Tampa Bay Outclasses Detroit: Key Takeaways

It’s looking bleak in Detroit. Not only has Detroit lost their two best centermen in Dylan Larkin and Andrew Copp, but they’ve now broken the streak of no back-to-back regulation losses since November after dropping their game to Tampa Bay.

Detroit has always struggled with offence, but this seems to be a new low. They lost 4-1 to the Lightning after getting a plethora of chances in both the second and third periods, only to get stoned by Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. With none of Larkin, Perron, and Copp set to return for at least a week, there isn’t really any reason to believe things will improve in the short term. All that being said, here’s what I got from the night in Tampa Bay.

Lucas Raymond isn’t Himself

For the past two seasons, there have been two guys you can count on pretty much every night to create offence: Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond. Now, even with the team slumping hard, DeBrincat has found a way to create. Lucas Raymond hasn’t.

Raymond took a maintenance day recently, and I think that there might be something lingering with him. I think back to the start of the season, when he took a hit in the game against the Maple Leafs and took a while to return to form, even after stepping back on the ice. I get the sense he’s playing through something now as well.

Be it the power play or even strength, Raymond hasn’t been nearly as effective at funnelling passes into dangerous areas. It feels a lot more like blind passes into space with the hope that they find a Red Wings’ stick. In terms of his shot, it doesn’t look threatening like it has recently.

It’s possible that Raymond is healthy and he’s just not showing up. To me, he looks a lot like Patrick Kane does right now, it wouldn’t surprise me if the pressure is on and he’s looking towards the leadership group on this team and he’s playing the way Kane does.

All that being said, that’s not an excuse. He needs to be hovering at least around a point-per-game. Going on a four-game point drought isn’t acceptable, and for one reason or another, Raymond has been part of the problem this time around.

The Defence is Good (Enough)

Justin Faulk has given the Red Wings something they haven’t had in such a long time. This is probably the best iteration of the defence core since the tail end of Lidstrom’s prime. For the past three games, Faulk has been activating, moving the puck well, and showing genuine poise in the defensive end that has given Detroit a much elevated 20 minutes a night.

The third pair has been solid too, admittedly, that largely comes on the back of Albert Johansson taking serious strides since the calendar turned. But Bernard-Docker has been good enough that the blue line isn’t a concern for me going into the latter stretch.

In my mind, the deed is done, and this team is going to see another five to six game losing streak while the forwards remain out, but when they return (hopefully soon), Detroit should have the all-around team game to make a push back into a playoff spot. Something they have failed to do each time post-slump.

John Leonard and Eduards Tralmaks Need a Look

I’ll be the first to say I actually liked the game that Sheldon Dries played for Detroit against Tampa Bay, and I wouldn’t have any problem if they choose to leave him in the lineup going forward, but Detroit needs a spark. As solid as Shine and Dries have been, neither of them have proven that they can be offensive producers at the highest level.

This season, Leonard has already proven that he can create offence for the Red Wings at the pro level. I understand that burning the final game of his waiver eligibility means there is almost no chance the Griffins will get him for their playoff run, but unfortunately, there are more important things at stake.

A similar notion goes for the Latvian Eduards Tralmaks. He finished the Olympics as a point-per-game player around below-AHL level talent for the most part. Of this group of Griffins that has joined the team, I don’t think they have a choice but to try to speedy Tralmaks and hope that if he can produce with nothing on the global stage, he can do it in Detroit.

I know that this team, even when healthy, is trying to win games 2-1 and has that mentality for the playoffs. But as it stands, they’re barely getting the one goal in time, and they lack the forward talent to keep the puck out of the defensive zone.

Praying for One More Stretch from Gibson and Seider

This is less than an observation and more of a prayer. If Detroit is to even tread water during this coming stretch, everything else is periphery. Raymond can improve, the defence can continue to play well, and Tralmaks and Leonard can come in for good minutes, and it won’t matter much. It’s going to take a Herculean effort from the top of the lineup.

Seider and Gibson have done it before. In December and January, Dylan Larkin wasn’t producing, and Lucas Raymond was on a cold streak as well, but the team kept winning. Admittedly, it was Andrew Copp who was functionally a point-per-game without any real power play time. But the dominance of Gibson and Seider willed Detroit through games.

If anything can shift the tides, it’s them doing this one more time.

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