by Mike Whitaker
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings followed up two embarrassing losses on
the road with yet another regrettable performance, this time in front of the home crowd at Little Caesars Arena.
A four-goal outburst by the Nashville Predators in the first few minutes of the second period powered them to a 6-1 victory over the Red Wings, chasing goaltender Jimmy Howard from the net and giving them their 11th loss in their past 12 games played (1-10-1).
Andreas Athanasiou’s first goal of the season was Detroit’s only tally of the
night. Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne made 23 saves, while Jonathan Bernier made nine saves in a relief effort.
“We had too many guys playing not anywhere near their best hockey,” head coach Jeff Blashill lamented afterwards. “I thought our defenseman played fine, but our forwards weren’t even close…we had a whole bunch of guys who couldn’t execute a tape to tape pass – you won’t win with that.”
As the losses mount, it’s easy to get frustrated and point fingers. But for forward Dylan Larkin, he insists the team is doing everything to move forward together as a single unit.
“We have to stick together,” forward Dylan Larkin said. “We have to gain
confidence by working hard and doing the right things and battling for each other.”
One moment that brought the fans to their feet was Larkin dropping the gloves against Nashville’s Ryan Ellis, who had just delivered an elbow to Larkin’s head.
However, it isn’t something that Blashill wants to see more of.
“I don’t want Dylan to fight a lot,” Blashill said. “I mean, he’s a super competitive person and he was pissed off and decided to take things into his own hands. My message to him was that we appreciate the competitiveness but we don’t want him fighting.”
The Red Wings visit the Big Apple for a matchup against the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.
