from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

“The issue was we got to the second period,” coach Jeff Blashill said, “and we refuse to hold onto the puck and help our five defensemen that are dressed, and there were a bunch of young guys in that mix. Instead of making it easier on them, we made it harder on them by turning pucks over and having to face rushes. Doesn’t make any sense.

“We regressed. That game is not even close to good enough in any stretch. That was a bad effort. Bad execution, bad effort, unacceptable. We better find a way to dig in and get better.”

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from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

“We have to find ways to just win games,” forward Dylan Larkin told reporters afterward. “Desperation level has to be higher and as a leader here, I have to come out next game, we all have to come out and play with some desperation.

“Find a way. We have to find a way. We’ve played five games and we have a lot of games to go, so we have to find a way to turn this around or it’s not going to be a fun year if it keeps going like this. We all know that.”

Larkin felt if he’d accept a fight from Boston’s Noel Acciari late in the first period, maybe the momentum would have changed.

“I don’t even know who it was, (who) wanted to fight and I didn’t answer the bell and if I did, it could have changed some momentum in the game and maybe got some momentum back on our side and showed them that we were ready to battle, we were here,” Larkin said.

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