Blashill: Red Wings depending too much on top line

Five games is a small sample size, but a large enough one that Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill spent time talking to the players about areas that need to improve.

Entering today, the Red Wings rank last in the NHL in shots per game (21.4). They’re allowing 33.4 shots per game, third-highest in the league.

“We won’t have long-term success if those stats stay the same,” Blashill said after this afternoon's practice at Joe Louis Arena. “I think our job as a coaching staff is to try to help figure out what we can work on to make sure that doesn’t happen.

“I think we have to get the puck out of our end better. There’s multiple facets to that. One, we can’t turn pucks over. Two, we need to have better support. That helps eliminate turnovers. Three, we gotta win some wall battles. And then the other areas, we’ve gotta have the puck more in the offensive zone. For me, that’s more pressure on the forecheck and then being heavier or stronger on the puck.”

The Wings are winning 46.5% of their faceoffs.

“That’s another area that has to improve,” Blashill said. “Our faceoff numbers aren’t good enough. I don’t think that always just falls on the centers though. I think that’s a team stat. I think we want to have a line of scrimmage mentality. That’s an area we gotta get better at for sure.”

Dylan Larkin is brightest element in Wings' start

The Wings have depended too much on the top line. Captain Henrik Zetterberg entered today tied for the NHL scoring lead with nine points (two goals, seven assists) and linemate Dylan Larkin was tied for second among rookies with six points (two goals, four assists).

“We need more out of more lines,” said Blashill, who juggled the lines in practice.

Tomas Tatar, who has five shots, played with Riley Sheahan and Gustav Nyquist. Darren Helm was playing with Brad Richards and Teemu Pulkkinen.

“For whatever reason, they haven’t had the puck enough,” Blashill said of Tatar and Richards, who each have no goals and two assists. “They just haven’t felt like they’ve had the puck enough in the o-zone, which then as a result you just don’t get a lot of opportunities. They’ve ended up chasing it a little bit, so that’s why we made a switch, just to see if there’s different chemistry we can find. I think both guys have tried hard. But I think, for whatever reason, it just hasn’t been a case where they’ve had the puck enough to make much happen.”

Richards, 35, said the mentality has to change to get more shots.

“We have to have the puck more,” Richards said. “You can’t get shots when you don’t have the puck.”

Blashill said the Wings have to break the puck out better.

“We’re spending 45 seconds more per game in our D-zone than in the O-zone, and that’s even strength,” Blashill said. “That’s actually not ridiculously high, but it’s high enough….In three of the five games, it’s been the three-minute and four-minute range where we spend more in our D-zone than our O-zone. That to me is the concern.”

Contact George Sipple: gsipple@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgesipple.

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