Detroit —Through their 6-8 cold stretch in March, as they fell back in the standings and watched as first the Lightning and then the Penguins and Flyers accelerate by them, much was said by the Red Wings players and Jeff Blashill about a lack of intensity, a missing sense of urgency.
It can be an issue of chicken and egg. A team not playing well is less urgent, generates intensity.
Sometimes, talent drives the psychology.
A player who takes the ice psyched up, intent on success, is sometimes less than determined when experiencing repeated slow exits from the defensive zone and poor entries in the offensive zone that continually muck up the offense, or structural breakdowns on defense that produce too many goals, too often with the game on the line.