Just a thought on the abysmal Red Wings' shoot out record.

THE DETROIT RED WINGS COULD BE THE BEST TEAM IN THE NHL!!!

It is the thorn in the flesh...the Achilles heel...the turd in the punch bowl...

The shoot out! The shrunken heads of Jivaro, the Nazca lines, and the offensively talented Detroit Red Wings' shoot out drought!  None are easily explained phenomena....

Among the legend of mysterious the phenomenon, the grainy photos of this particular Nessie include: head shaking realizations that a goalie with a regulation .922 save percentage (and a massive Lundqvist-esque contract) tragically devolves into a flaming Icarus of a goalie in shootouts plummeting to a .267 save percentage which is  THE VERY WORST SHOOTOUT RANKING IN THE NHL!!!.

Miraculously the "Elite-Elite" forward (as per Babcock) scorers Datsyuk and Zetterberg barely scrape the top stats Datsyuk is 2 of 5 (22nd) and Nyquist is 1 of 7 (36th) and infuriatingly the seemingly repaired bearded obersturmbahnfuhrer Zetterberg has yet to score in a shootout.  It's as if the world-class stars of the Wings have become sloppy beer league snipers when the first 5 of OT expires

This is not a story of pointedly exposing institutional ignorance.  It is truly a Leonard Nimoy level anomaly as baffling to Red Wing coaches (who hold "daily meetings" regarding shootouts according to one Wing) and players as it is to the fans.  Unfortunately as a fan seeing an overtime end is like seeing the Wings down by 3 goals in the 3rd.  There is a vague and foggy yearning for a win but....
our rational Detroit minds tell us that we should count on a loss... then there is the inevitable post-mortem...We feel like the semi-deluded parents of a gifted child who flunks only civics... "Why not put backup goalie Petr Mrazek in for OT and the shootout."... " Howard obviously has a mental block with shootouts.  He is slow, out of position, and obviously tense during the silly session."  "Where is our right-shooting defenceman?"  As nit-picking as we may feel with an over-achieving team.  As a fan we feel the need to iron out the wrinkles and lest us forget the implications...

This is crucial considering that the Wings would have 48 points in 32 games if they had won merely 50% of lost shootouts.  That would place the "Winged Wheel" 2 points ahead of the East leading Pittsburgh Penguins and tied with the Anaheim Ducks for the top record in the league (with a game in hand).  Just a thought.


Murph