Detroit Red Wings Get Burned Out Through Canadian Road Trip

Detroit came in starting strong beating the Montreal Canadians 4-2, but it’s been downhill since. The Red Wings would close out the road trip losing to Toronto 5-2, Vancouver 5-1, Calgary 5-1 and Edmonton 2-1.

10/15: Detroit vs Vancouver

The Red Wings road trip started off with them traveling to Vancouver, on Tuesday, to square off against the Vancouver Canucks . This was another disappointing contest for Detroit as they lost 5-1.

Dylan Larkin, an NHL superstar, scored the lone goal for Detroit within the first 30 seconds of the game. The Red Wings looked like they were going to bounce back from a brutal beating by Toronto, but to no avail. 

The Canucks would go on to score five straight goals while holding Detroit to none for the rest of the contest. Jonathan Bernier, the goaltender in the net for Detroit would go on to save 27 shots out of  the 32 that he faced.

Detroit was outshot 32-27 against the Canucks on the night. 

Canucks goaltender Thatcher Demko posed a real problem for the Wings offense. The young star and having a strong start to his 2019-2020 campaign. He has won his first two starts of the year and has a 1.92 goals against average.

10/17: Detroit vs Calgary

Detroit had another huge loss to the Calgary Flames on Thursday 

Jimmy Howard was in the net for the Red Wings and allowed five goals stopping 31 of 36 shots. While the Flames goaltender David Rittich was basically a brick wall stopping 27 of Detroit’s 28 shots.

Darren Helm took a five minute major for slashing and was fined $5,000 for the penalty.

The Red Wings fought hard for the first two periods only trailing 2-1, but let the third get away from them surrendering three goals to the Flames losing 5-1.

10/18: Detroit vs Edmonton

These two teams put a fight Friday night, as it was a close contest all three periods.

There was no action in the first period, but the second was a different story. The Oilers took a 2-0 lead on Detroit at one point and it looked like to be another long night for the Red Wings. However, Mike Green, who scored the only goal against Calgary, scored another lone goal against Edmonton.

Bernier would have one of his better performances so far this season saving 35 of the 37 shots he faced on the night.

There would be no offense in the third and Detroit would go on to lose 2-1. 

Takeaways from the Road Trip

Red Wings have a young squad that has a lot of energy and play well when they work collectively as a unit, but they do need to hold off on the useless mistakes. They currently stand 12th in the NHL in penalty minutes with a total 75. Detroit ranks 26th in the NHL in penalty kill percentage. If Detroit wants to be in games going forward, that must be one of the things they fix.

Goaltending should be #1 on the Red Wings List

Detroit’s goaltending has not been stout as of late, Bernier and Howard have not been the answer. The Red Wings must find some new goaltending candidates either via trade or their farm system or hope that Bernier can improve on his play as the season progresses.

Jimmy Howard is almost not a viable option anymore as his best days are far behind him. Howard is currently 35 years old and has already suffered multiple groin injuries on top of a few others that have halted his production.

So far in this season, Howard has started in four games this year and has posted a record of 1-3 with a goals against average of 3.81. 

Johnathan Bernier had started in four games while posting a 2-2 record and having a goals against average of 3.03 this season. 

Defense Has to Improve

The Red Wings defensemen will also need to offer a little more help to the goaltenders, this four-game skid can’t entirely be put on Bernier and Howard. The defense needs to do a better job of blocking shots and keeping it out of their zone to prevent their opponents from getting multiple shot opportunities.

There was very little positive to come out of this past week with the multiple heart-wrenching losses. However, the one thing that can be said is this youthful, largely inexperienced Red Wing team did face off against Canadian powerhouses and had some spurts of positivity.

So far, through eight games, the Red Wings stand in 7th place in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference with a record of 3-5 totaling six points. 

Detroit will be coming back home from a disappointing road trip and will be looking for some redemption as they host the Canucks.

Detroit Red Wings Upcoming Games Week of 10/21

*Game times are Eastern Standard Time

10/22: vs Vancouver 7:30 p.m.
10/23: @ Ottawa 7:30 p.m.
10/25: vs Buffalo 7:30 p.m.
10/27: vs St. Louis 5:00 p.m.

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