Ball it up, throw it away, get back to it next week

Red Wings 2 Canadiens 7

In what was one of the more lackluster Red Wings efforts in recent memory, there is very little positive to take away from a five-goal drubbing at the hands of an Original 6 rival.

This one was ugly. Start to finish, no doubt about it, ugly.

I’m not sure which was more disheartening: the fact that Detroit looked like they had already checked out on vacation, or the fact that despite that most of Montreal’s goals came off of flukey bounces or harmless looking shots or both.

Montreal’s first goal came when Scott Gomez’s centering pass hit Rene Bourque in the leg.

Their second came when Sergei Koistitsyn’s pass to the point – which likely would have split the defenders and cleared the zone – hit Jiri Hudler’s stick and bounced right to Alexei Emelin, who floated a slap shot past Howard.

The third came after a foolish penalty by PK Subban, one which earned him a 25 minute benching, put the teams back at even-strength, 4-on-4. David Desharnais beat Kronwall to the net, and despite having his stick lifted, was able to softly slide the puck under Howard, who completely misplayed the angle.

The fourth goal of the first period came when a shot on goal was deflected into Howard, who had to adjust and as such couldn’t control the rebound which landed on the stick of Tomas Plekanec.

Goals five and six were scored early in the second against Ty Conklin, and both are ones he would like to have another chance at. Bad angle shots that he should stop every single time.

Jakub Kindl was horrendous in this one, going -3 and getting beaten all over the ice. Jonathan Ericsson was bumped up to play with Ian White on the top pairing and took a bad penalty and committed numerous turnovers.

Looking for a stat to tell you the Wings weren’t on their game? Pavel Datsyuk (0) and Henrik Zetterberg (2) combined for as many shots on goal as Canadiens fourth liner Mathieu Darche.

With Pavel Datsyuk and Jimmy Howard heading to Ottawa to take part in the All Star game festivities, the Wings have until Tuesday to stew on this loss. Hopefully they have a better showing in Alberta when they take on the Flames.

The Off Wing View’s Three Stars

3. Jiri Hudler

2. Rene Bourque

1. David Desharnais