Derek Lalonde states the obvious after embarrassing loss

While it was billed as "Fan Appreciation Night" at Little Caesars Arena for last night's Detroit Red Wings home finale, they didn't exactly reciprocate the favor with their play on the ice. 

Goaltender Ville Husso was pulled midway through the first period after allowing three goals on six shots from the visiting Dallas Stars, and by the time that it was all said and done, six pucks found their way past the duo of Husso and Magnus Hellberg en route to a 6-1 setback. For Husso, it was another subpar performance between the pipes. 

“It’s hard to build momentum when we just can’t keep it out of our net,” head coach Derek Lalonde said. “And that’s on everyone, not just the goalies. We just had some timely bad breakdowns.”

Detroit generated very little offensive pressure against goaltender Jake Oettinger, who was given the rest of the night off at the start of the third period by head coach Pete DeBoer. Meanwhile, Husso found himself surrendering goals in bunches barely a week after posting a shutout against the Montreal Canadiens in his return to the lineup from a lower body injury that had kept him out of action for the previous seven games. 

“We were advised to get him back in there and see how he handled that situation he was dealing with in his lower body,” Lalonde said. “Unfortunately, it’s been a really tough stretch for him. It’s going to be hard, because these last three games are just going to crush his overall numbers. There was some hockey this year where he was excellent, won us a lot of hockey games.”

“We want him to be a potential No. 1 for us and he’s had flashes of showing us he can do that,” Lalonde said. “Maybe a lesson for him in how he approaches his offseason and hopefully being ready when camp starts next year.”

Husso has appeared in a career high 55 games this season, his first in Detroit after being acquired from the St. Louis Blues and subsequently signed to a three year contract.