In the latter stages of the third period, evidently oblivious to the debacle unfolding right before their very eyes, Detroit Red Wings fans crowded into Little Caesars Arena were belting out a rendition of Bon Jovi’s Livin’ On A Player.
There’s just one problem with that selection.
Currently, the Red Wings are living like they don’t have a prayer. And the club’s playoff chances are moving toward being put on life suport.
A 4-1 home-ice loss to the Arizona Coyotes should be a tipping point for a team that has now lost seven games in a row, all in regulation.
“It’s unacceptable,” Red Wings forward David Perron said.
More like inexcuasble.
Red Wings Are Coyotes Ugly
In the span of a week, Detroit lost twice to Arizona, the 24th-best team in the 32-team NHL. In those two games, the Red Wings were outscored 8-1.
The Coyotes are 4-16-2 over their past 22 games. Fifty percent of those victories came at the expense of a Detroit squad in a battle for an Eastern Conference wild card spot.
The New York Islanders remain percentage points ahead of the Red Wings for that eighth and final postseason placing. Beating the Isles 4-0 on Thursday, the Buffalo Sabres were moving to within three points of Detroit.
The Sabres and Red Wings battle on Saturday afternoon at LCA. Just three days ago, Buffalo was throttling Detroit 7-3. But if you were thinking things couldn’t get much worse for the Wings, boy were you wrong.
Embarrassing Loss For Red Wings
Should you have been unlucky enough to witness Thursday’s contest, you saw a dreadful exhibition of hockey. The Coyotes were desperately seeking a way to find a defeat. This is a team that struggles to complete a tape-to-tape pass of more than 10 feet. They commit enough turnovers to stock a bakery’s inventory for many a day.
Yet as much as they sought to hand the game to the Red Wings, Detroit was unwilling to accept this charity.
The Red Wings are currently a team playing without composure, lacking fire and displaying an utter inability to either generate offense or make a reliable commitment to defense.
“We have to be better defensively,” Detroit defenseman Ben Chiarot said. “I think you see the chances that we give up.”
A Jonatan Berggren turnover, compounded by the fact that Moritz Seider blew a tire, led to the first Coyotes goal. Olli Maatta was caught out of position on the seecond. Neither Chiarot or Jake Walman picked up a wide-open Nick Bjugstad in the slot on the third Coyotes tally.
Continuing, Chiarot uttered some words that should send chills of fear down the spines all every member of the Red Wings faithful.
Costly Defensive Miscues
“They’re ones that shouldn’t happen, especially at this time of year, when everything should be rolling in the same direction,” Chiarot explained of the defensive miscues. “It should be like a machine at this point. Just everyone knows exactly where they’re supposed to be and being there at the right time.
“We’re not there yet and we need to get there in a hurry.”
Is that on the coaches, or the players? Yes and yes.
It’s also, as noted earlier and emphasized by Chiarot, inexcusable at this juncture of the season.
“It’s as tough as it gets in the room right now,” Perron said. “We gotta find a way to bounce back.
“We gotta find a way to get up, put our pride on the line and be better.”
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