that's becoming eerily common: quick goals made possible by the entire line still being asleep after the opening puck is dropped.  This was witnessed in Edmonton and it was witnessed in Vancouver.  That is three (3) consecutive games in which Detroit has given up a goal before the game has reached the 4th minute of play.  It's as though the team gets off on playing from behind, so they just cut to the chase and give up a early one to get in the mood.

The other major contributing factor to the loss tonight was the inability to deal with Minnesota's team defense.  It's unclear if the coaching staff are aware of this, but most teams in the league have gotten wise to Detroit's offensive tendencies, and have all started clogging up the middle and forcing the play to the boards. The Wings have been consistently just going along with it, content to take shots from the perimeter, then have someone try to race to the net before the goaltender and gobble up any potential rebounds or a defender clears the puck away.

Newsflash: it's not working.

If the Red Wings want to play from the perimeter, they need someone to fill the void left by Tomas Holmstrom.  Nobody is going to the net and planting themselves in front of the opposition's goaltender, therefore the number of deflections, rebound retrievals and scrums in front of the crease--all of which can lead to goals--are drastically down.  This was the case tonight, as nobody was screening Backstrom, there was never a consistent net-front presence, and Backstrom pretty much cruised to the win in this one.  Once upon a time, Dan Cleary and Johan Franzen were given that task, but neither seem like they can be bothered with it any longer.  Without that guy in the middle, Detroit is forced to try to push into that space or sneak someone in during the cycle, and it is failing more often than not, not to mention it is taxing on the forwards trying to get there when someone should be there already.

Finally, what killed the Wings this evening--and has been killing them all year--is the cutesy factor.  In countless instances tonight, Detroit was given scoring opportunities, and instead of just putting the head down and going for it, the puck carrier would either get cute or try to make the difficult play rather than the simple (and smart) one.  This more often than not ended up as a giveaway and a rush back up the ice toward Jimmy Howard.  Until the Red Wings learn to control the flow of the game playing simple, smart hockey, teams are going to keep picking off their cute passes and attempts at superheroism.  Want an example? How about team captain Henrik Zetterberg, who cannot seem to resist trying to muscle his way through three or more players at the same time when the opportunity presents itself, or Damien Brunner's spin-around-behind-the-back-no-look drop passes that end up going to no one in particular or, worse yet, an opposing stick.  It's happening too much.  Simplify, then get cute once you've forced the other team to respect your smart plays.

No one player or moment cost Detroit the win against Minny tonight, it was a collective failure of a game that took place in little moments that added up to an L rather than a W, and cost Detroit an extremely precious 2 points against a team in that very same log-jam the Red Wings are in.  Games like this one tonight are ones fans will have to look back to if in the final games of the season, Detroit's playoff hopes rest on the shoulders of other teams and how they perform.

Wings' Second Half off to Poor Start

Having worked during the time the Red Wings' game against Columbus on Saturday, I did not get to see the entirety of the match.  I checked out the highlights, which confirmed that, as a Detroit fan, I didn't miss much.  The Wings began the second leg of this season yesterday and started off nearly as poorly as they began the season.  Let's face it, when you lose to a team half as good as the Blues by half the margin, the odd's the difference.

Detroit looked sluggish, uninterested and outworked in any videos I could find and analyze.  Monster got completely thrown under the bus by a deceptive defense who had finally made us believe they had gotten it together.  Two goals on two terrible giveaways behind our own net is unacceptable, if you can't manage the puck properly in your own end, you have no chance in your opponent's, as was clearly evidenced.  The powerplay on the road is still empty and now something like the 4th worst record in 30-odd years.

I get the idea that management is waiting with bated breath for injuries to heal, but in the meantime, we are playing inconsistent, sub-par hockey.  Even the games Detroit wins, Babcock has noted that there have been problems, the Wings have just been able to weather the storm and scrape up a few more wins than losses.  Our longest winning streak is three games, and we've only managed that benchmark once all year.  In a condensed season, .500 hockey is not going to cut it.

The Red Wings have problems that need addressed immediately, rather than sitting around playing the waiting game for guys to heal who may or may not remedy those problems.  Even if those players do prove themselves a remedy, if the team loses too much of a grip in the conference, they could be looking at a too-little-too-late situation.  As I've said  before, catching Chicago is a pipe dream, which means the best the Red Wings can hope for is 4th in the conference.  So instead of trying to clinch 1 of 8 positions for the playoffs, the reality is that Detroit is trying to clinch 1 of 5 positions in the midst of an absolute log-jam in the middle of the conference.

How do you remedy this?  To me, there are a few things I would suggest.  All of them--or even just one of them--would make a huge difference.

1.) Bring in an ACTUAL leader on the blueline: No, this is not me saying I hate Niklas Kronwall.  What is being said here, though, is that Kronwall is not Lidstrom, and I feel that the pressure is being put on him to become that type of leader.  Kronner has changed his game, and it started last season when the threat of Nick Lidstrom retiring was more palpable than ever before.  I still believe that the players and coach knew before anyone that Lids was exiting after last season, and Kronwall was taking it upon himself to try to be more like Lidstrom when the inevitable came.

