As we head into the new year, the Detroit Red Wings are rounding into their usual form as one of the dominant teams in the league. It’s a pretty safe bet to buy Red Wings tickets if you want to see them win. Let’s take a closer look at to see how their January is going.
Coming Into January
There was a time at the beginning of the season when the veteran Red Wings were playing poorly and seemed to have a difficult time selling out of Detroit Red Wings tickets. It is rather amazing what a difference a few months can make. The Red Wings are not only winning again, they are charging towards a rather amazing record.
Home Winning Streak
As of January 16, 2012, the Red Wings have won and sold out of Red Wings tickets for an astounding 15 straight home games. This puts them only five games away from the record of 20 sent by the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins many decades ago. Buy your Red Wings tickets today for their next 5 home games to see if they can break the record. If they continue on their streak and win their next 5 home games, they would have won 25 percent of their entire season schedule during this streak. That is an amazing feat for any team.
January Games
The Red Wings are 5-2 for January going into their game against the Dallas Stars on January 17, 2012. The two losses have obviously come on the road. Let’s take a closer look at the games.
January 3: 5-4 win at Dallas
January 7: 4-3 loss at Toronto
January 8: 3-2 win at Chicago
January 10: 5-1 loss at the New York Islanders
January 12: 3-2 home win against Phoenix
January 14: 3-2 home win against Chicago
January 16: 5-0 home win against Buffalo
Positives
The Red Wings are obviously doing a lot of impressive things given their winning streak and the fact they are one point from the overall points lead in the league. Perhaps the most impressive thing is they’ve developed a consistently successful offense. If you have bought Red Wings tickets for a recent game, then you would know that every game is action packed. In January, they’ve averaged 3.28 goals a game, which is just above their season average of 3.2 goals a game and third best average in the league. A potent offense can take a team a long way in the NHL, which bodes well for the team come playoff time.
A second and equally positive development for the Red Wings in January has been their performance against top teams. They’ve beaten division rival Chicago Blackhawks both at home and on the road. The Blackhawks appear to be the strongest challengers for the division crown, so showing they can beat them both times is a very good precedent for the Red Wings to set. Make sure you there for the next time they play the Blackhawks, buy your Red Wings tickets today and save!
Negatives
If the Red Wings have one problem area, it is defending the power play. The team has consistently been amongst the worst ranked teams during the 2011-12 season and things have yet to improve. This is rather odd since the team has some of the best defensemen in Nikolas Lidstrom and Brad Stuart, top defensive forwards in Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg and a very solid goalie in Jimmy Howard. Some years, thing simply don’t come together on the special teams, but a bad power play defense can doom a team in the playoffs. Look for the coaching staff to really focus on this area as the team heads into the second half of the season. As a Red Wings tickets holder myself, it pains and worries me to watch when the Red Wings defend against power plays.
Moving Forward
The Red Wings start a short two game road trip with a game at the Dallas Stars on January 17, 2012 followed by a game at Phoenix on January 19th. Both games should sell out of Redwings tickets and be easy wins, but the real interest will be in whether the team can improve their power play defense.
