Red Wings handed ’embarrassing’ 7-2 loss by Penguins

By @StefanKubus –

DETROIT – Niklas Kronwall called it “embarrassing.”

And that might be the best way to describe Detroit’s 7-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday afternoon at Joe Louis Arena. Nick Bonino and Phil Kessel each had five-point games, while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 21 of 23 shots. Andreas Athanasiou and Mike Green scored for Detroit. Petr Mrazek was pulled after four goals on 27 shots, and Jimmy Howard allowed three on 14 shots in relief.

At a time when points are at a premium, the Wings know they can’t afford performances like that.

“We have to do a lot better than that, we have to be better, pretty simple,” Kronwall said.

“I think there were a lot of areas tonight where we didn’t do a good job to be honest with you. Whether that was turnovers or too much separation between the forward and the D, there was just too much room for them. ”

Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill, who met with his coaches and Ken Holland for roughly a half hour after the game before speaking to the media, said he and his staff will certainly hold players accountable.

“Whether it’s the coach, whether it’s the players, we’ve all got to execute at a higher level than we did tonight and we’ve got to do that come Monday,” Blashill said.

“We’ll have to make sure the lineup is what we want it to be If there’s somebody – we’ve got good players sitting out so we’ll have to look and say, ‘Is there anybody that we think should go in?’ so we’ll look at that. The other way is just making sure that we do lots of video work with mistakes and how we’re gonna be better and things like that.”

The Pens’ seven goals mark the highest total the Wings have allowed in a game this season.

“We’ve been scoring enough lately… We’ve got to keep pucks out of our net by playing better defensively, we’ve got to keep pucks out of our net by managing the puck better and we’ve got to keep pucks out of our net with real good goaltending; that’s how we’ve got to keep pucks out of our net,” Blashill said.

The Red Wings captain said his group needs to “erase” Saturday’s game from their collective memory to turn around and focus on Monday’s date with the Buffalo Sabres.

“There are some mistakes in the game that we probably want to have back, but when they get 5-2 there and then 7-2, that shouldn’t happen,” Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “That’s on us, that’s something that we have to just erase. Obviously, it’s not good, but we’ve got a game on Monday, gotta clear the air here and come back and play.”

In the game, with just over 11 minutes to play in the opening frame, Athanasiou hopped right off the bench for Darren Helm. Jonathan Ericsson poke checked the puck to center ice, where Brad Richards was to pick the pick up. He dished a backhand saucer pass to a streaking Athanasiou, and the rookie forward fired a low shot past Fleury’s blocker side to put Detroit up 1-0.

But much like Montreal in the third period of Thursday’s game, the Pens returned fire at the start of the second period thanks to Ferris State alum Chris Kunitz. After a shot on goal rebounded off the end boards behind Mrazek, Kunitz corralled the puck and banked it in off Mrazek from behind the goal line to even the game at one just 20 seconds into the frame.

That would be the first of four unanswered goals in the period for Pittsburgh.

With a power play at the 4:08 mark, Kris Letang took a pass from Kessel and ripped a low shot that found the twine to give the Penguins a 2-1 advantage.

University of Michigan alum Carl Hagelin potted is tenth of the season to give the Pens a 3-1 advantage. Hagelin curled around the right side of the Detroit goal and took a wrist shot that bounced off Mrazek’s arm and in.

With 4:49 left in the period, Kessel made it a 4-1 game to give Pittsburgh a three-goal cushion heading into the third period. That goal chased Mrazek from the game, as Howard took over.

Though Green added a power-play goal at 5:08 of the final frame, the Pens responded with three more goals from Hagelin, Bonino and Eric Fehr en route to the 7-2 final.

“This is what I know; I know we’ve got to win a hockey game Monday,” Blashill said. “That’s all I’m thinking about right now.”