When was the last time you saw a good Kronwalling live?  The man has gone completely timid and narrowed his game down to trying to be defensively solid.  Normally that wouldn't be a bad thing, but the more I watch this team this year, the more I confirm to myself that there isn't a soul in the NHL this season that is scared to attack our blueline.  Nobody's head is on a swivel because they know that number 55 in red isn't throwing his weight around like he used to, so opposing offense are becoming more aggressive in their forechek and in moving the puck through neutral ice.

Remember the first game of the season, and the Tarasenko breakaway goal? Two years ago, Kronwall would have had that kid's body smeared along the ice the moment the puck got to his stick, and the stretch passes would have stopped immediately.  Get someone brought in to take of managing the D-corp and let Kronwall go back to playing HIS brand of hockey.

2.) Give the kids more chances: I've been SO impressed by our young guys this year, both offensively and defensively.  It's been better than hoped for and MILES beyond what anyone could've expected.  Guys up front like Tatar and Anderson are making a big impression, and on the back end we've have great improvement from Kindl and Smith.  Also, the emergence of Brian Lashoff has been a delightful surprise.  So with all this young talent starting to blossom, it boggles my mind that Mike Babcock refuses to try something new when the standard format is not working.  I get that Babs is no Scotty Bowman, but you don't need to be a coaching legend to understand how adaptation works.  Move some bodies around, put some of the younger forwards up with Datsyuk and Zetterberg more often, give the other team some different looks!  If your team hasn't scored a goal in 40 minutes of a game, what harm is there in trying a new line combination in the last 20?  I'll hold my breath if it means one day I'll see a line of Tatar-Datsyuk-Brunner.

3.) Make a move to inject a scoring touch into the lineup: I understand Mike Babcock is a defense-minded coach, fine, and yes defense is important.  When that defense fails you, though, the only way to stay competitive is to put pucks in the net.  This team has far too many players on dry spells or just coming off them, Franzen and Abdelkader are the first to spring to mind.  I feel like the defense is mostly set and just needs to keep gelling more, but I'm not so confident about our top 6 forwards.  It feels as though guys like Datsyuk and Zetterberg are trying to do a whole line's worth of work by themselves just to generate offense, and other teams are wise to it.  Believe it or not, there ARE players who exist and are able to play decent shut-down hockey AND score some goals.  Franzen used to play a game like that, but now looks as though he prefers to stand around and watch the game unfold before him more often than not.  The only forwards that look truly hungry for the net are younger guys on the 3rd and 4th line.  If we aren't going to move them up more often and give them more minutes, then someone needs to be brought in to fill that role.

And no, Filppula does not fit that role.  He and Franzen are immensely on the hook for me, I'm losing my patience.  Franzen is moody and inconsistent with regards to production, and Fil's time to "break out" has come and gone, he is not going to be the star Wings management hoped he would be.

These are just three of the things I wish Detroit would try--and let me emphasize TRY--in the hopes of bringing more consistency to the club, which should no doubt result in more wins.  Detroit is still a great hockey team, but as with all things the rule of survival applies: In a changing world, you either adapt, or you die.

Wings Win 2-1 Over Avs, Howard Shines

Recently, coach Mike Babcock put a call out to his goalies saying they needed to step up and be better.  Jimmy Howard has answered that call ever since, and did so again last night as the Red Wings defeated Colorado 2-1.  Jimmy Howard made 36 saves and came ever-so-close to earning his 13th career shutout, but everything the Avs threw at Howard was not enough.

Detroit was bolstered in the 2nd period when Johan Franzen finally got the monkey off his back and scored for the first time since coming back from injury.  Damien Brunner fed the Mule a marvelous stretch pass that left Franzen free and clear of both Colorado defensemen, and the following wrist shot whistled by goaltender J. S. Giguere to open the scoring at 1-0 Wings.

Later in the same period, Niklas Kronwall would blast a puck toward the net, and some argue that he intentionally shot wide of the net to look for a favorable bounce off of the notoriously lively Joe Louis Arena boards.  The bounce Kronner got could not have been more favorable, as the puck careened back toward the net, ricocheted off Giguere's skate, and back into the net to make it 2-0 Detroit.

All was well until the final stages of the 3rd, when Franzen sullied his otherwise good play by half-heartedly trying to clear the puck out of the defensive zone while Colorado had their net empty.  The puck stayed in, and Paul Stastny got a shot on goal.  Howard responded with a great save, but a rebound came right back to Stastny and he did not waste his second chance.  With just 1:30 left in the game, the Avalanche broke Howard's shutout, making it 2-1.  The Wings, however, would hold on from there and claim their 2 points.

Timely Mistakes Turn Tides on Wings, Lose 2-1 to Chicago

In what could end up being the most frustrating loss of the regular season so far, the Detroit Red Wings managed to go stride for stride with the league-leading Chicago Blackhawks for much of their match on Sunday.  The Wings took a late lead when Tomas Tatar scored in the 3rd to break a scoreless tie.  It looked as though the Red Wings would be the ones to finally snap Chicago's season-opening point streak.

Then, Jonathan Ericsson happened.

With mere minutes left to secure the win, Ericsson made the costly mistake of flinging the puck over the glass in defensive territory, resulting in the dreaded delay of game penalty, on which Chicago scored to tie with only 2 minutes left in regulation.  It did not get any better after that point.

Regulation ended, Chicago got to keep their little streak, and overtime solved nothing.  The game would go to a shootout, where the Blackhawks would score the lone goal, winning 2-1.