The Detroit Red Wings entered Wednesday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators with a chance to break a five-game losing skid. After all, the Senators had only one victory to their credit on the young season so far.
Instead, the Senators handed the Red Wings their second straight 5-2 defeat in as many nights, extending their losing streak to six games now. During the skid, opponents have outscored Detroit 27-9.
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Chris Tierney, Mark Borowiecki, Jean-Gabriel Pageau (shorthanded) and Anthony Duclair (two goals) all lit the lamp for Ottawa, while Darren Helm and Tyler Bertuzzi scored for Detroit. Goaltender Jonathan Bernier made 33 saves.
Afterwards, head coach Jeff Blashill bemoaned his team’s lack of defensive intensity.
“You press and press and press and as a result you play worse and that’s what happened for sure tonight,” he said. “Tonight was the worst defensively we’ve played in a while. I don’t want to take anything away from Ottawa, they played hard. But we were loose (defensively).”
An encouraging record of 3-1 has now sunk to 3-7 .
“We’re not a team that gives up four or five goals on a nightly basis and win,” forward Justin Abdelkader said. “If we don’t do it the right way, we give up four or five goals a night and that’s not a winning recipe.
