Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

Videos- After A Loss In Sunrise

12/09/2022 at 3:10am EST

from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

The fun times on this Red Wings road trip came to a crashing halt in south Florida.

This wasn't enjoyable for the Wings, at all. Like storms on a beach day.

After two impressive victories, the Florida Panthers crashed the Wings back down to earth with a 5-1 victory.

The Panthers scored late in the first period, and continued the deluge in the second period, as goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic and the Wings' defense could do nothing to slow Florida down.

"We didn't give ourselves much of a chance," coach Derek Lalonde said. "Turnovers, lost battles, lost battles at the blue line. We had poor gaps, we retreated. Really disappointing and a really easy night for Florida. It'll be interesting to see how our guys respond from this."

continued

from Kevin Allen of Detroit Hockey Now,

If the Red Wings aren’t at their best, games look like the Red Wings’ 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers Thursday.

Nothing went right for the Red Wings Thursday starting with the moment Lalonde filled out his lineup sheet. Olli Maatta was ill and couldn’t play. Lalonde also made Jake Walman a healthy scratch. That meant the Red Wings went back to Gustav Lindstrom and Robert Hagg on the third pairing. That duo struggled earlier in the season. They were replaced by Walman and Jordan Oesterle. Lindstrom was on the ice for three Panthers’ goals.

The Red Wings also opted to go with backup Alex Nedeljkovic, instead of Ville Husso. It was planned that Nedeljkovic would play one of the games on the four-game road trip. Nedeljkovic gave up five goals and also made 36 saves.

Maybe having the regular lineup wouldn’t have changed the outcome. The Panthers played as sharply and the Red Wings played poorly. At one point, about 26 minutes into the game, the Panthers were outshooting the Red Wings 23-5. The Panthers had more energy, more proficiency and more players at their best.

read on

Below find the post game interviews and game highlights.

Larkin and Lalonde

Highlights

Paul

from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,

All of which makes the following question a fair one to pose what exactly was Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde thinking while he was filling out his lineup card for Thursdays game?

Coming off one of the clubs most impressive performances of the season, a 4-2 victory at Tampa Bay over the three-time defending Eastern Conference champion Lightning, Lalonde broke one of the cardinal rules of sport. He was opting to alter a winning lineup.

Entering play Thursday, the Red Wings were even with the Lightning and two points ahead of the Panthers. There was an opportunity for the Wings to put some daylight between themselves and Florida. Thats why of the two remaining games on Detroits four-game road trip, winning in Florida shouldve been the objective that they were targeting.

Saturday afternoon, Detroit is in Dallas. The Stars are a Western Conference team. They wont be fighting with the Wings to get into the postseason. Not only is Florida in the Eastern Conference, the Panthers are in the Atlantic, the same division as the Red Wings. Thursdays title was the proverbial four-point game.

Thats why No. 1 goalie Ville Husso needed to be between the pipes. And while Olli Maattas illness-induced absence wasnt avoidable, scratching Jake Walman and reintroducing the leaky third defense pairing of Gustav Lindstrom and Robert Hagg was unnecessary.

Without a doubt, the Panthers performed well on Thursday. Its entirely possible that there was nothing Detorit couldve done to earn the win. Thats immaterial to this argument, though. Going into the game, this was the one from which the Red Wings most needed to get two points.

If Detroit is serious about being a playoff team, then the Red Wings needed to give themselves the best chance to win on Thursday. And that wasnt what the team did.

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Wingding

This loss was NOT on Ned. 

With Maata ill, resting Walman ended up wrecking 2 D pairs. That was the problem.

MurrayChadwick

The change goaltending is debatable, you don't know if the Husso needed a rest, but changing out 2 dmen after defense won you the last game against an equally formidable opponent was a bad coaching move.

Lindstrom was a -3 Haag -2

damndogrevenge

Tough watching Ned on the verge of tears during that interview. I feel for the guy. I hope he gets his groove back. More for himself than the team.

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