Immediately out of the gate, the Detroit Red Wings didn’t look all too bad. Some might say they had a spring in their strides, a little spunk. But things got bad pretty quickly.
5:12 into the first period, the Columbus Blue Jackets drew blood. Tyler Bertuzzi took a delay of game penalty shortly before, and Columbus converted for their first of the year. And that was pretty much the definition of the night. The Red Wings shooting themselves in the foot with penalties and lacking on the forecheck and puck possession. Head coach Jeff Blashill explained the events of the night best.
“When you don’t break the puck out of your zone and you’ve played d-zone coverage, you can’t have a forecheck because you’re too tired,” coach Jeff Blashill said Friday, after the Red Wings worked out off the ice, and packed for California.
By the time they get the puck, players need to change lines, he said.
“You have one guy up the ice and two guys kind of lag behind because they’ve changed, or they are tired. They’re not able to create any forecheck pressure.”
It’s a catch-22 basically; you can’t have a forecheck because you’re too tired to bring the pressure on the opponent, and you’re too tired because of your lack of forecheck in the first place, forcing you to play entirely in your own end. Can’t score goals when you’re playing in your own end. Well, for the most part.
The Red Wings head coach even coined a term for it; “half-icing”. And the Blue Jackets half-iced Detroit to death Thursday night. The lack of forecheck and possession coupled with the injuries and green-gills on the ice created a perfect storm for disappointment in Detroit.
Conversely, it wasn’t all doom and gloom; there were definitely bright spots on the night. Dennis Cholowski scored his first career goal, Jimmy Howard ended the night with a .923 save percentage on the game, and 5 Red Wings rookies made their debuts. This is going to be an interesting team to watch moving forward, and like it or not, we’re all along for the ride.
