Even though they came into the night with a losing 1-2 record, there wasn’t necessarily a sense of doom and gloom surrounding the Detroit Red Wings.
Considering all the offseason shenanigans involving this club, that was really saying something positive about them.
Red Wings lines tonight: projected lineup and starting goalie →
For the most part, they’d played decent hockey. Five-on-five, a bugaboo for the Wings last season, wasn’t bugging them at all.
And then, just like that, the Seattle Kraken cracked the whip. They lowered the boom.
It only took a span of three minutes and five seconds to have everyone saying, or at least thinking, here we go again.
Same old Red Wings.
“I feel like we’ve played well up until that point and one bad period cost us the game,” Red Wings forward Alex DeBrincat said.
We’ve all seen this film before. The Red Wings give up a goal. That gets the snowball rolling downhill. Momentum takes over.
Suddenly, mistakes multiply like rabbits. Detroit’s defensive zone coverage resembles archival footage of the Keystone Cops.
One goal against becomes two, and then three. Hopes of victory are dashed in the span of a few moments. Defeat becomes their frequent companion.
What Can Red Wings Do Differently?
The question we again find ourselves asking, just four games into a new season, is what can this team do to head off such a malady before it grows from a flesh wound into a fatal infection?
“I guess the coach could call a timeout earlier, first of all,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “But you’re only given 84 timeouts during the year.
“You want the players to grab it and settle things down. There’s lots of game left. We went from being in control to being out of control.”
Detroit played a solid first period. The Wings outshot the Kraken 18-5, but came out of the frame deadlocked at 1-1.
“I really liked our start,” McLellan said. “We probably didn’t get rewarded for the effort, and I thought it cost us in the second.”
Only 39 seconds after William Wallinder made it 2-1 for the Red Wings, the Kraken scored. It was the first of those three goals in a span of 3:05 that turned the tide and left Detroit reeling.
“We got loose and impatient, and we didn’t stick with it, and all of a sudden the puck’s in our net,” McLellan said. “Now we’re chasing the game.”
By the time the Red Wings got back up off the mat, Seattle had scored again to make it 5-2.
“Yeah, it’s disappointing,” McLellan said. “We put a lot of time and work into doing things right, and we give it back.
“We’ve got to go back to the drawing board.”
Red Wings Have Done Enough To Win
There’s a double-edged sword feel to the start of this Red Wings season. Until Friday, for the most part, they’ve played decent hockey. And yet, in the standings, they are 1-3.
“Put it this way,” McLellan said. “We scored three tonight. That’s enough to win.
“Just think about that.”
It certainly is an interesting – and perhaps even frightening – notion to ponder.
Should it be considered a sign that better days are ahead for this team? Or is it merely an indication that we’re discovering who the Red Wings really are, and this is going to be as good as it gets?
Bob Duff has worked in the sports media industry since 1984 and covered the Red Wings since 1988. As … More about Bob Duff