Fans of the Detroit Red Wings have not had easy time supporting their team over the last few years. They haven’t qualified for the postseason since the 2015-16 campaign and rebuilding the squad hasn’t exactly gone according to plan. On Tuesday, supporters showed that they have had enough after witnessing their team get embarrassed on home ice at Little Caesars Arena by one of the worst teams in the entire league, the Arizona Coyotes.
Fans began to boo the Red Wings throughout the second period as Arizona dominated and one fan even threw a jersey on the ice in the third period. The final score was 9-2.
“I can’t blame them,” Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill said following the game, via mlive.com. “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. Now, too many times here in the last little bit, we haven’t given that type of effort. They want better than that. I’ve said this lots – when you work and you compete, Detroiters will back you for sure. If you go out and play like that, hard to blame them at all.”
The loss was the Red Wings’ third in a row, aggravating fans even more.
“I’m concerned about all of us,” Blashill continued. “I think everybody’s got to look in the mirror and has to be better – the players, the coaches, everybody. … We got to defend better, we got to be way harder. We got to be way harder to play against. Everyone’s got to do a better job.”
Even the players understood the fans’ frustrations with their inability to get the job done on the ice, even if they didn’t like seeing a jersey being thrown.
“It’s frustrating,” said team captain Dylan Larkin, via mlive.com. “You don’t want to hear that. That performance tonight was worthy of the boos. 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 Red Wings currently find themselves chasing a Wild Card spot but remain 18 points back of the Washington Capitals in the final playoff position. Fans have been patient with the rebuild, but what they saw on Tuesday evening from their side was simply unacceptable. Even in defeat, a team should never give up the way that Detroit seemed to do in the second period.
The Red Wings clearly have issues defensively that need to be worked out sooner than later if they are to avoid another humiliating loss like Tuesday’s.
“The puck’s just going in the net,” Larkin said. “There’s not much communication and that’s on us, the five guys on the ice. The puck just kept going in the net. We can’t have that happen.
“We just have to come out and play way better than that and win battles, win battles in front of our net and look like we want to be out there.”
It’ll be worth keeping an eye on how the Red Wings’ respond, but fans of the team seem so upset that they may not even care to watch at this point.
“We made a lot of poor, poor, poor decisions,” said Blashill. “If you want to have success at the highest level, you got to be mentally tough. Our mental toughness is getting tested. We better figure it out fast. Nobody gives you that mental toughness, nobody gives you that confidence. You got to go earn it as a group.”
