Detroit Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill made his feelings clear about last night’s loss against the New Jersey Devils at Joe Louis Arena.
“The first one, to me, was 100 percent unacceptable, 100 percent junk,” he said afterwards. “We’ve got a 1-on-1 that we can make a 3-on-1 for us and we float back up the ice. That’s 100 percent unacceptable.”
The Red Wings allowed two shorthanded goals to the Devils, raising further questions about their powerplay unit which is already in the NHL’s basement. In addition, on a night where they had to come out with urgency in order to gain ground in the standings, they looked as though they were still on break.
“Not good enough, for certain. We’ve gotta come out and have a better start than that,” Blashill said. “We mismanaged the puck, and when you you mismanage the puck that puts you on your heels. That’s what happened.”
Detroit found themselves trailing 2-0 within the first eight minutes of the first period, and weren’t able to muster much offensive for most of the first. They had several good chances in the second period, but were shut down by Devils goaltender Cory Schneider.
After Henrik Zetterberg cut the lead to 2-1, the Devils re-took the two goal lead on a questionable goal allowed by Jared Coreau to Kyle Palmieri that deflated the momentum Detroit was beginning to build.
“It’s a physical thing where a guy just kind of got out skated,” Blashill said. “I think he was a little bit at the end of his shift”
“I think it’s a fact,” Blashill said. “I mean, regardless of how I feel we play or anything like that, the fact is that we’ve given up way too many goals in the first and we’ve got to chase the game too much.”
