By Rhys Richards (@RREsq)
The Detroit Red Wings enter Tuesday night’s game against the Nashville Predators winless in their last six games, including five straight losses in overtime and three straight by way of shootout.
November has not been good to Detroit, which boasts a 2-1-5 record this month. The offense that started the month with four goals against Calgary and five goals against Edmonton has dried up and has only managed to score four goals once.
That same offense is invisible in overtime and shootouts. The Red Wings have certainly had some chances in overtime but have failed to capitalize in the past five games. In fact, this season in shootout, the Wings are 0-and-4 and have only scored once in 12 attempts, a pedestrian 8.3 conversion rate. In contrast, Detroit goaltending has allowed 5 goals on 10 attempts and has a save percentage of .500 among the league’s worst.
Detroit also lost some depth as the team was forced to waive forwards Jordin Tootoo and Patrick Eaves, who both cleared waivers and were sent to the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Lost in the recent slide is some positive news. Despite the losses, the Red Wings have gained six points and sit in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with 25 points. As the vast majority of the league passes the quarter mark of the 2013-2014 season, Detroit is only three points behind Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division leader Tampa Bay, and is tied with Toronto for third in the Division.
On the injury front, the news is not all bad. Off-season additions Daniel Alfredsson and Stephen Weiss are both battling groin injuries, but the latter is likely to return sometime this week.
During the current losing streak, Detroit welcomed back Darren Helm after he missed substantial time over the past two seasons due to a string of injuries. Helm has managed two goals and two assists in seven games since his return. Jonathan Ericsson also returned to the lineup last Friday against Washington. Finally, Johan Franzen returned from injury last week.
In that stretch, young blueliner Danny DeKeyser has also played his way into Detroit’s top-four. He scored a goal and added an assist against Washington last Friday and currently has two goals and seven assists in 21 games played.
UNIONDALE, NY – NOVEMBER 16: Danny DeKeyser #65 of the Detroit Red Wings skates against Matt Donovan #46 of the New York Islanders during their game at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on November 16, 2013 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Since his return, Franzen has been excellent. In three games, he has three goals and two assists and has dominated games at times.
Entering Tuesday’s night’s tilt, Detroit will dress 11 forwards and 7 defensemen for the second time in three games. Wings fans should not expect any Detroit version of Brent Burns, however, as Coach Mike Babcock has never expressed a desire to play a defensemen up front. As of Tuesday afternoon, Babcock was planning to double shift wingers.
Though Babcock indicated that he would distribute ice time among all of the forwards, Datsyuk and Zetterberg will almost certainly see more time. Both superstars are in the top 10 among league forwards in terms of even strength time at 7th and 10th, respectively. And both are on similar scoring tears. In the past eight games, Datsyuk has netted six goals and ten points, while Zetterberg has scored four times and added seven assists.
The Red Wings need a win in regulation. The Predators could be the team to provide exactly that. Nashville is without star goaltender Pekka Rinne, who is sidelined indefinitely with a hip injury. While the Predators exploded for seven goals against Chicago on Sunday night, Nashville is one of the bottom ten teams in the NHL in scoring and average only 2.3 goals per game while allowing 3.05 goals per game.
Look for Detroit to get back on track with a win at home on Tuesday. Superstitious fans should still cross all fingers and toes and wish against overtime and a shootout.
Statistics and other information obtained at www.nhl.com and www.tsn.ca.
Share your thoughts about the NHL, the Detroit Red Wings, and hockey in general with Rhys at Twitter: @RREsq. He can be reached via email at RhysJRichards@gmail.com. Join the many fans of The Hockey Guys on Facebook and Twitter @TheHockeyGuys
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