The Detroit Red Wings look to put a disastrous December behind
By Bob Heyrman
The Detroit Red Wings will try and put a disastrous December behind them. They will host the Calgary Flames tonight at Little Ceasars Arena.
It is an early 7 pm start tonight, a bit irregular for the Detroit Red Wings who begin 90% of their home games at 7:30. Maybe, just maybe they will be awake in time to put together an entire game.
The Wings have struggled the majority of the season, but December was anything but kind to the team. The Wings have a record of 3-8-4 through a disastrous December. People can point to injuries and possibly coaching for an excuse, but the fact of the matter is the team hasn’t shown the drive necessary to right the ship.
Over, and over again we write about slow starts or terrible second periods or large leads surrendered. This team has just not been good enough. As Niklas Kronwall would say “we are just not good enough, terrible.”
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In Dallas, the Wings played probably their worst game of the season. They got absolutely pepper by the Stars and didn’t know what to do with themselves. New Year’s Eve the team came out flying, they scored 3 goals on 8 first period shots and led the game 3-0 after one period of play.
I thought to myself; this is exactly how a team should react after such an uninspiring performance a game ago in Dallas. I thought for a minute, ok, Blashill ripped into this group, and they’ve responded. Well, the club blew said lead and lost the game 4-3 in a shootout.
I understand that this isn’t a Stanley Cup contending team. I get it; we are not a playoff team. I just want to see a rebuilding Detroit Red Wings club be competitive and play the right way. It is unfortunate to see a team jump out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and play the second and third period in the fetal position. The second period at home against the Panthers the Wings recorded 2 shots on goal.
It was a full house with people ready to celebrate, and we managed two shots. That sort of tells the entire story of our Detroit Red Wings this whole season. A tremendous struggle early on in the season, a string of overachieving hockey that was so fun to watch and then back to a team that gets hemmed into their own zone and can’t find a way to exit the zone.
I hope Jeff Blashill has this team ready to go tonight against an excellent Calgary Flames squad. The Flames have four players on pace to record 30 plus goals. The Flames are led by Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, Sean Monahan, and Elias Lindholm.
The Flames captain Mark Giordano is having a Norris Trophy type season at the age of 35. He has 37 points and is a plus 26 through his first 38 games of the season.
I am not sure how the Detroit Red Wings will be able to slow down this high flying young offense, but they should start by staying out of the penalty box. The young Detroit defense will need to engage but not be found caught in the offensive zone. They can’t afford to give up any odd-man rushes to this Flames club.
Mike Smith will be in goal for the Flames; he’s a shell of what he once was. The Wings need to pounce on any opportunity they have early on and try to pad a lead similar to what they did against the Panthers. Instead of taking the peddle off the gas they need to keep pushing forward and not getting too comfortable. If they fall behind early, it could be over quickly against this offensive juggernaut.
Notes: Darren Helm will return to the lineup. Jimmy Howard gets the nod and the Wings won the previous match-up 8-2.
The Detroit Red Wings projected lineup:
Justin Abdelkader (A) – Dylan Larkin (A) – Gustav Nyquist
Thomas Vanek – Frans Nielsen (A) – Andreas Athanasiou
Darren Helm – Luke Glendening – Tyler Bertuzzi
Michael Rasmussen – Jacob de La Rose – Christoffer Ehn
Niklas Kronwall (A) – Nick Jensen
Jonathan Ericsson – Filip Hronek
Dennis Cholowski – Luke Witkowski
Jimmy Howard
Next. The Struggle continues for a former Detroit Red Wings forward. dark
Game Information:
Detroit Red Wings 15-18-6 vs. Calgary Flames 24-12-4
Time: 7:00 EST
Location: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI
TV: Fox Sports Detroit, SN West, Fox Sports Go, NHL.TV, ESPN+
Radio: 97.1 The Ticket
OddsShark Odds- Fav. Flames -185
Head to Head last 10- Wings 5-3-2