DETROIT – In the spirit of Halloween, the Detroit Red Wings gathered before practice Friday to watch a scary video – their penalty kill.

That was an early problem and was exploited Thursday when New Jersey scored three power play goals, which the Red Wings overcame for a 5-3 victory. That’s an important point heading into Saturday’s game at Buffalo (1 p.m., FanDuel Sports Network).

“We missed some details. It was a tough video today,” said coach Derek Lalonde. “We’re still in a problem-solving situation at the start of the year. I wouldn’t say alarming, but there were some bad trends with some simple details and reliable guys.

“A little in between, so you lack a little confidence there. You’re a little slow in the rotation, you miss a clear shot, you miss a faceoff mission and if it continues in the back of the net, it accumulates. (The meeting) was a little reset on some details with a little bit of attitude in there. Look no further than the urgency we had on the two shots on goal we had in the last two games to win a hockey game. We’ll probably need a little more of it throughout. »

Ben Chiarot said “the structure, the desperation, the details, getting clearances when we have the puck, being in the right spots when we don’t” need to be better.

The Red Wings (4-3-0) rank second-to-last in the league in penalty killing (nine goals allowed on 24 chances, 62.5 percent). They’ve won three straight thanks to strong five-on-five play (no goals allowed in the last eight periods), mostly thanks to goaltending (they were outscored 97-44 during that stretch).

But it is not sustainable. They need to strengthen the penalty.

“It’s frustrating to talk about it and not go and implement it,” Lalonde said. “Three (matches) in four (days), we don’t have a chance to repeat. We’d love to repeat it when we get the chance next week.

It didn’t help that the Red Wings were missing two short-handed forwards Thursday, JT Compher and Tyler Motte. Execution still needs to improve, Dylan Larkin said.

“We give the puck too much to their best players,” Larkin said. “We give them too much time. As a power play player, you love playing with the puck and it’s amazing what those opportunities can do to your game and you start to feel good about it.

They also take too many penalties and at inopportune times, he said.

“There are some penalties you can eliminate, and some that are just complete momentum shifts,” Larkin said. “But the main thing is execution, without getting our permissions, without executing our routes. We need to find a rhythm and find some consistency.

Line-up changes?

Compher (flu) didn’t skate for a second straight day, but Lalonde said he’s possible for Saturday. If he can’t play, they will re-dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen.

Motte (upper body injury) missed three games and will be out at least until the weekend (they host Edmonton on Sunday). He started skating alone.

Alex Lyon will start in goal.