On the Red Wings awful penalty kill and how it's now helping kill them at even strength

Some thoughts after watching the Red Wings lose 5-4 in overtime to the Canucks on Sunday.

I was originally going to write something today about Cam Talbot and his potential selection for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

But then Talbot went and got hurt during the Detroit Red Wings 5-4 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks. That story will still likely run tomorrow here at Shap Shots, but it felt a bit disingenuous to publish that one with some injury uncertainty in the air for the goaltender (after the game Detroit coach Derek Lalonde had no real update other than the fact the goalie tweaked something in the lower body.)

Talbot left the game and the Red Wings eventually lost in a season that’s felt a bit like Murphy’s Law for the franchise. Everything that can go wrong eventually will go wrong seems to be a theme, especially when it comes to Red Wings penalty kill, which statistically is the worst in NHL history at this moment.

On Sunday the Red Wings allowed two power play goals in quick succession to start the second period, one a 5-on-3 and one at 5-on-4, which effectively zapped away the momentum.

Before we get into the extended impact, I wanted to take a quick look at why opponents kill Detroit on the penalty kill.

When opponents score against Detroit on the power play, they typically do so off retrievals in the slot. It’s why the Red Wings goals against on the penalty kill, coming into today, looked like this according to InStat.

It’s not that the Red Wings are getting burned on picturesque setups or one-timers, although those do happen some times, it’s that other teams are simply winning the battle in the middle of the Red Wings penalty-killing box and from that chaos they capitalize.

Lalonde heavily preaches structure and playing smart defensively, and the Red Wings structure on the penalty kill actually isn’t horrible, it’s just that they are terrible as a group at moving bodies and making the net-front presence for the other team move. The Red Wings are also so focused on fronting shot on the penalty kill that they effectively concede the are right in front of their goalie to the opponent.

For a quick example, here are some recent goals against where Detroit effectively gives up the net front on the penalty kill.

As I alluded to earlier, that penalty killing inefficiency isn’t just burning Detroit on the scoreboard, it’s trickling over to the 5-on-5 play both before and a call is made against the Red Wings.

This part is admittedly more anecdotal than analytical, but watching the Red Wings you can see how much they’ve become scared of what happens when a man enters the box. Recently it feels like a foregone conclusion any penalty will result in a goal, and it’s hard for players to be completely immune to that emotional toll.

It’s also added to the overall passiveness in Detroit at even strength, something Lalonde slightly admitted to on Sunday, where a fear of taking penalties has led to less risk and aggression at times at even strength.

This happens in multiple forms, in my view, and it tends to have more of an impact in areas the Red Wings are already struggling, like puck retrievals where the Red Wings are already far from a poster child when it comes to getting the puck back.

It’s something I thought about a bit watching Detroit and Vancouver on Sunday, particularly watching Michael Rasmussen’s play. Rasmussen is a different animal on the power play, he wins battles and retrieves pucks well, like he did on his own power play goal.

But at even strength, while it’s gotten better recently, Rasmussen is a less intense puck hunter, and despite his size, loses some battles and retrievals. Maybe I’m reading too far into it, but if players are overly concerned about taking penalties that likely seeps into the mindset.

Again most of this is anecdotal, but it’s a theory I could help but think about watching Detroit play on Sunday. When everyone in the building, from the fans to the media and players, feel like any penalty is just a goal waiting to happen it’s impossible for it not to impact everything else.