Like the captain of a sinking ship, just when Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill gets one area of concern patched up, another leak seems to spring up.

Friday, in a 5-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, the Wings struggled to get the puck out of their own end.

“Honestly, I thought one thing we focused on yesterday was making sure we break the puck out and moving our feet and having support, and I thought we did a great job of that,” Blashill said.

Sunday, during a 2-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, it was Detroit’s inability to get pucks and traffic to the Oilers’ next that spelled their downfall, extending their current slide to 0-4-1.

“We’ve got to get more aware of getting bodies to the net and getting pucks to the net and they’ve got to know it’s being delivered there,” Blashill said. “That’s one thing I’d say for sure.

“As you kind of fix one area in breakouts, that’s another area that we’ve got to get better at. We’ve got to find a way, especially on our entries, to be a little bit more about shooting on our entries with bodies going to the net that hopefully creates chaos.”

There was no sign of discomfort in front of former Detroit goalie Jonas Gustavsson, who wasn’t severely tested as he made 22 saves for his fourth win in five decisions against the Wings.

“We’ve got to get an ugly one,” Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard said. “That’s getting in on the forecheck, crashing the net and just getting some ugly goals, not looking for the perfect pass set-up play, just putting pucks on net and hoping it hits something and goes in the net.

“I don’t think we’re playing as bad as it looks. I think we’ve been doing a lot of good things out there, just coming out on the wrong end.”

Blashill echoed his goalie’s sentiments.

“We’re talking about tiny margins here,” Blashill said. “We’re very disappointed in the loss but I thought there was stuff that we did very well, much better than we did Friday.

“It’s not a good enough result at all but again I thought there were things we took steps forward with.”

Dylan Double Down
Blashill did some minor line juggling in the second period trying to ignite his team, double-shifting forward Dylan Larkin to get his wheels more chance to kick into motion.

“Larkin got doubled up a few times there,” Blashill said. “He’s a young guy that can really skate and we’re trying to get him a little more ice time in those situations.”

Nik’s Time
In his second game back on the Detroit defense from a knee ailment, Niklas Kronwall logged 20:17 of ice time, and while Blashill liked what he got from Kronwall, he thought maybe that was asking a little too much of him.

“He’s a really good player and he’s got a great brain,” Blashill said. “He’s got a calmness to him. I think Nik for a long time here was big-time underrated around the league.

“He’s a great defenseman when he’s healthy. I don’t know if I like 20 minutes. We’ve got to watch it because that could present too much wear and tear, so we’ve got to be careful.”

Where’s The Finish?
Both teams that faced Detroit this weekend were playing their second game in as many nights but the Wings proved unable to wear them down and win the battle of attrition.

“It’s a little sour,” Howard said. “We feel like we definitely left something out there.”

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