The Detroit Red Wings share an arena with the NBA’s Pistons, who just broke the single-season league record for most consecutive losses.
The Red Wings aren’t close to matching that run of futility, however it’s been a rough December for them as well. They are 2-8-1 over their last 11 games, including a 6-3 road loss to the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.
Detroit will try to turn things around during a pair of home games before the calendar flips to 2024. The Nashville Predators will visit on Friday and the Boston Bruins will come to town on New Year’s Eve.
The Red Wings experienced a third-period collapse against the Wild. They tied the game on Alex DeBrincat’s power-play goal before then allowing four goals in less than 10 minutes.
Coach Derek Lalonde saw it coming.
“Just our inability to manage our game,” he said. “It’s unbelievable. We were fortunate to come out of the second at 2-1. They had six Grade A’s (chances) in the second and they were all off egregious turnovers. The difference in the third is the puck ended in the back of the net off of turnovers where it did not in the second.”
Detroit had a 14-7-3 record before its slide began. The Red Wings now are in danger of dropping to the .500 mark with a regulation loss to the Predators.
“This was not us over the first 25 games,” Lalonde said. “We worked off a forecheck and we were a simple, predictable team. Now, it’s just blue line turnovers, high offensive zone turnovers, it’s disappointing.”
One of the few bright spots has been the production of Patrick Kane, who signed with Detroit as a free agent early in the month. He carries a five-game point streak (five goals, four assists) and four-game goal streak into Friday’s contest.
The Predators have lost their last two games and three of their last four contests. The Carolina Hurricanes posted a 5-2 win in Nashville on Wednesday.
All of the Hurricanes’ goals came during the first two periods.
“I think we were a little careless at times,” Nashville coach Andrew Brunette said. “I think it was an emotional game. I thought we were excited to play, maybe a little bit too rambunctious a few different times. We took some offensive zone penalties that probably we wouldn’t like to take.”
Carolina scored three of its goals with the man advantage.
“Special teams, we lost that battle (Wednesday), which is frustrating,” center Ryan O’Reilly said.
O’Reilly notched his 14th goal of the season on Wednesday. He trails only Filip Forsberg (16) for the team lead in goals.
“I thought we did a lot of good things,” O’Reilly said. “Obviously, we’ve got to find a way to put the puck in the net a little bit better. We had some chances. Like I said, myself, I’m better than the shots I was putting on net there. Getting those point-blank opportunities and not putting them in the back of the net, I’m better than that, for sure.”
Nashville and Detroit split its two-game series last season. This will be the first of two meetings this season. The rematch will be held in Nashville on March 23.
–Field Level Media
