Detroit Red Wings struggle to find offense in devastating Week 9

Dec. 7, 2024
Avalanche @ Red Wings
2-1 Avalanche Win
SOG: 25-30 Red Wings

Starting Goaltenders: Ville Husso v Alexandar Georgiev

The week would end with the Red Wings returning home for an age-old matchup against the Colorado Avalanche; the Red Wings would be playing to stop the bleeding of their current four-game skid while the Avalanche would be trying to keep their head above water and overcome their goaltending woes. Once again, Johansson would be shuffled out for Erik Gustafsson, and Ville Husso would get his 3rd start in six days.

The first period would begin pretty back and forth, with both sides trading shots and zone time. But in typical Red Wings fashion, nothing of note happened until over a minute into the period when Valeri Nichushkin buried one after Ben Chiarot would let him walk into the slot and let it rip to give the Avalanche the 1-0 lead. The Red Wings actually controlled most of the play for this period. Still, most of the chances they got were turned away by Georgiev, who, after being one of the worst goalies in the league, decided that he wanted to cosplay Patrick Roy and not allow anything from the Red Wings. The Avalanche would take the 1-0 lead into the second period.

The second period would begin with a good press from the Red Wings and the Avalanche. Unfortunately, it would end with the Red Wings having to kill a penalty after Tarasenko took his trip to the unfortunate outcome box. Of course, Cale Makar wouldn't waste any time scoring 30 into the powerplay to make it 2-0. Fortunately, the Red Wing would waiver after that goal and kept the pressure up, leading to Lucas Raymond (10) tipping in a shot from Dylan Larkin (9) to make it a 2-1 game with just under 2 minutes left in the period. The Avalanche would hold the 2-1 lead into the 3rd period.

The third period started, and the Red Wings died. They almost completely gave up after carrying most of the game. Fortunately, Ville Husso played incredibly well in this game and kept it close as best as possible. He certainly wasn't helped offensively, as the Red Wings only had one shot on goal until they pulled Husso with 2:30 left in the game, where they peppered the crap out of Georgiev for 2 minutes straight—getting eight shots on goal in just over a minute. It would all be in vain as Georgiev would stand on his head and shut the door on the Red Wings, giving the Avalanche the 2-1 win.

Five straight losses. What disappointed me about this game was that they seemed to be carrying most of the play but completely gave up in the 3rd period. Yeah, Georgiev played far better than anybody expected, but there is no excuse for sitting back like they did in the 3rd period one shot until the last 3 minutes of the period is horrible. Husso looked good in this game, which was the primary reason for the game being as close as it was.

Next Week, the Red Wings will take on the Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, and Toronto Maple Leafs. This is a week where they should, at the very least, go 1-1-1.

Click here to read my review of Week 8.