Pretty solid game by the Wings last night, but they were undone by shoddy penalty killing. The Nashville Predators matched the Red Wings' puck control and flow and, at times, looked quite dominant. The Barry Trotz-coached team plays an attractive style of hockey. The Nashville goalie, Pekka Rinne, is also on quite a hot streak. In Nashville's last six games (all wins), he's given up a total of 10 goals (only 1.6 goals/game).
From the Red Wings' perspective, the lack of man-power is strikingly evident. Babcock must insert new faces in key positions. The ink on Drew Miller's waiver pickup is hardly dry, and the dude is playing on the top line with Zetterberg. It's 20+ games into the season, and there's little evidence that Leino, Cleary, Draper, or Bertuzzi will be able to provide much scoring. If the goals don't come from Zetterberg or Homer, the Wings don't score. Even Datsyuk is struggling. He seems a step slow, and it makes me wonder if he's injured. It's just a hunch. With that said, the Wings did successfully pressure Nashville all throughout the 3rd. They were unlucky to not get the equalizer. They limited their turnovers and forced Nashville to earn every inch of space. But it was still a loss.
This early in the season, it's probably stupid to talk about playoffs, but I will anyway. The Wings are out of the top 8 spots. With the effort they displayed against Nashville, though, I think they'll sneak in, even with the injuries. They said that Filpulla is close to returning. That will help. But, man, they've got to address that penalty kill - that's the most glaring weakness. Kronwall was a key figure on the PK, so his absence hurts significantly. Folks, the Wings are 29th in the league in the PK. Only one team (Toronto) is worse! Yikes.
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