The Detroit Red Wings' shots per game average puts them near the top of the NHL standings − but the fact so few have landed in opposing nets puts them closer to the bottom.
The Wings begin a second homestand on Tuesday, Oct. 13, when they host the New Jersey Devils (6 p.m, ESPN) at Little Caesars Arena, on what is the second of back-to-back games for the Eastern Conference rivals. The Wings are just 1-3-1 on the season, clawing a point from an appearance in Montreal against the Canadiens.
The Wings had 30 shots in the 1-0 loss in Montreal, a trend of reaching at least 30 shots in four straight games, for an overall average of 32.8 shots over five games that ranks third in the league. But with only 10 goals, their 2-goal average ranks 29th.
"I believe
in volume shooting, but I also believe in scoring," coach Todd McLellan said after Monday's practice. "At some point, the volume shooting has to turn into goals. With the shots that we're taking, especially from the blue line, I still think we can do a better job of getting through the goaltenders' eyes. There's times where we're off on the side a little too much.
"When we shot the puck and got it back, then we broke some teams down. It allows us to play a little more time in the offensive zone. But at the end of the day, you have to get rewarded for the shots, and we need to score a little bit more. There's no doubt about it."
Of those 10 goals, Viktor Arvidsson has three and Alex DeBrincat two. Lucas Raymond has four assists but is still looking for his first goal of the season. (He and Justin Faulk didn't practice Monday as they had maintenance days, per McLellan, and are fine to play Tuesday.) Raymond, DeBrincat, Arvidsson, Dylan Larkin, Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Nate Danielson all came up with goose eggs in the shootout in Montreal.
"[Raymond]'s not going to go a whole season without scoring," McLellan said. "Andrew Copp had a breakaway in Montreal. They're going to have to score. We're typically – or have been in the past – a pretty good shootout team, with guys that have fairly good numbers, and we didn't come close to scoring the other day. So hopefully that changes, as well."
Multiple of the Wings' goals have come around the net, so it's not for lack of personnel down low or willingness to pounce on rebounds.
"I think we're doing some good things there," DeBrincat said. "I think we're getting pucks back. We're putting them on net and getting some O-zone time out of it. Some more traffic might change some stuff, and it might go in, but overall, I think we're doing a good job there. We have one guy at the net for the most part. We've just got to find a way to put it in."
The Wings have won just once in four home games, blowing a chance to build on their only victory by self-destructing in the second period against the Seattle Kraken. Now they start a three-game homestand that also brings to town the Philadelphia Flyers (Thursday) and San Jose Sharks (Saturday).
"You need to get as many wins on home ice as possible," DeBrincat. "We haven't done that so far, so to start off tomorrow with a win would be huge, and kind of build off of that. We haven't necessarily been playing bad, it just hasn't been going for us, so we've got to stick with the process and the wins will come."
Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings are shooting plenty, they just aren't scoring. What can they do to fix that?
