If there’s any good news for the Detroit Red Wings at the moment, it’s that they’re just 0-1-0, meaning there’s still 81 games left before the postseason. That means they have 81 opportunities to figure out what went wrong last night.
The bad news? They lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, a team that I will continue to insist is a shell of what they used to be, even if they still have a star player in Sidney Crosby. The Pens were also a team that lost its opener 6-0 to the New York Rangers the previous evening but looked like a group in total control last night.
Meanwhile, the Wings also faced a rookie goaltender in Joel Blomqvist, so the odds should have been in Detroit’s favor. Except that, by the end of the game, it was the veterans in Ville Husso and Cam Talbot giving up a combined six goals, with the former allowing four.
Is this what’s in store for the Wings throughout October? I’ll tell you this much: Ville Husso is an awful goaltender, and he’s turning into the absolute worst trade acquisition of the Steve Yzerman era if he’s not already there. So if the Wings keep repeating the same mistake pretending that this guy is a viable NHL goaltender, then they deserve to lose a lot of games regardless.
Month of October could haunt the Detroit Red Wings this season
So, if the Red Wings want to at least snag a win this month, they need to do themselves and their fans a favor and play the goaltender they signed in free agency, Cam Talbot. But let’s tally off who the Red Wings have coming up this month, and tell me if there’s an easy game on this schedule next to their October 26th matchup against the Buffalo Sabres.
Their upcoming schedule comprises two games apiece against the Nashville Predators and New York Rangers, plus the New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, Edmonton Oilers, and Winnipeg Jets. This schedule would only get more frightening if the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Florida Panthers, found themselves on it.
Now, I’m not saying the Sabres are the only team the Wings will beat throughout October, but if they don’t figure out their goaltending situation in a hurry, then they better start scoring more than three goals in a game. This is a gauntlet of a schedule and one that would wear out even the most talented teams out there.
So, Red Wings fans, let’s hope for the best, but don’t be surprised if the Wings find themselves near the bottom of the Atlantic Division when November rolls around. The good news? November will be the first of five full months of regular season hockey, so they’ll have plenty of time to climb out of the deficit should they find themselves in one.