Just when you think the Wings can’t possibly put on another worse performance, they find a way. This one actually maybe wasn’t so bad in terms of actual play relative to the other sucky games this season (though the effort did suck). It’s the timing that really brings this one down. The Wings are in a month where they need to be fighting every night. They simply cannot afford any more efforts like that.
Whatever “it” is, they need to turn it on now or they’ll be playing golf in April. That’s next month, Wings. Do you understand that? Or are you too blinded by your powder puff self-reassurances that “we just need to keep plugging away” and “we like what we’re doing, the puck’s just not going into the net” and the rest of that crap that you don’t comprehend the urgency of your situation? I see glimmers of understanding in some post-game quotes, but where’s the action?
I always knew the Wings’ playoff run would end someday. That the talent would not always be there, that personnel someday might just not have the ability to take the team there. But this is not that year. What we’re seeing out of this team since the New Year is inexcusable. Heck, even before that, it was inexcusable. It’s one thing to lose because you just don’t have the firepower. It’s entirely another to lose because you don’t work hard enough. That’s been the case in 90% of these losses. Very few teams have the firepower to really outgun the Wings, even when they’re not healthy as they are now. The Canucks certainly do not.
The level of effort last night is inexcusable from everyone, from the net out to the forwards. Individual players had individual efforts that were nice and I appreciate that. But it’s not enough. I accept the potential for a reality that will see an under-talented Detroit team flame out against everybody, but with this team, a team that has names like Lidstrom, Rafalski, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Kronwall, Stuart and Franzen on it among a number of other guys well above “scrub” level, 6-3 losses to anyone, let alone a team like Vancouver, are unacceptable in the heat of a playoff race.
Don’t take this to mean I’m giving up on playoff hopes. I’m not. I still expect it. Because this team is capable of it. And I’m holding them to that standard, in whatever ineffectual way I can as a fan. But it’s not a happy hope. It’s a grim “you better freaking do it” kind of hope.
Stop with the excuses and the platitudes, Wings. Get the job done.
28 out of 30 necessary points. Put it on the board.
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