The Detroit Red Wings are really taking this whole season of giving routine way too seriously.
After utilizing an impressive 8-4-2 to in November to help battle back to .500 from a dismal 1-7-2 season-opening skid, the Wings are in the process of giving it all back. Following a 4-2 win over the Bruins, their first win at Boston in 4 tries, the Wings have gone 2-4-2 the rest of the way so far in December, and have lost two in a row as they head to another place where they haven’t much success, Philadelphia for a Tuesday date with the Flyers.
Figuring out how to fix what ails them was Detroit’s mission at practice on Monday. Taking fewer penalties was at the top of everyone’s to-do list.
Staying out of the box for one,” goalie Jimmy Howard told DetroitRedWings.com. The Wings were shorthanded six times in Saturday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the New York Islanders. Dylan Larkin has taken four penalties in the last two games.
“You can’t put our penalty kill under that much stress,” Howard said. “Another thing is just playing fast, and not spending the whole night in our zone defending.”
Philly Firings
Coach Dave Hakstol was the latest Flyer to feel the axe when he was fired Monday, following GM Ron Hextall out the door. It could be that the Wings, who finally won in Philly in 2016 but are 1-13 in their last 14 visits to the City of Brotherly Love, are catching the Flyers at a very vulnerable time.
At the same time, the Wings recognize that such moves can serve as a wakeup call to a moribund team
“I think anytime that happens, you never know, that can be kind of the kick in the butt they need, so I think tomorrow we’re all expecting them to come out really hard and play at a high pace,” forward Andreas Athanasiou said. “I think just matching that and kind of just going on from there, right off the bat, matching their intensity and taking over and playing our game, we should be OK.”
New Tender
Also as part of the shake up in Philly, Carter Hart, considered the Flyers’ goaltender of the future, was called up from AHL Lehigh Valley.
Hart is expected to make his NHL debut Tuesday, but luckily for the Wings , they can access an instant scouting report from forward Michael Rasmussen and defenseman Dennis Cholowski, both of whom faced Hart last season in the WHL.
“He’s really calm and swallows a lot of pucks,” Rasmussen said. “He’s good, real good.”
Cholowski’s Portland Winter Hawks were eliminated by Hart’s Everett Silvertips in the second round of the WHL playoffs.
“He was key to their team,” Cholowski said. “It was frustrating for us, because whenever we would have the puck on the O-zone, we were pressuring him, lots of shots, he’d be their brick wall. Honestly I think the biggest reason why they beat us was because he was their brick wall.
“I thought he was their best player and he got them quite a ways. Obviously they had a good team but he got them a little further than I guess people expected.”
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