from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

A goaltender making his NHL debut, on the road, against a team riding a three-game winning streak, could have been jittery, and should have been under duress.

Instead, the Detroit Red Wings were too easy on Zach Fucale, generating too few shots, too little net-front traffic and virtually nothing on the power play in a 2-0 loss to the Washington Capitals at Little Caesars Arena.

“We didn’t make it hard enough on him,” Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said....

“I didn’t think we had enough chaos at the net,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought we had guys at the net. I thought when we shot, a number of them got fronted or blocked in front and we didn’t do a good enough job of winning those puck battles that were laying there in front.”

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from Shawn Windsor of the Detroit Free Press,

They came out with jetpacks on their backs, and for the first half of the first period cut through the Washington Capitals’ defense like a wire through cheese. They were quicker to the puck and to the boards and when they had the chance to shoot, well, they fired away without hesitation.

It was the kind of onslaught these young Detroit Red Wings keep unfurling in this young season. And, for a while, it felt like they might be on their way to their fourth straight win, and to the kind of momentum that so many remember in this grand old hockey town — or Hockeytown, if you prefer — where one electric moment led to the next.

Except the Wings couldn’t score during the initial jet-fueled blast, stopped either by rookie Zach Fucale’s nifty glove and stick work or by a touch of imprecision within the offensive fury.

continued (paid)