It might be easier to find gold than goals for the Detroit Red Wings.

In a remarkably unproductive stretch offensively, the Wings have four goals in regulation and overtime on 177 shots over the past five National Hockey League games.

That turns out to be an amazing .977 save percentage for opposition netminders.

It won't get any easier tonight for the Wings with goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff and the Calgary Flames in town looking to extend Detroit's home-losing streak to four games.

"We can't get away from shooting the puck," defenceman Nick Lidstrom said. "That's something we know we have to do to get some second chances. I think we can do a better job of retrieving the puck to get those second chances.

"I thought (Wednesday), it was one shot and they were out. It's hard to sustain pressure when they get the puck after our shot."

With free agency and injuries ripping holes in the Detroit lineup, the Wings are in desperate need of somebody getting hot.

Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk carried the load for a stretch this month, but the rest of the Detroit forwards have been in hibernation. The Wings' other 10 healthy forwards haven't scored in five games or more.

"The big thing is when you feel like you're a scorer, you like to score," said Wings coach Mike Babcock, who'll re-insert Patrick Eaves into Friday night's lineup.

"When you haven't scored in a while, it weighs on you.

"The big thing is to have success when things aren't going well is to play simple. Do simple good things, be physical, take the puck to the net, shoot the puck."

The Wings can only hope to keep playing the percentages.

Babcock said he can't criticize his club for effort as his team hasn't been outshot in seven games and has only been outgunned four times this season.

"It's not good enough, that's for sure," said Zetterberg, who came up empty on eight shots in the Red Wings' 2-0 loss to Atlanta on Wednesday night.

"We have our chances, we've just got to be more assertive to get the puck behind the goalie. We have to finish it off."

However, the Wings fit and finish around the goal has been shoddy.

With long-term injuries to Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula and Jason Williams, offensive help is at least three to four weeks away.

It's something Babcock detected creeping into their play versus the Thrashers.

"I thought we looked frustrated at times for sure," Babcock said. "To me that's counterproductive. It's all right to be disappointed after the fact.

"To me you start the game and play 60 or 65 minutes whatever the night deserves and you play it as hard as you can and the next day you try to fix it."

With the goals slowing to a trickle, the Wings' shortcomings on special teams have also been further exposed.

The penalty kill has surrendered eight goals in the past seven games for a 68 per cent kill rate.

Power-play goals have accounted for nearly half (eight-of-17) of all the goals Detroit has surrendered during that stretch.

At the other end of the rink, the league's sixth-ranked power play has also gone cold.

The Wings have cashed in on only three of their last 20 power-play chances (15 per cent).

"Sometimes , you flick it at the net and it hits someone's stick and goes in," Babcock said.

"Right now, it's staying out for us. It's easy to become frustrated, but that's a waste of energy.

"Do good things over a period of time and good things will happen."

Windsor Star