Red Wings can’t solve enigmatic shootout

Photo by Kaileigh Brammer/MiHockey
Photo by Kaileigh Brammer/MiHockey

 

By @SKubus –

A visibly-upset Jimmy Howard wasn’t quite sure what to say about his struggles in the shootout this season following a second shootout loss in three days Friday night at Joe Louis Arena.

The Red Wings netminder sports a 0-5 record in the shootout with a .250 save percentage, and his nine goals allowed lead all NHL goaltenders. Petr Mrazek recorded Detroit’s only shootout win this season, turning aside all three shooters in a Nov. 28 victory in New Jersey.

“I keep having meeting after meeting after meeting about it… just going to have to stick with it,” Howard said. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to say to you guys.”

But that’s obviously not to place the blame solely on Howard, as there are two sides to the problem.

The Red Wings shooters are collectively operating at a 18.7-percent success rate, converting only three times on 16 shots the season. Gustav Nyquist is 2-for-6, while Pavel Datsyuk is 1-for-4 – the only two Detroit players to score this season. Darren Helm and captain Henrik Zetterberg are each 0-for-1, while Tomas Tatar is 0-for-3 on the year. The now-departed Andrej Nestrasil also went 0-for-1 during his time in Detroit.

“We haven’t been good enough, can’t seem to find a way to score,” Nyquist said of the shootout. “It’s tough; you want to get that extra point when it comes down to it, but we haven’t been able to do that this year.”

It’s not for a lack of trying, either, as the Red Wings constantly practice the shootout as if it were a power play or penalty-killing drill. Head coach Mike Babcock said the lack of execution is more mental than anything.

“We try to treat it like a specialty team, we try to go through it and be as prepared as we can,” Babcock said. “Bottom line is, you’ve got to find ways to score goals in those situations, and you’ve got to find ways to stop them.

“Right now, when we get to the shootout, we’re not a confident group, so we’ve just got to keep working on it. There’s no sense hanging our head or getting disappointed. We’ve talked about it, we understand that we’re affected by it mentally right now. Let’s fight through it and find a way to win one.”

Last season, Detroit shooters compiled an 11-for-51 line, operating at a 21.6-percent clip, which isn’t much better than the results so far this season, but the team still finished with a better 5-9 shootout record. Tatar was 3-for-9 in 2013-14, while Patrick Eaves, now with Dallas, scored twice in three attempts in a Red Wings sweater.

Despite these shootout losses, it’s not all bad news. The fact that the Red Wings have arrived there in games means they are still gathering invaluable points. In fact, Detroit has shot up the Eastern Conference standings to sit amongst the top with the likes of Tampa Bay, Montreal and Pittsburgh.

“Getting points is good when you can get them,” Zetterberg said. “One point is better than no point.

“You come that far, you want to get two points, but (we) can’t find a way to get through a shootout.”