from Ansar Khan of Mlive,
Detroit Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said Sunday’s practice will be devoted extensively to special teams.
Something needs adjusting, whether it’s personnel, scheme or execution....
The power play and penalty kill, looking much-improved earlier in the season, are trending in the wrong direction. They were disastrous Saturday in a 6-3 loss to Ottawa at Little Caesars Arena, as the Senators scored three power-play goals and two shorthanded tallies.
“It was the alarming difference in the game,” Lalonde said.
“This was a winnable, manageable game that we didn’t take advantage of.”...
The Red Wings have allowed six power-play goals in their past four games.
“I think teams are starting to get a sense of what works against us,” Dylan Larkin said. “We are having trouble with what we call the sifters on the top -- the pucks just being floated in and creating chaos. The chaos kind of gets us out of our structure. When that is happening right now, we have to find a way to take a deep breath (and) sort it out quicker than we are. We are letting one thing happen and then we kind of get off our routes and then a lot of things open up for the power play. It starts with winning face-offs and clearing 200 feet. It didn’t happen tonight.”
Larkin took only face-off due a hand injury Tuesday that forced him out of Wednesday’s game.
“The PK is really disappointing in that two of the three goals literally (went) from our stick to their stick, broken plays and back of the net,” Lalonde said. “Not a lot of structure to that, it’s poor execution, not getting the clear. And then the power play played a big part of the 5-1 (edge) special teams. It’s unfortunate. It’s really a tough game to judge your five-on-five play because there was very little of it. But when you’re involved with five goals against on special teams, you’ll have zero chance.”
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