The momentum of Friday's contest with the Flames swung permanently to the visitors during the first period, when the Wings had a goal called off.
Brad Stuart let a rocket go from the blue line, and it got through the traffic out front, and Calgary goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff. However, forward Dan Cleary was standing in the crease at the time of the goal, and he made contact with Kiprusoff. Because of that, the referees disallowed the goal, sending the Joe Louis Arena crowd into a frenzy. It was the right call, but it sure did cause problems for the Wings.
Darren Helm worked hard throughout the contest Friday night. The young forward continually tried to fire up his teammates by playing the body, as he recorded nine hits in 14:15 worth of ice-time. Helm had four shots on goal, and he had nine face-off wins. He was all over the ice, causing problems on the forecheck throughout.
Pavel Datsyuk isn't one to blame for the lack of goal-scoring. The Wings' dynamic forward put a team-high five shots on goal, but couldn't find a way to beat Kiprusoff. He also had a team-high 15 face-off wins.
The Wings have posted 40 shots on goal the last two games, and have failed to record a single goal. The last time the Wings were held scoreless in back-to-back games was 2001, at Vancouver and against Chicago.
Here's what assistant captain
Henrik Zetterberg had to say about the team's struggles offensively:
"We can always play a little bit better on everything, but when it's not going as you want offensively, you just have to stick to the things you are doing right. Shoot the puck, crash the net, be there for rebounds; when it comes, it comes, we just have to be more efficient when we get the chances."
According to the final stats sheets, the Wings had 18 shots that missed the net. That means 58 shot attempts went towards the Calgary goal, and the Wings weren't able to catch a break on any of them.
The Wings head to St. Louis for a game against the Blues on Saturday night.
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