Red Wings Buried in Early Hole, Lose Third Straight 5-2

In an all too familiar script, the Detroit Red Wings found themselves in an early hole and couldn’t dig out. Dallas scored three goals in the first period and never looked back, beating Detroit for a second consecutive evening 5-2.

The lone Red Wings goal came on a Valtteri Filppula shot off a beautiful feed form Jakub Vrana who notched his second point in three games as a Red Wing. Jonathan Bernier was yanked after giving up his fourth goal on just twelve shots but it wasn’t as if the team was playing stellar in front of him.

It was another one of those games for the Red Wings–be it puck luck or not–that they were beaten soundly early and could not recover. Boy, it’ll be something when this team starts winning as a result of the Yzerplan. But I’ve written it a few times already–losing wears on us all, and mercifully, there’s only eight games remaining in another transition season.

Red Wings Captain Played Feisty

Dylan Larkin was chippy throughout the night, voicing his displeasure with some calls and also dropping the gloves after taking.a hard hit while facing the boards. He sized up Esa Lindell and wrestled him to the ice after taking a couple shots from the towering defenseman. It’s been a frustrating season at times, it was a frustrating game, and Larkin appeared agitated during stretches of the game. At least near the end of the third period, Larkin was able to get one past Jake Oettinger to cut the deficit to 4-2. But minutes later, Larkin skated slowly off the ice and looked to be in visible pain as he glided off the ice after the final horn.

Red Wings Power Play Struggling Again

Beyond the struggles which echo the issues seen at the beginning of the season, Detroit continues to sputter when they have the man advantage. The real problem is the lack of carry into the zone and they’re left to dump the puck deep, which has made it a real challenge to generate anything offensively. There were few opportunities tonight and while the personnel on the ice isn’t going to score buckets of goals, it once again begs the question as to how much is on coaching as well?

Both teams head to Detroit to finish off the back end of the four game set on Thursday and Saturday.