They used to throw octopuses around here. Now and then, they still throw hats. After the Coyotes' ninth and final goal Monday night at Little Caesars Area, a disgusted fan hurled a Red Wings jersey onto the ice. A referee skated over, picked it up and dumped it in the penalty box. A few minutes later, the Wings called it a night to a chorus of boos.
This wasn't a lifeless loss, like the one last Saturday to the Panthers. This wasn't a 'fool's gold' loss, like the one last month to the Maple Leafs. This loss, a 9-2 shellacking at the hands of the worst team in the NHL when the game began, was just embarrassing. More embarrassing than any loss the Wings have suffered in the last decade, and maybe the last 30 seasons.
"I guess I'd say, where do we begin?" said Jeff Blashill.
Sitting at the same table where he lamented that limp performance against the Leafs 10 days ago, which came on the heels of a lousy practice, Blashill said he didn't see this one coming. He thought the Wings practiced hard on Monday and would be ready to work Tuesday night. He thought they had their "heads in the right spot." They didn't.
"We got skated all over the ice," said Blashill.
The Coyotes scored a minute into the game. They led 3-1 after the first and 7-2 after the second, forcing Blashill to pull Alex Nedeljkovic for Thomas Greiss, and then Greiss for Nedeljkovic ... for the second time in the past five games. That rarely happens once in a season. But things are starting to spiral for the Wings, who have been spiraling defensively all year. The Coyotes are the sixth team to set or match their season-high in goals against Detroit, and the third in the last three weeks. Arizona entered the game with the fewest goals in the league.
So they booed. They booed the Wings off the ice at the end of the second and again at the end of the game. They've been booing here rather often recently, which is a bummer for a building that roars at its best -- and a stark contrast from the beginning of the season when the Wings started 11-3-2 at home. They're 5-9-1 since. Their effort has lagged of late, and they still lack the skill to make up for it.
"That performance tonight was worthy of boos and frustration," said captain Dylan Larkin. "I don’t agree with someone throwing their jersey on the ice, but we show up like that at home we’re going to get booed. The fans understand where we’re at and where we’re at in the season. We have to come out and play way better than that, win battles and look like we want to be out there."
At some point, you have to wonder about Blashill. The Wings have generally played hard this season, but that’s twice now in the last five games -- three times if you count last Saturday in Florida -- that Blashill has condemned their effort, their very willingness to compete. At home, no less. And what does that say about their coach? Blashill called a timeout after the Coyotes made it 6-1 early in the second, where Larkin said he was "challenging us" to "win battles" and "trying to light a fire."
"And it just wasn’t there," Larkin said.
So they booed.
"I can’t blame them," said Blashill. "I thought through the first part of the year we had a ton of nights where we gave the type of effort that Detroiters would be proud of. And now too many times here in the last little bit, we haven’t given that type of effort, and they want better than that. I’ve said this lots: when you work and you compete, Detroiters will back you for sure. And if you go out and play like that, hard to blame them at all."
It's one thing to wilt against the Panthers a night after losing to the Lightning, two of the top three teams in the East. And it's another thing to get swamped by one of the most talented teams in the league in the Leafs, even at home. But it's something else entirely to cave against the Coyotes, who came into Detroit with the worst points percentage (.327) of any NHL team in the past five seasons other than the 2019-20 Red Wings.
"We just weren’t mentally ready to compete at the level that we had to compete at, and they were," said Blashill. "They dominated us."
It's been a long time since the Wings had a loss that reeked like this. There was an 8-1 home defeat to the Canadiens in 2018-19, but at least Montreal finished with 96 points. There was a 10-1 drubbing by the Canadiens in 2017-18, but at least it was on the road. At least Montreal wasn't the worst team in the league. All things considered, Tuesday was arguably the Red Wings' most embarrassing loss since 2010-11 when a proud division winner headlined by Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Zetterberg fell 10-3 at home to the sub-.500 Blues.
If you'd argue Tuesday was worse, you'd have to go back to 1993-94 when another division winner, this one headlined by Lidstrom, Yzerman and Fedorov, took a 10-3 road whipping against a Kings team that finished fifth last in the NHL. And if you're still not convinced, the 1970-71 Red Wings lost 13-0 in Toronto. That we're picking at these scabs is proof that Tuesday's loss cuts deep.
Asked if it was a matter of effort or execution, Larkin sighed and said, "Both, equally, and pretty extreme. We can’t play like that."
No, they can't. Forget doing right by the fans. The Wings can't play like that if they want to win games, which in turns keep the fans happy. They don't have the talent to snooze through shifts and periods, much less entire games, and wake up with two points. For the last several seasons, Blashill has asked the the Wings to overcome a rather ordinary roster with what he likes to call "extraordinary effort and sacrifice." At times, especially early this season, they have.
But late in Blashill's seventh season behind Detroit's bench, the effort is stating to wane. Which makes you wonder is his words are falling on deaf ears. Which makes you wonder, again, if it's time for a change.
"When we’ve had a good stretch, our work and our compete have been off the charts," he said. "And they’ve been very, very pedestrian, if not worse, here at certain times. So we have to decide as individuals how much we want to dig in and how much we’re going to care about keeping (the puck) out of our net."
The guys in goal aren't guiltless here. Blashill has also stressed Detroit's need for elite goaltending, and neither Nedeljkovic nor Greiss has been up to the task. Nedeljkovic, after a strong first two months, has a save percentage of .860 in his last 13 games. Greiss, in his last 13 games, is at .869. Larkin said it's "on the five guys on the ice" to defend better, but didn't pay the goalies much pity when asked if he feels poorly for the way the team has played in front of them.
"I don’t know how to answer that," he said. "It’s pro sports. We just got beat really bad at home. We play again in two days. If we feel sorry for ourselves, it’s just going to keep happening."
It can't keep happening, not like this. The Wings have lost six of eight, while allowing over five goals a game. Worse, they've let their intensity slip. Their focus has slipped with it. They're being booed at LCA for what feels like the first time in the rebuild, because they can't be bothered to compete. The jersey that landed on the ice Tuesday night felt like the vomit of a fanbase. Blashill and the Wings better clean this up.
"Otherwise," said Larkin, "these last two months are going to be miserable."