The Detroit Red Wings have been one of the feel-good stories to start this season. The rebuilding Wings could be the next team to finally get over the pain of losing season after losing season.
This season started with a frustrating loss to the Montreal Canadiens. But after that, the Red Wings pulled off five straight wins, knocking off big clubs like the Toronto Maple Leafs (twice), the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Edmonton Oilers.
Things were looking up as optimism began to fuel Red Wings fans' feelings. But then, a loud thud.
It started with a 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night. Well, the loss wasn’t enough to send Red Wings fans to grab their stress tabs. But then, Thursday night, the New York Islanders made minced meat out of the Red Wings.
It was evident the Wings were playing on back-to-back nights, as the Isles laid a 7-2 drubbing on Detroit. That was a painful pill to swallow. The back-to-back losses weren’t enough. It was the fact that the Wings were outscored 11-4 in the two games.
That situation leads us to question: Has the luster worn off the Detroit Red Wings? Has that season-opening rush begun to fade? Are we about to see the real Detroit squad gradually emerge?
It’s a fair question to ask, given how badly the Red Wings looked against the Sabres and Islanders. Perhaps facing a longtime rival in the St. Louis Blues will be enough to rekindle the fire that has catapulted the Red Wings to a better-than-expected start.
Goaltending continues to be a concern for Red Wings
John Gibson’s disastrous Opening Night start left fans gasping for breath. However, Cam Talbot came in and settled everything down.
Gibson then returned and has shown a much better effort. In the loss against the Sabres, Gibson surrendered four goals on 31 shots. That wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t bad enough to warrant fans ripping their hair out.
But then, Talbot’s performance against the Islanders was the stuff nightmares are made of. Talbot gave up seven goals on 30 shots. The gut-wrenching performance has left fans raising concerns about the goaltending situation.
So, are we looking at a Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde situation? Or is this just a bump in the road? Inevitably, all teams go through these funks, even the best ones. But until the Red Wings prove what the real situation is, fans won’t really know.
That’s some tough logic to digest. But the reality is that the Red Wings won’t really know what they have in goal until both netminders play more games. The only caveat is that if the Wings are serious about contending for a playoff spot, they cannot afford to wait much longer to see what they really have in goal.