Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

Road Woes Continue

12/17/2021 at 5:05am EST

from Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now,

It’s as if the Detroit Red Wings are two different teams. They are confident, aggressive and full of fight at home where they are 10-3-2. On the road, the Red Wings always seem to be chasing the game, hurried, mistake prone. That was true in Raleigh and now they are 4-10-1 on the road.

“We are looking for answers,” captain Dylan Larkin said. “We need a spark, to get into a groove. But it’s been really difficult and we don’t have an answer for it right now.”

Coach Jeff Blashill had an answer.

“We can’t give up four on the road on a consistent basis and expect to win,” Blashill said.

Tyler Bertuzzi looked sharper in his second game back after recovering from COVID-19. He netted his first goal since Nov. 7, a span of 12 games. The Red Wings’ top line was dangerous. Dylan Larkin also scored his 12th goal of the season.

“Absolutely, (Bertuzzi) was really good tonight,” Larkin said. “It was good for him to get one, but we just need more and especially our line need to give up less.”

read on

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

"It starts with faceoffs and the first battle, and battling, and they were all over us," Larkin said. "They battled and everything they got, we gave it to them. In the second period, for long stretches of that game, we played good hockey and created and had chances, got to the net, played physical.

"We just gave them what they got, four or five goals, and we couldn't score more than that."

Despite being short-staffed, Carolina iced a competitive team and received contributions from a lot of different players. Eight of the 10 forwards Carolina dressed got on the scoresheet, and 10 Hurricanes earned points.

"They still have a lot of good players in the lineup," coach Jeff Blashill said. "They're missing good players, we're missing good players (forwards Robby Fabbri and Mike Rasmussen, also to COVID protocol). We talked about the fact there is two points on the line.

"What happens when you're short is a little like youth hockey and you end up playing your best players a lot. In the end, we didn't get two points."...

Nedeljkovic has started nine of the last 11 games, grabbing control of the Wings’ starter’s job from Thomas Greiss after the two alternated earlier in the season.

But despite a 28-save night, he couldn't outplay Carolina's Frederik Andersen (23 saves).

"Ned played good overall," Blashill said. "The goal off the back wall is a hard one. The first one he's not going to stop, it (the puck) goes right to the guy. The fourth one (Niederreiter's 3-3 tiebreaker) is from the outside, but it's a heck of a shot and every once in a while it goes in.

"I wasn't concerned with Ned's game."

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About Abel to Yzerman

Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that.