In his postgame presser, Dylan Larkin had one word to describe what went wrong, "everything."
And he's absolutely right. Not winning races to pucks, not winning the battles, numerous defensive lapses, goaltending gaffes. Last night had very little to like for the red and white.
The only positive, and I'll get it out of the way now, was the return of Jakub Vrana, who also potted his first goal. Glad to see him back, but unfortunately, twelve of him wouldn't have stemmed the tide of last nights game, especially as he looked gassed at the end of more than a few shifts.
But on to the rest...
The defense was horrid. The left side in particular, starting with Oesterle and Leddy was particularly bad, with a few missed coverages resulting in goals. Both were -4 on the night. Marc Staal was the only lefty that looked engaged all night who, along with his partner Filip Hronek, were the only blueliners who had a plus/minus better than -3. Staal was -1 and Hronek was even. In the age of advanced statistics, plus/minus is looked at less and less, but to me, in this game, it tells the story. Gustav Lindstrom was the guy on the right side that seemed to get burned a few times, and his -6 was worst on the team. Add to the defensive issues, that a few of the goals were on 3-on-2s, and it's obvious the forwards weren't doing their part to backcheck. Not to mention that Arizona defenseman Jakob Chychrun was able to score a goal in the goal-mouth, and it's clear the coverage wasn't there.
As bad as the defense was, the goaltending was probably worse. After the first period, Dominic Moore of ESPN+ pointed out that Alex Nedeljkovic was over-committing on the Coyotes goals. He went on to point out that it wasn't always the play immediately following where it cost him the goal, but the second or third after that. He was absolutely right. Ned overcommitted on Chychrun's first goal, by sliding across the crease prematurely, only to have the puck go right back the other way to Barrett Hayton who threw it on net, and Ned had to scramble for the Hayton shot and then couldn't recover for the rebound that Chychrun sent into the cage on a diving play. Chychrun should've been covered, but that's another story entirely. It didn't matter who was in net either, as Thomas Greiss gave up 2 goals on three shots, the first of which I thought was very weak, and not from a great angle. What should have been a glove save, was far too easy.
This is a massive reality check for the Wings. The best teams don't have nights like this very often, and the Red Wings have had a handful lately. Coming off a road trip that saw the Wings play some of the leagues best teams, and even a strong game against Carolina, there is no excuse for this effort that should have been a chance to get back on track.
No comments:
Post a Comment