Derek Lalonde rips defensive play of Detroit Red Wings ahead of matchup vs. Flyers
The Detroit Red Wings may have earned two points against the Buffalo Sabres, but it took three separate comeback efforts thanks to more sloppy defensive play.
The Red Wings defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-4 in a shootout on Monday night, but they still found themselves trailing early and often throughout the game.
Despite trailing 5-3 in the 3rd period, Andrew Copp (2nd goal of the game) and Moritz Seider scored to send the game to overtime; Lucas Raymond and Dylan Larkin scored in the skills competition, while Sebastian Cossa stopped two of three Sabres shots to pick up his 1st NHL win.
But the Red Wings were once again guilty of their poor defensive habits against the Sabres, something coach Derek Lalonde called out ahead of tonight's game against the Flyers (7:00 PM, FanDuel Sports Detroit, 97.1 The Ticket.)
But as he often does, Lalonde also discussed Detroit's "underlying numbers" in addition to the results that most fans not overly interested in analytics look toward first.
I do like the fact that we got some offense in that game, but we're just trying to put it together. I met with our underlying numbers team, and we just got through a segment in which [in] eight of the 10 [games], our expected goals were better than our opponent. You can take those.
Not only has Detroit's defense struggled, but so has their offense and PK
In addition to Detroit's defensive deficiencies, the Red Wings also are struggling on the offensive side of the puck.
For much of the year, they were the NHL's worst team in producing 5v5 offensive chances and goals, while their penalty killing was also ranked not only dead last but have gone down as the worst in NHL history if the year ended earlier in the month.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 12 | 117 ANSWERS Derek Lalonde rips defensive play of Detroit Red Wings ahead of matchup vs. Flyers Which area of the game do the Detroit Red Wings need to clean up more? | ||
| 5v5 play | 37 | 31.6 % |
| Defensive play | 63 | 53.8 % |
| Penalty killing | 17 | 14.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
