from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

Slow starts have contributed to a season-long six-game skid (0-5-1), and the issue goes back even further:

The Red Wings trailed 3-1 after the first period against Toronto, Florida and Arizona.

Minnesota scored on the first shot of the game at 1:37.

Calgary outshot them 19-1 in the first period.

On Tuesday, Edmonton jumped out to a 3-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.

“We start slow, we start in our own zone, we start defending,” Dylan Larkin said. “We got to find a way the first five minutes of games on the road to just make it hard, make it where nothing happens and get pucks deep. We haven’t been doing that. You see a team like (Edmonton), they just swarmed us. We were caught in our own zone for the first three minutes of the game. You can’t start hockey games like that.”

A better start once again will be the focus when the Red Wings face Vancouver tonight at Rogers Arena...

read on

from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,