If this was any sort of measuring stick this weekend, playing against two tough, playoff-caliber teams, the Red Wings still look a bit short of that benchmark.
Saturday it was the Nashville Predators who withstood a good Wings road game, and defeated the Red Wings, 4-1, at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.
The Wings (18-18-6) earned one out of four possible points, having lost Friday in overtime to Dallas.
The Wings struggled to generate offense. They were scoreless on four power-play attempts, and Adam Erne supplied the only goal.
Erne ended a 20-game goalless drought, scoring on a breakaway coming out of the penalty box at 18:51 of the second period. Tyler Bertuzzi found Erne alone ahead of the field, and Erne buried his fourth goal past goaltender Juuse Saros.
It was a big goal, cutting Nashville's lead to 2-1, after the Predators completely changed the complexion of a game. Nick Cousins (power play) and Matt Duchene gave Nashville a 2-0 lead with goals 1:35 apart, quickly stinging the Wings.
But Nashville regained the two-goal lead when Filip Forsberg scored his 20th goal, putting in a backhand rebound, at 10:44 of the third period.
Goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 22 shots for the Wings, while Saros made 28 saves.
Cousins scored his sixth at 12:46, on a broken play, whirling in the slot and beating Nedeljkovic, who was screened.
Duchene made it 2-0 with his 17th, at 14:21, converting a nice give-and-go passing play with Forsberg, and capped the scoring with his 19th goal into an empty net at 18:12 of the third period.
The Wings had a four-minute power play on a Duchene high-sticking call on Filip Hronek at 17:15 in the first period. But the Wings mustered little threat despite the man advantage, and gave away any momentum they had.
Nashville has won six consecutive games against the Wings, and completed the two-game season sweep.
