Wings look for scoring in 6 game skid

[Zz_]

When you think of the Detroit Red Wings, you think of power house. 11 Stanley Cup Championships, six Presidents trophies, 19 division championships. Hall of fame greats, Gordie Howe, Terry Sawchuk, Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom. Current greats like Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall and Jimmy Howard. Most importantly for Detroit you think of 28 of 30 playoff appearances and 23 consecutive.  

 

What you do not think about is the Detroit Red Wings losing six straight games. The scary thought is that it seems to be becoming a motto for the Wings. Last season there were four separate times the Red Wings lost five or more games in a row. There was a scare for the organization that they just might miss the playoffs for the first time in 23 years. Like the Red Wings always do though, Jimmy Howard stayed healthy and Detroit pulled together to manage the number eight seed in the Eastern Conference beating out the Washington Capitals by only three points.

 

So what is the deal with Detroit now? In their last 10 games the Red Wings sit with a 3-3-4 record, proving them with ten points. They currently sit in the fifth place seed in the Eastern Conference with 43 points and third in their division trailing the Montreal Canadians and Tampa Bay Lightning by one point each. The worry for the Red Wings is in their net and it has been Jimmy Howard carrying a Red Wing team that cannot seem to find the back of their opponents net.

 

The 2014 season started out pretty mediocre for the Red Wings, until a late November burst would see them win six of their last seven games in the month. They would lose back-up goalie Jonas Gustavsson on November 5^th to a separated shoulder. Gustavsson went to dive back and make a save on the New York Rangers overtime winning goal, as he landed he would injure himself.

 

Since losing Gustavsson, Jimmy Howard would play the next 16 of 18 games going 8-3-4 while rookie goalie Petr Mrazek would start in two games 1-1-0 and see a third game when Jimmy Howard would leave with an injury. Finishing the game against the New York Islanders, Mrazek stopped 22 of 23 shots, his next game, a start against the Colorado Avalanche would see the rookie also stop 22 of 23 before losing a 9 round shootout.

 

So while the goaltending has been solid despite the loss of their backup and now starter, the Red Wings cannot seem to find the back of the net. Sunday December 7^th against the Carolina Hurricanes was the final time the Wings would score more than three goals. The last six games the club has managed just six goals and Gustav Nyquist has scored two of those six.

 

Obviously it is too early to start thinking the Red Wings are in trouble here, like I said, last season they pulled this same stunt at least four times. Yet you do have to wonder, if you are getting solid goaltending why can you not seem to score? The players being gripping their sticks far too tight, when a goalie robs them their grip gets tighter, as they miss the net on a shot it becomes that much more intense. While the team may not be getting the win, they are still producing at least a point in some of these games, four of their last six losses have come in overtime or shootout and only two in regulation.

 

Jimmy Howard is day to day with his lower body injury and could be expected back after the holiday break. Jonas Gustavsson is still healing from a separated shoulder, he was expect to miss at least two months and may not be back mid to late January. Petr Mrazek, the 22 year old rookie, has played solid in his six nhl games this season. He has allowed one goal in three of his six starts while allowing three or more in the other three games. Mrazek should get the start at home again against the Buffalo Sabers on December 23^rd where he looks to improve to 4-2-1 and hopes his team can finally give him some goal support. Buffalo is coming back a 5-1 loss to Colorado and an overtime loss to the Boston Bruins, a game they were 1:31 from winning. Buffalo could get defensemen Tyler Myers back in that game as he was injured in the second period against Colorado. Buffalo could also see Patrick Kaleta back alongside a healthy Michal Neuvirth who missed several games with a lower body injury and Sunday’s game with flu-like symptoms. Buffalo has been in the bottom six all season, the Red Wings would expect themselves to be able to score  despite the fact the Buffalo has played solid of late going 10-5-1 in their last 16 games. 

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[WingNut722]

@  Great write-up!

 

This current skid the Wings are in is disappointing, but not discouraging.  Experience shows that every season, the Wings go through one of these inexplicable spells of mediocrity.  It usually happens in late January into February, but we (Wings fan, that is) can only hope that our seasonal hex has shown up early this year and we should be able to bounce back.  The problem is that this lousy stretch has come during a lengthy interval of very winnable games at home.  I don't want to say that the teams they've been facing are "bad" teams, as they've been very competitive, but Florida, the Leafs, the Avs, Columbus are currently finding themselves in the bottom half of the standings.  

 

I agree that tomorrow's game against Buffalo should be one that the Wings end this streak prior to going into the Christmas break, but the Sabres are also looking for the same thing.  So I expect some hard competition.  The extended break will give them some time to clear their heads and start over again.  New Year, New Team.

[yave1964]

Still one point out of first place fellas, no reason to sweat it.  Every team goes through spells like this, and the Wings will bounce back.

[Zz_]

*Did not write this to "sweat" the Wings. - Was pointing out the lack of scoring in their last six games hitting a losing streak of six. Also wanted to point out (which I did) that the Wings are obviously used to it, they did it multiple times last season. Just noting it is the first major ut-oh this season for the Wings (who I could careless about) and their rookie goalie has played solid being thrown into the situation with Howard and Gustavsson being injured. 

 

It reminded me a lot of the Avs season. Top two goalies out (when the backup is healthy he is suck) and a rookie picking up the pieces. Yet lack of goal support has the goalie playing like a possessed animal and still losing super close games. Difference here is Detroit did not have 9 players on the starting roster injured at the same time and lose a top 6 forward for the season or at least 95-99% of the season. One goal games killing them 6-14 for the Avs.

Kind of funny how connected these two teams will always be...no matter what... especially when I make them connected!

[SpikeDDS]

I am concerned, but not worried. I have to agree with Babs that we are not playing badly. We are not playing great, but we don't have a dominating team yet, so I don't expect that all the time. I'd rather us be playing decent and lose than stink the place out and lose. We haven't really stunk during this streak.

But it is about time we started playing better-than-good. We are about to hit the road for most of our games coming up, and we better use that time to refine our game and make it better.

The end of the Buffalo game was good to see. Hopefully we can continue that on the other end of the Christmas break.