Red Wings ready to respond to “wakeup call”

In what was being billed as a playoff-style game, the Detroit Red Wings got a bitter and physical taste of just how intense that style of hockey can be last night at the hands of their Atlantic Division rival Ottawa Senators. 

Despite enjoying a 2-1 lead midway through the game, Detroit's constant parade to the penalty box began to cost them in the form of several power play goals against. Meanwhile, the Senators punished Detroit physically, laying the body repeatedly on anything wearing a white sweater.

Needless to say, it was a letdown performance after they did everything right but light the lamp Saturday night in Detroit against Tampa Bay. And with points in the standings currently at a premium (especially with Ottawa now trailing Detroit by only a pair), the Red Wings know they absolutely must respond in tonight's rematch - both on the scoreboard and physically.

“They were coming,” captain Dylan Larkin said of Ottawa's physicality. “I would have liked to have seen us get our nose in there a little more. It’s all of us and they’ve got some big boys. It’s a wake-up call. We’ll be ready for tomorrow.”

“We let this one get away,” Larkin continued. “It was just clear as day. Taking penalties, giving their skill a little too much time and space. We didn’t execute enough. We took way too many penalties against a power play like that. There’s things to clean up for tomorrow when we play these guys again.”

While there were plenty of Red Wings fans across multiple social media platforms who expressed outrage and disdain with what seemed to be an extremely uneven performance from the on-ice officials on Monday night, the game doesn't pause to address those grievances. Detroit simply has to stop finding themselves shorthanded and battle through it if they have any intention on continuing their chase towards the postseason.

“We really gave ourselves no chance with six penalties,” explained head coach Derek Lalonde. “That team’s going to lose to nobody if they get six power plays. Beyond that, we gave them some easy offense, some odd-mans behind us, let their skill get in behind us, really didn’t give ourselves much of a chance, and that was winnable in some spots.”

Tonight's rematch will begin at 7:00 PM EST.