Red Wings drop fifth game in last six, fall to Senators at Joe Louis Arena
By @StefanKubus –
DETROIT – For the fifth time in their last six games, the Red Wings failed to come away with two points.
Henrik Zetterberg scored a powerplay goal, and Jimmy Howard made 32 saves, but Detroit fell to the Ottawa Senators at Joe Louis Arena on Friday night by a 3-1 final. The players and head coach Jeff Blashill shared an abundantly-clear message: we need to be better.
“I think we’ve been close lots, but we’ve gotta find ways to points,” Blashill said. “I believe in process over long periods of time, results will follow, but our process has to get better, and then we’ve got to find ways to points, as well. You have to continue to grind here, but it’s frustrating. But nobody is feeling sorry for us. We’re going to have to pick ourselves up tomorrow and find a way to grind out two points.”
The players, meanwhile, put the onus on themselves to produce more. The 3-1 win over Tampa Bay on Oct. 13 might just be the last complete game the Red Wings have compiled.
“It’s frustrating right now, we’re not generating enough goals,” Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist said.
“I think we’re still staying positive in here. We know we have a good group in here and let’s just try to get on a roll here and get some wins. We’re playing them again tomorrow, it’s a huge game for us.”
The Senators thought they had the lead with 5:15 to play in the opening frame, but after jamming a loose puck home past Howard, the referee immediately waved it off. It was ruled there was incidental contact with Howard, but Justin Abdelkader was sent off for two minutes for holding on the play.
Skating toward the goal on the right of Howard, Kyle Turris took a quick feed from behind the net and moved in toward the crease. Despite a trio of Wings defending, none were able to take away Turris’ stick in the slot, and he managed to sweep the puck underneath a sprawling Howard to give the Sens a 1-0 lead late in the period.
Seconds after on the next shift, Riley Sheahan busted down the Ottawa zone with speed, displaying a tremendous individual effort. He wasn’t able to get a shot off, drawing a penalty in the process to give Detroit some life with its first powerplay opportunity, but it ultimately proved to be fruitless.
“I thought he took a step in the right direction, in terms of his involvement and impact on the game,” Blashill said of Sheahan.
Matt Puempel made it 2-0 with 9:50 to go in the middle frame, as he gorgeously tipped home a pass from the corner between his legs and past Howard.
It took until their second 5-on-3 opportunity of the period, but Detroit finally found the back of the net late in the second stanza. After Teemu Pulkkinen’s point shot was blocked, the puck went straight onto Zetterberg’s tape, and the Wings’ captain buried it for his team-leading 12th point of the season to make it a one-goal game.
“In a game like this, we have to take advantage of that and score more goals,” Zetterberg said. “I think on the first 5-on-3, we had probably one decent chance… The powerplay, we’ve got to create more. We’re trying, we’re trying, but the puck’s not really going in.”
Bobby Ryan added an empty-net insurance goal for the Sens with 55 seconds to play to seal his team’s victory.
Detroit immediately gets its chance at redemption, with the second of a home-and-home Saturday night at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa.
“After the first three games, this is downhill pretty fast,” Zetterberg said. “We have bits and pieces here and there where we’re showing what we can do, but our lowest level has to be way higher than this, and that goes for everyone, so a chance here tomorrow in Ottawa, just got to regroup and go at it.”