The Detroit Red Wings were entering Saturday's game against the Boston Bruins losers of their last three games. They needed to get a win or at least take steps towards being more competitive.
On the defensive end, they certainly did that as they gave up only two goals after allowing 16 in the prior three games. They did a great job limiting the Bruins' chances and held them to only 19 shots.
However, as much as they were shutting down the Bruins' offense, Boston was doing the same to Detroit, as the Red Wings had only nine shots through the first two periods. The third period was a different story as the Red Wings would have 13 shots with Lucas Raymond and Michael Rasmussen scoring goals to push it to overtime and get Detroit at least one point.
Moritz Seider mentions what the Detroit Red Wings did to spark their offense
After practice on Monday, Moritz Seider was talking with the media and was asked how the Red Wings can match the Bruins' intensity outside of fighting. He talked about playing fast with the puck, win 50/50 battles, and out-change them and out-work them.
The second part of his answer though was more telling and gives a little insight into why they were much more effective in the third period. "We didn't really have a gameplan for the neutral zone in the first two periods," Seider said. "We really came up with a good way to create offense in the third and that is something we need to continue."
While Moritz Seider didn't detail exactly what they did, the numbers clearly showed the adjustments they made worked. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Red Wings had a Corsi For % of 69.23% in the third period and had six high-danger chances compared to only one for the Bruins in 5v5 situations.
Prior to this recent losing streak, the Red Wings were near the top of the Atlantic Division and even with four losses are still only six points back of the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, the Lightning have won seven straight and seem to be separating themselves from the rest of the division.
The Red Wings need to turn it around quickly, and continuing the game plan from the third period on Saturday over a full three periods on Tuesday against the Boston Bruins could be just what they need to get back in the win column.