from Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now,
The inability to finish is a problem. Lately, it seems heightened because key players have slumped. Tyler Bertuzzi scored his first goal in 13 games. Remember how hot Dominik Kubalik was at the start of the season? He has two goals in his past 15 games. He has one power play goal since Dec. 31.
“Maybe it’s a little confidence,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “Obviously, it’s not going in. He’s got those looks on the back door. A confident Kuby probably puts those in the back of the net. Now he’s looking pass first. That’s part of the frustration on the power play. We had a ton of good looks, we have some good movement. We had them out of position and we were unable to cash in.”
The Red Wings were 0-for-5 on the power play against the Oilers. David Perron also hasn’t scored a power play goal since Dec. 29. He’s another player who was hot early in the season.
“We got to finish,” Lalonde said. “I know it sounds simple. I know we’re not natural finishers, goal-scorers, we don’t have a ton of 30-, 40-, 50-goal scorers on our team. We actually don’t have any of them really. It’s kind of got to be by a group. We just got to cash in some of those chances. Tonight, we got those looks. But unfortunately it just didn’t go in.”
Watch below Larkin and Lalonde post game.
Like with most losses, I can only say "good effort, but not enough to beat good quality teams". Both Kubalik and Perron are forcing low percentage passes through the middle on a PP.
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