Inside the Article:
The Detroit Red Wings were disappointed after their 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers on Friday. Special teams were the main issue, as the Panthers scored two power-play goals while the Red Wings went 0 for five on the man advantage.
Coach Derek Lalonde said, “Our five-on-five, I’m not going to say excellent, but the last two games have been really good. All four lines create offense, all four lines generating, competing, driving offense, and zone time. This will be a frustrating game analytically looking back. The people in the front office working analytics will tell us we should have won this game.” The Red Wings also lost to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday due to poor special teams play.
Why it matters: Special teams are a crucial part of any hockey game, and the Detroit Red Wings’ struggles in this area have cost them in their last two games. If they want to improve their record, they will need to find a way to execute better on both the power play and penalty kill.
Detroit Red Wings vs. Panthers By the Numbers
- The Red Wings went 0 for five on the man advantage with seven shots in 7:37.
- The Panthers scored two power-play goals.
- Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves for the Panthers, improving his lifetime record against the Red Wings to 23-6-1.
What they are saying:
- “Five-on-five, we’re a pretty good team right now. I’d say we carried the play, for the most part, five-on-five. And then we give one up on the PK, and we’re kind of on our heels most of the game after that. That’s kind of killing us right now.” – Ben Chiarot, Red Wings defenseman.
- “He stole the game. He was the first star, second star, and third star. Obviously, he made the unbelievable saves on the Grade A’s, the breakaways, the all-alone in front, the back-door tap-ins, the one-timers from 15 feet. But on the easy offense we were way too easy on him. We had shots from the point; we didn’t take his eyes. We didn’t get enough rebounds.” – Derek Lalonde, Red Wings coach, on Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
Other notable moments from the game include Robby Fabbri delivering two big hits and scoring a goal in his second game back from ACL surgery and rookie Jonathan Berggren scoring the Detroit Red Wings’ first goal and creating chances for himself and his teammates. Despite the loss, Lalonde praised his team’s five-on-five play and said they need to find a way to execute better on special teams to win games.
