The Detroit Red Wings season is getting to a tilting point. The concern is brewing as the team continues its spell of sloppy play. On Saturday, it was a horrible loss to the Ottawa Senators, where they got dominated in terms of special teams, which added to the worries.
The Detroit Red Wings would fall 6-to-3 to the Senators, giving them their fifth straight loss in a row. They have not won a game since beating the Lightning down in Tampa Bay on the Florida leg of their road trip almost two weeks ago.
It’s been a tough stretch where they have been outplayed most of the time. The overtime loss to the Stars was tough; they played well but collapsed at the very end. It’s not easy to stomach losses like this repeatedly, especially when play gets sloppy.
Something has to give. The Red Wings are on a slippery slope, and things could take a nose dive quickly. Things could start looking like the 2020-21 season or the 2021-22 season really fast, and no one wants that to happen.
The concern is brewing as the Detroit Red Wings continue their losing streak.
Through their last five games, the Red Wings have been outscored 19-to-7. Their opponents have a 12-goal differential on this losing streak. It’s been quite brutal to watch the Red Wings collapse like this.
While injuries have not made things easier, both Dylan Larkin and Filip Hronek returned to the ice Saturday, and the Red Wings were still nearly hopeless in terms of performance. The special teams proved to be the major issue, as Co-Expert Bob Heyrman discussed in his recap of the Red Wings’ 6-to-3 loss.
In Saturday’s contest, the Red Wings were an abysmal 1-for-7 on the power play and even allowed the Senators to score two short-handed goals. They also managed to go 3-for-5 on the power play, converting 60% of the time with a man advantage.
The Red Wings were sloppy, something that’s been re-occurring as of late. Things got physical in the game against the Wild, and the Red Wings started to play sloppily. They were lazily throwing pucks on the net from the outside, unable to get in tight on Filip Gustavsson, and were careless with their physical play.
Injuries have not made things easier, and the defense core has underwhelmed at times, but the Red Wings need to pick it up. If they do not get things turned around and moving in the right direction, this season could soon hit rock bottom.
Hopefully, they can get things back on track, and with Jakub Vrana back on the ice and progressing toward a return, the Red Wings can put the losing streak to bed and pick up some momentum.