Holiday break comes up at opportune time for slumping Red Wings

Ted Kulfan, The Detroit News on Dec 24, 2024

Published in Hockey

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DETROIT — If ever a hockey team looked like it needed a few days away from the rink, hopefully to reset mentally from where they currently are, after Monday's ugly 4-0 loss to St. Louis, it was the Red Wings.

With three consecutive losses, boos cascading from fans at Little Caesars Arena, and nothing seemingly going right, maybe it's just best to get away from a hockey environment, and enjoy time with family and friends and forget about pucks.

Nothing has been going right, especially since Friday's third-period collapse, and eventual loss, to Montreal. Nobody has felt festive around LCA.

"The break is coming at a real good time," coach Derek Lalonde said. "Our last two and half games, we're definitely searching. A little fragile, maybe. It's frustrating the way this homestand started (with two victories, then followed by the losses), so the break is coming at a real good time."

At least the Wings hope so.

The way this losing streak unfolded, the way the Wings have been outplayed in the last two, especially, will only ignite the flames under Lalonde's coaching seat. For the matter, the social media frustration with general manager Steve Yzerman is bound to grow — and is there presently — also.

Fans are getting impatient, and they certainly voiced displeasure with the product on the ice Monday, with heartfelt boos at the end of the game.

"They're frustrated; we're frustrated," captain Dylan Larkin said. "They're rightfully frustrated. When you play at home on a big night like (Monday) with the holiday coming up, it’s usually a great crowd, and we didn’t give them any reason to cheer and have a good night.”

Both Larkin and Lalonde talked about the disjointed nature of the Wings currently on the ice. Nothing is coming easy. Everything looks difficult.

Larkin talked about how the forwards aren't in sync with the defense, and the centers not really cohesive with wingers. It's all a little out of sync. And anyone watching the Wings the last couple of games is likely to agree.

“There's a lot of skating, a lot of hard work, but we're not getting anything accomplished," Larkin said.

But they insist the work ethic and desire is there. At times, the Wings may have looked listless, but that may have been caused by the sloppy play.

"There's care in the group," Lalonde said. "(The Wings need) being connected, get some rhythm in our game. We'd get a good shift from one line (Monday) and then we’d lose the shift on the next line."

The Wings were without defensemen Simon Edvinsson and Ben Chiarot — both out due to upper-body injuries but are expected to return Friday against Toronto — but Lalonde felt the Wings' defense played fine. That wasn't the main issue in Monday's loss.

"Our D gave us a really good game, considering where it's at (decimated with injuries)," Lalonde said. "Any team loses two top left shot (defensemen), it's going to look like that. But our D, our young guys are guys that aren’t even NHL everyday guys, but everyone elevated, they did their job."

Now, the rest of the lineup has to match that.

"We got to show up to play and we don't have enough guys doing that right now, myself included," Larkin said. "We have to be ready to compete and we're not doing that. I never really think our work ethic is poor. We have a bunch of guys who work hard. But we're working hard and not accomplishing anything."

Larkin agreed with Lalonde in that this three-day NHL break was arriving at a good time for the Wings. A do-over is definitely what this team needs.

"Reset and get away, get time to spend with your families and try to come back refreshed," Larkin said. "It's been difficult to come to the rink and continue to build yourself up and then have games and performances like (Monday). Get away, spend time with your family and when we come back, we have to push before another break (two-week 4-Nations Face-off tournament break). It's a lot of games and we have to get something going.

"I hope the guys take advantage of the rest."