Detroit Red Wings: Weekly report wrapping up week 3

Welcome to my third 2023-24 regular season Detroit Red Wings weekly review. The Red Wings played three games, going 1-2 for the week.

The week started with a tough loss to the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins by a final score of 4-1.

Detroit then rebounded with a 4-3 overtime win against the New York Islanders but ended the week with a 2-0 loss against the Florida Panthers at Little Caesars Arena.

The Detroit Red Wings have a lot of work to do if they are going to be good.

Positives

Defensemen Moritz Seider and Jake Walman along with forwards Lucas Raymond, Daniel Sprong, and  J.T. Compher were the top points producers with two points each.

Walman is starting to heat up offensively, Raymond is finding his groove again, Compher is providing offense from the middle-six, Sprong continues his solid play, and Seider is heating up again.

While the big stars struggled offensively this past week, the depth pieces showed up and picked up the slack.

Joe Veleno continues his hot streak as he notched another goal, his fifth of the season. He now has five goals and one assist on the season for six points in 11 games and continues to develop under the system that head coach Derek Lalonde has implemented.

He is now second on the team in goals behind Alex DeBrincat who has nine. This season is going tremendously well for Veleno who was due to break out offensively.

While the Red Wings did not play well this week, they are still only three points out of first place in the Atlantic Division behind the Bruins. Detroit’s 6-4 record is still above what most had expected.

For the most part, they have been in every game. The hot start was good for Detroit and that is what has kept them afloat. They are still playing above expectations for this season despite their lows this week. This team is too talented to go 1-2 every week. It is just a bump in the road.

Negatives

Captain Dylan Larkin did not post a point this week, breaking his streak of eight straight games with a point. The offense struggled this week and so did Larkin.

Although he did have chances and was creative in the offensive zone, he did not find the score sheet. He will bounce back, like the Red Wings, and produce offense once again.

The losses against the Bruins and Panthers hurt. If the Detroit Red Wings want to compete for a playoff spot, they need to beat the teams in front of them. Boston is still a solid team after all of the departures and Florida is right there with Detroit.

Wins against both, or one of them, this week would have made a statement in the division. They play against both teams again down the road.

Consistency was not there this week for the Detroit Red Wings. The play was spotty and was not the same as in week 1 of the season but they need to regroup for week 4.

They are in a spot this season to grab a playoff spot so they cannot afford to have two losses in weeks where they have three games.

The talent is there to be this sloppy and disoriented after such a strong start. A solid 60 minutes from everyone in all three zones will get this team to where it wants to go but too many of these weeks will sink this team quickly. Regrouping back to focusing on the goal this week is the key to a rebound week ahead.

Weekly record: 1-2

Season record: 6-4-1