Detroit Red Wings come up empty on power play, stumble at Nashville, 4-1
For all the good the Detroit Red Wings did Saturday, their ineffective power play again undermined their hard work.
The Wings had six minutes with an extra skater during the first 22 minutes against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena and came away with nothing — and at the end of the night, they came away with no points, falling 4-1.
The Wings (18-18-6) are 5-12-3 on the road. They played well the first half, and Tyler Bertuzzi had a particularly noticeable night that included an assist and a fight.
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The Wings were finishing up a penalty kill when Bertuzzi spotted Adam Erne emerging from the box and fed him a pass across the ice, from his own blue line to Nashville's blue line. Erne carried the puck up the middle and fired blocker side on Juuse Saros, scoring for the first time in 21 games. That goal stemmed some of the momentum built by the Predators on two goals in 95 seconds.
Bertuzzi capped the second period fighting defenseman Matt Benning.
The Wings lost defenseman Gustav Lindstrom to injury during the second period.
The Wings at least looked cohesive on their fourth power play, five minutes into the third period, but a penalty by Michael Rasmussen cut it short before Bertuzzi was done serving his penalties from the previous period. But their inability to convert with the man advantage proved costly, again, when Filip Forsberg scored midway through the third period.
The Wings pulled Alex Nedeljkovic with 3:52 to gain an extra attacker; Matt Duchene took advantage to score his second goal of the game.
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That stings
FIlip Hronek had a hard first period. He drew an interference call on Yakov TrenIn at 8:39 of the first period. Topline winger Duchene left Hronek a bloodied mess after a battle, resulting in four minutes for high sticking for Duchene. Hronek was getting tended to on the bench when the power play began at 17:15, but managed to get out for a shift near the end. Hronek has struggled at times this season to thrive in his role as a second-pair defenseman, now that Moritz Seider is on the first pairing, but at his best Hronek gets in opponents' faces and makes smart plays with the puck.
That stung
The Wings had trouble with zone entries, couldn't get set up, and generally spent their first three power plays running around and not getting much done. Then came a penalty kill, at 10:51 of the second period, with Joe Veleno off for an illegal check to the head of Mattias Ekholm. The Predators got the job done, with five seconds to go in the penalty. Nick Cousins got the puck in the slot and fired a shot on net, taking advantage of Luke Kunin screening Nedeljkovic to score at 12:46. Duchene followed up with a goal at 14:21.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her book, The Big 50: The Detroit Red Wings is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings' power play stalls in 4-1 loss at Nashville
