Despite strong ‘process,’ Wings fall 4-1 to Blue Jackets
By @StefanKubus –
DETROIT – Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill always harps on improving his team’s “process,” day-by-day.
The Red Wings dropped a 4-1 decision to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets extended their current win streak to five games and are 10-1-2 in their last 13 games. Cam Atkinson, Brandon Dubinsky, Lukas Sedlak and Sam Gagner scored for Columbus, while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 32 of 33 shots in the win. Petr Mrazek allowed three goals on 17 shots, while Jimmy Howard stopped all seven shots he faced in relief.
Although his team didn’t get the win in Friday night’s battle with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Blashill said he was pleased with the effort.
“I talk tons about process, and I thought from a process standpoint, we did tons of things really good,” Blashill said. “It was unfortunate the way the final result was, but if we play like that over a long period of time, we’re gonna get lots of results over and over again. We’ve just got to continue to repeat that type of performance.”
The Blue Jackets improved to 10-1-2 in their last 13 games, extending their current win streak to five games.
“They don’t beat themselves,” Wings forward Steve Ott said of Columbus. “(Head coach John) Tortorella’s got them playing extremely tight. They’re not making mistakes on the lines, they’re getting pucks in every single time, they’re on top of guys and they’re very well structured right now. And when you’re playing that, it makes for a tight game.”
The Red Wings captain said that on a night where their myriad of chances were not good enough, you have to tip your hat to Bobrovsky and the Blue Jackets’ defensive game – the team blocked 20 shots on the game.
“I tip my hat to him and everyone that’s blocking shots in front of him,” Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said.
Atkinson opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 3:08 of the first period. Atkinson broke down the left wing on a 2-on-1 and ripped a short off the short-side post and in. The tally marked Detroit’s third shorthanded goal allowed this year through 28 games after giving up four all of last season.
At 4:46 into the middle frame and with good friend Werenski in the box, Larkin tied the game on the power play, his team-leading ninth of the season.
But at 10:34 of the period, an uncovered Dubinsky gave the Blue Jackets the lead once again, burying a rebound point blank in front of Mrazek. The goal was the result of a bizarre play, as two Wings were tangled with a Blue Jackets player in the corner. Meanwhile, Mrazek dove out of his crease to cover the puck, which is eligible for a delay-of-game minor penalty. Dubinsky was right there to clean up the rebound.
“When that puck goes out that far, you can’t cover the puck,” Blashill said. “There’s a little gray area in the rule, but because it’s not in the sphere and it bounces further away then, then you’re trying to play it and not cover an immediate rebound, so that’s the way it goes. They were telling him to play it, he played it, and it ended up in our net.
After Sedlak scored his first NHL goal on a rebound with 6:30 left in the period to give Columbus a 3-1 lead, Mrazek was pulled in favor of Howard for his first taste of action in return from injury. Blashill said it was Mrazek’s inability to hang onto the puck that led to him riding the bench the rest of the way out.
“I think those rebounds, the second and third goals, out of his glove there, are ones he’s gonna want to hold onto for sure,” Blashill said. “It just creates chaos and both of them ended up in our net, so it was unfortunate that way. So he’s got to do a better job holding onto those pucks. It was two incidents and they ended up costing us.”
For Howard, he said it was a good chance to shake off the rust.
“It felt good,” Howard said. “It’s important to get out there when you can and get the minutes.”
Entering Friday night, Columbus held a 10-0-2 mark and Detroit a 0-6-0 record after two periods this season.
And in the third period, Bobrovsky and the Blue Jackets managed to keep that trend going, locking things down in their own zone and keeping Detroit off the board the rest of the way out and with limited chances in the process.
Gagner added an empty netter to seal the victory at 4-1 for Columbus.
The Wings welcome the red-hot Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday. The Flyers have won seven in a row and have yet to lose a game in December.
“I thought overall, from a process standpoint, we did lots of good stuff,” Blashill said. “But now, it doesn’t matter if you don’t repeat that on Sunday. You’ve gotta repeat it over and over and over again. I’m not saying we haven’t done that, but we’ve got to continue to do that.
Notes: Grosse Pointe native, Belle Tire alum and University of Michigan alum Zach Werenski played his first pro game at Joe Louis Arena Friday night (17:12 TOI, two SOG, three hits, two blocked shots) … Andreas Athanasiou (14:21 TOI, one SOG, one blocked shot), Alexey Marchenko (11:44 TOI) and Howard (seven saves) all returned from injury in Friday night’s game.