The Detroit Red Wings’ scoring drought has topped 130 minutes.
They began a miniseries against the Nashville Predators on Tuesday at Bridgestone Arena with a 2-0 loss.
It’s the first time the Wings (10-19-4) have been shutout in back-to-back games this season.
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Thomas Greiss made his second straight start since Jonathan Bernier left the March 18 game with a lower-body injury. The Wings struggled to generate scoring chances while the Predators used a power play to make it 1-0 and a rush to double up.
The Wings had four minutes of power play time through two periods but didn’t create much on either opportunity because their entries were so poor. The push to start the third period was lacking, too, stifled as their opponent got in lanes and clogged the neutral zone.
The Wings pulled Greiss with more than three minutes left on the clock, and called a timeout with 2:47 to play. The Wings got a power play with 1:45 to go and kept Greiss on the bench to have a six-to-four skater advantage.
The teams play again Thursday.
Finding the net
Luke Glendening’s line with Darren Helm and Adam Erne generally delivers a good spark with energetic shifts at both ends of the ice. Midway through the period, Erne fired a shot that Juuse Saros deflected. Helm got the rebound, but wasn’t able to put the puck behind Saros. When Erne took a penalty for interference at 13:41, the Predators needed just 18 seconds to convert. Roman Josi fired a slap shot from the blue line that hit Mikael Granlund and snuck behind Greiss to put the Wings in a hole. Helm had a chance on a breakaway during a PK in the second period, but his shot went right into Saros’ glove.
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Predators pile on
The Wings fell behind 2-0 midway through the second period. Yakov Trenin entered the zone with speed, blowing by Troy Stecher en route to the net. Greiss lost stick as he dealt with that potential scoring chance, and Trenin went behind the net and sent the puck out front for Mathieu Olivier to score. Granlund put the puck behind Greiss a couple minutes later, but the Wings successfully challenged goalie interference when replays showed Calle Jarnkrok’s elbow clipped Greiss.
Sticking with 7-11
The Wings went with 11 forwards and seven defenseman for a sixth consecutive game. Dylan Larkin started the game with Robby Fabbri and Anthony Mantha, but each of those three also subbed onto the Bobby Ryan-Michael Rasmussen pairing. While the configuration means increased ice time for select forwards — Mantha played a team-high 7:28 and Larkin and Fabbri also topped seven minutes each in the first period — the minutes are scarcer for some of the defensemen. Dennis Cholowski, for example, only logged 4:42 in the first period.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.