Trending: Offense dries up as Wings fall to Sharks, 5-3

DETROIT-- After Friday's 3-2 loss to Minnesota, the Red Wings were extremely disappointed with their effort, especially in the first period against a Wild team that was playing the second game of back-to-back contests.
It was apparent on Sunday afternoon that the Wings were not going to duplicate Friday's start against the San Jose Sharks, who were also playing the second game of back-to-back affairs.

Unfortunately, after the first period where the Red Wings outshot the Sharks, 15-5, and skated off with a 2-1 lead, Detroit reverted back to some old habits and dropped a 5-3 decision in front of a boisterous crowd at Little Caesars Arena.
In the last two periods, the Wings combined for eight total shots as the Sharks found their legs and methodically took control of the game.
Darren Helm, Gustav Nyquist and Mike Green found the back of the twine for the Wings.
Scoring for the Sharks were Tim Heed, Brent Burns and captain Joe Pavelski, who notched a natural hat trick, including power-play and empty-net goals.
Jonathan Bernier started his second consecutive game as the Red Wings starter while Jimmy Howard is still recovering from the flu. Bernier faced 36 shots, making 32 saves for an .889 save percentage.
Sharks backup Aaron Dell was in the San Jose net and won his eighth game of the season, making 20 saves on 23 shots.
With the loss, Detroit is 23-31-9 on the season, while the Sharks improved to 37-18-8.
Detroit will host the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday as it tries to salvage one game on its current five-game homestand. The Red Wings are 0-3-1 through the homestand's first four games.
San Jose will conclude its current four-game road trip on Tuesday in Boston as the Sharks take on the Bruins at TD Garden.
1. Justin Abdelkader: It has been a challenging season for Abdelkader, who came into the game with just five goals and 10 assists in 62 games. Abdelkader has played on every line, first to fourth, and on both the power play and penalty kill. He played most of the game on a line with Helm and Luke Glendening, sustaining pressure in the offensive zone with aggressive forechecking. Abdelkader got the primary assists on both Helm's and Green's goals, his first multi-point game of the season. The Michigan State alum finished with 17 shifts for 11:57, had one shot, two hits and was plus-2.
Quotable: "Yeah, it was fun being back playing with Helmer and Glennie. I think we're a line that keeps it simple. We got out and forechecked. We want to make it hard on opposing teams. I thought we had some chances there but obviously giving them four goals is tough in this league. It's tough to score that on a nightly basis. So we just gotta continue to dig in and make sure that our D zone is the best it can be." - Abdelkader
2. Darren Helm/Gustav Nyquist/Mike Green: Helm fired the puck from the left circle, beating Dell short-side at 3:46 of the first, tying the game, 1-1. Abdelkader and Mike Green assisted. Gustav Nyquist got his 16th goal of the season at 19:23 of the first, poking a rebound past Dell for a 2-1 Detroit lead. Dylan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi got the assists. Abdelkader found Green sliding into the right circle and Green fired a shot past Dell at 8:00 of the 2nd for a 3-1 Detroit lead on Green's fifth goal of the season. Anthony Mantha also assisted on the play. Green also assisted on the Wings' first goal of the game. Helm finished with 17 shifts for 13:21, had one shot, one giveaway, one blocked shot and was plus-1. Nyquist finished with 22 shifts for 20:14, had a season-high eight shots, two hits, two giveaways, one takeaway, one blocked shot, was 0-for-1 in face-offs and was plus-1. Green finished with 28 shifts for 21:38, had two shots, two hits, one takeaway, two blocked shots and was minus-1.

Quotable: "I'm sure they weren't real happy with the first, so I'm sure they came out and played better. Part of hockey is who's on top of who and I thought for the first (period), we were on top of them and basically all they're doing is trying to get out and change. I thought as the game went along, that's what we were doing, just get out and change. When they get up on you in the third, they do a real good job trapping and I don't think we handled the trap very well. Probably similar to the other night, we just need more lines creating offense on a consistent basis." - Wings coach Jeff Blashill

Quotable II: "I thought tonight we came out and had a very good first, as opposed to the last few games. We did a lot of good things in the first. A lot of shots, and we created momentum that way. In the second I thought we got a little too cute in our own zone, made it a little too hard on ourselves. Kept giving the the puck back to them and then in the o-zone we had a tough time creating any offense out of ourselves. Didn't generate much and what we had was when we had some opportunities to shoot the puck we didn't take them. We gotta do a better job of that. The last 40 minutes I don't know how many shots we had but we gotta do a way better job of getting more rubber to the net." -- Niklas Kronwall

3. Filip Zadina: It's a lot to ask of a 19-year-old rookie making his NHL debut to really stand out in his first NHL game, especially for a team that hasn't won in a while. Zadina started the game on a line with Glendening and fellow rookie Michael Rasmussen but also saw some shifts with centers Larkin, Frans Nielsen and Jacob de la Rose. It was an unfortunate first shift as Heed's shot from the right point banked off Rasmussen's skate past Bernier at 3:46 of the opening period. Zadina had the second lowest ice time at 10:38, ahead of de la Rose's 8:44, with 54 seconds of that coming on the power play. Zadina finished with one shot, one hit and was minus-1.
   Instagram from @filip\_zadina: Day I will never forget ! ❤🐙 Thank you
   Quotable: "I wasn't focusing on trying to be nervous it was my first NHL game, I was trying to play my best and play with the puck. It didn't go the way we wanted, the first period was great but then it wasn't enough. I had one chance at the end of the game, but it was still my first NHL game and hopefully I'll have a chance to play in the next game and hopefully play better and I will feel more comfortable." -- Zadina

Quotable II: "I think 10 (minutes) is not bad, I think that's a decent start for your first game. (Vancouver's Elias) Pettersson played eight his first game. That's sometimes how you're easing your way in. I thought he was good. I didn't think he was great, he was good. Obviously, if I thought he was great, he probably would have gotten more. I thought there were moments where he was trying to create some space for himself. That's what he's going to have to do. I thought there were moments where the space got taken away quicker than he thought it was going to. That's part of the learning process. I got him and Ras on the same line. Sometimes it's easier to play with a young guy who you're familiar with but it's a lot to ask two 19-year-olds in the NHL. I think the 30-year-olds won the night, when you look at the two teams. Pavelski and Burns and those guys won the night. I thought it was a good first game for him. We didn't get lots of power play time. With the one we take a penalty, we scored on the pulled goalie and then the third one wasn't good enough, so he didn't get a lot of chance to do a whole bunch on that." -- Blashill
Quotable III: "It's going to be fun to watch him as we get some practices in and he gets more comfortable. He probably was a bit nervous tonight but he's got great vision, really skilled with the puck, can skate well and obviously can shoot it. I look forward to watching him while he's up here and watch him continue to get better as he gets more comfortable." -- Abdelkader