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I’d wondered in the pregame if Detroit would have another disastrous period that would sink them. They did. The first two periods looked good, very good. Zadina had two beautiful goals, one on the power play which has now struck in four straight games.
Less than a minute into the third, the ‘Canes got the lead. 2 minutes and 5 seconds they added to it. The third goal came at 14:55 on a head shaking bad decision to empty the net. It would appear that knowing you aren’t going to be fired is incentive to throw all common sense out the window and set your team up for embarrassment. That decision to pull the goalie just looked incompetent. I try not to come down to hard on Blashill, but that looks like a coach who wants his team to fail so he can throw them under the bus later. I’ll probably regret writing that, but I’ve had my fill of post game finger pointing.
It boggles the mind how much Detroit can just completely shut down for 1/3 or more of the game. This is where I look to coaching. Yes, the team is missing important players (Larkin in particular this time). Still, the consistent theme of a full period of total shutdown falls on more than the players. It’s very clear that no one is coming in to help behind the bench this year. There’s no incentive. Even with tonight’s loss Detroit still isn’t the bottom team. And, to be honest, that’s where they’re projected to land.
Back to the positive. Zadina has been working hard this season. A lot more backchecking, stick checking and working along the boards. His original line with Fabbri and Ryan were really good until the wicked witch of the COVID west took them down. Without Larkin and Bertuzzi, we’re just shuffling along. Zadina has learned to get his shot off much more quickly. On the first goal going far side, it was a really quick and hard wrist shot. His second goal top corner, he didn’t even settle the puck. Just another quick release and it knuckled the right way.
At some point, this team will have the two top lines together again. Whatever Bertuzzi is dealing with has derailed a lot of things, and losing Larkin makes things really rough. There just aren’t enough players that can slot up into the top 6 and make an impact. That will get better as time goes on.
I’m going to be chewing on this third period for a while. Where do you land on these collapses? This has to be the last season for the current head coach, doesn’t it? Some of the decision making just baffles all logic. It remains to be seen if Detroit can bounce back and make a game of it next Tuesday against Tampa Bay. The team has 4 days off for the first time this season. They played 4 games in 6 nights on this last stretch. These guys have to be exhausted. All of them on the road. They may actually get time to heal up and work on some strategies in practice.
If any trades or news comes up, I’ll be covering it. Use these next four days to cleanse yourself from the past three games. Whether you use prayer and meditation or Fleet prep, allow your system to be purged and come back fresh, and probably 5 pounds lighter next Tuesday.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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