Gustav Nyquist: An Encapsulation of the Detroit Red Wings Lost Swagger, Identity

Gustav Nyquist and the Detroit Red Wings are in a weird spot after 70 games in their 2014-15 NHL season.

After going 64 games without back-to-back regulation losses this season, the Red Wings have not so quietly lost six of their last 10 games in regulation, losing in back-to-back games in regulation three different times over that span.

The latest, and possibly biggest as far as the standings are concerned, against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night by a 3-1 score.

No, it wasn't the fact that the Red Wings failed to score more than two goals in a game for the sixth time in nine games this month, and no it wasn't the fact that they have managed just five goals in four defeats over their past five games.

Tonight, it was something a little bit more tangible.

It was Gustav Nyquist, finally hitting rock bottom in his sophomore slump as a Detroit Red Wings forward. The prized winger of the Detroit Red Wings, who has made the highlight reel on more than one occasion finally encompassed what is wrong with the Detroit Red Wings in the month of March in 2015.

This team has lost its identity.

The Red Wings lost Darren Helm on February 28 to an oblique strain, and slowly but surely found the team identity shifting from a hard-working, shot-generating, special teams-dominating squad, to a group of jugglers.

Mike Carlson/Associated Press

The Darren Helm injury set the Red Wings back a top-line forward, and forced a massive juggling act, starting with putting in Tomas Jurco and later Luke Glendening. Neither has the speed and general offensive ability that Helm has, and such, the Wings have really lacked a coherent top line for the past month.

But blaming this streak on injuries would be foolhardy after what this team did with Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk out of the lineup for 37 games a piece last season, making the playoffs with a core of young players playing extended NHL minutes and games for the first time in their young careers.

No, this issue is a little bit deeper than injuries.

Which brings one back to Gustav Nyquist.

While one could point out that the young Swede has just two goals in his last 20 contests after being among the league leaders in second-half goals last season, the two things that stands out about Nyquist (and the Red Wings as a whole as a matter of fact) are his lack of mental concentration or awareness as well as his lack of effort.

Unfortunately, the Red Wings (especially Friday night against Tampa Bay), exhibited both of these negative qualities in a big-time manner.

The Red Wings had a tie game in the third period when Nyquist failed to hold the puck in at the Lightning line and turned the puck over. Seconds later the puck was in the back of his own net, but it was the lack of a back check that really pushed this play over the edge.

The video clearly shows that Nyquist had more than ample time to come back into the play, but stopped skating and started watching the play, leaving Alex Killorn with no one covering him, shooting it past Jimmy Howard for what turned out to be the game-winning goal.

Now, understand that Gustav Nyquist cannot be blamed (entirely) for the Red Wings' struggles of late. As said above, the Wings have been juggling lines since Helm went down with an injury.

Datsyuk has since missed the road trip to Florida with an injury. But pending a healthy lineup on Sunday (if Datsyuk could get back in), the Red Wings, along with Gustav Nyquist, need to get back to playing mentally alert, effort-filled hockey for a full 60 minutes if necessary.

This team is out of excuses.

With a regulation loss Friday night, the Wings dropped eight points behind the Lightning, but more importantly, are just four points up with a game in hand on the Boston Bruins and the surging Ottawa Senators are just two points behind the Bruins.

Karl B DeBlaker/Associated Press

Essentially, the Wings have played 70 games and sit six points inside the playoff picture with 12 games remaining.

But with the Senators having won 13 of their last 15 and the Bruins not going away either with a 6-2-2 record over their last 10 games, now is not the time to be fading down the stretch.

It is up to the Red Wings to use their favorable schedule (eight of the final 12 games are at home) to their advantage and wrap up a playoff spot for a 24th straight season.

But in order to do that, the Wings—starting with Gustav Nyquist—need to get mentally re-engaged in this season and prior to the next game on Sunday in St. Louis.

Look for the "effort" theme to be a deciding factor in where the Red Wings end up as far as playoff seeding goes.

All statistics via NHL.com.