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Babcock: ‘We were as bad as we could be’

Mike Babcock

Detroit Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock shouts instructions to his players from the bench in the first period of an NHL hockey game with the Philadelphia Flyers, Friday, Sept. 23, 2011, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)

AP

Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg had the lone goal as the Red Wings fell 3-1 to the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night.

Detroit (6-3-3) entered Tuesday night’s action off a 3-2 shootout loss in Buffalo on Sunday night.

Post-game, Red Wings coach Mike Babcock didn’t hold back when giving his thoughts on the game.

“We saw urgency from [the Senators],” Babcock said per NHL.com. “I thought they played good and I thought we were as bad as we could be. I haven’t seen us like that this year. You don’t like to see many games like that. It’s disappointing obviously. Our preparation, the job we did as coaches and the focus we had for the game of taking care of the puck, we obviously didn’t get our message across and didn’t do a very good job of having our team ready.

“We didn’t play hard as a group. In the end, it’s real simple. You do good things, good things happen to you. We got exactly what we deserved here tonight.”

Erik Karlsson, Patrick Wiercioch and Clarke MacArthur had the goals for Ottawa (6-3-2). Craig Anderson made 32 saves helping the Senators improve to 3-0-2 on home ice this season.

Jimmy Howard 31 saves in the loss.

Ottawa out-shot Detroit 16-2 in the first period.

“We didn’t spend any time in their end. They were just in our end. Eventually it gets tiring, when you see that,” Zetterberg said. “They were really wearing on our D in the first period and that showed in the third.”

Senators defenseman Chris Phillips left the game in the third period with a lower body injury and did not return.

Following the game, Paul MacLean said Phillips injury was a day-to-day thing and the team would determine prior to Wednesday’s practice whether a player would be recalled.

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