Two shots in the last period of a game – and only three combined all night from the top two offensive players on the team – isn't going to get the Detroit Red Wings very far.
They play their second game of the season on Sunday, Oct. 4 (1 p.m., Detroit SportsNet), hosting the Winnipeg Jets at Little Caesars Arena. The Wings are coming off a 2-0 loss in Friday's season opener, in which they didn't give up much – the first goal was during a New York Rangers power play, the second an empty-netter – but also laid bare why there was so much focus going into the 2026-27 season on how they would score.
That was true after an offseason with the departures of Patrick Kane and James van Riemsdyk, and took on extra emphasis as the Wings start the season without
forward Dylan Larkin (upper body) and defenseman Simon Edvinsson (restricted free agent). Marco Kasper (upper body) is also out against the Jets.
Shots Friday favored the Wings, 22-21, but that was because of 20 shots the first two periods.
"I think it's just being more direct," forward Alex DeBrincat said after Saturday's practice. "We're throwing too much stuff east-west. We've got to get to the goalie's pads and get to the net. I thought we did a good job of there for a little bit, but obviously not enough to get a goal. So we've got to be stronger in front of the net, get the rebounds and put pucks on net that are going to create rebounds too. I think that's a big thing."
DeBrincat, the team's leading scorer last season (41 goals, 85 points) had just one shot on net. Lucas Raymond (76 points last season) had two. Those two are on a line with Andrew Copp at least until Larkin becomes available, which could be as soon as Tuesday's game against the Ottawa Senators.
"Both me and Cat wanted more out of our game last night, especially offensively," Raymond said. "I thought we had a couple of good looks and a couple areas where we got to the net. But we've got to find ways to create more. Power play is a big part of that. We've got to execute better on the power play, be a bit more sharp there."
Coach Todd McLellan pointed to what a tight-checking game it was as part of the reason for the low shot total.
"It was a defensive-type game where they couldn't get the shot off," he said. "We have talked a lot about Razor and him needing to shoot more. We've talked about Cat and how he can shoot, but there's others too. And we've got to generate from all different areas with the shot. Sometimes you shoot for the team and not necessarily for yourself.
"Some of it is not going to the net, some of it's not getting the puck there. I thought we were in and around the paint a lot, I thought we got the pucks back when we shot it. The other team gets in the way sometimes. They checked very well down the stretch. Then there's the touch, there's the hockey sense of where the rebound is going to go, where should I place my stick? When should I arrive? You will all remember Jiri Hudler. Not a very big man, but pretty intelligent. He went to the net all the time. He was just smart enough to arrive on time and anticipate where rebounds were going to go. That's a real good scoring hockey sense, and we have to develop that with some of our players."
Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Where will Red Wings offense come from? It starts with ripping shots
