After a 5-4 OT loss to the San Jose Sharks, the Red Wings sink to the bottom of the Eastern Conference, and the season is undeniably off the rails
After a 5-4 OT loss to the San Jose Sharks, the Red Wings sink to the bottom of the Eastern Conference, and the season is undeniably off the rails
Last night in San Jose, the visiting Detroit Red Wings—who held 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 leads over the course of the evening—lost 5-4 in overtime to the Sharks. With the defeat, Detroit sinks to 7-9-2 for the season, leaving the Red Wings tied with the Blue Jackets and Canadiens for the fewest points in the Eastern Conference. The loss also left no doubt that Detroit's season is formally off the rails.
The Red Wings got the start they wanted when captain Dylan Larkin grabbed the game's first goal 7:28 into the evening's action, but San Jose equalized three minutes later via a William Eklund power play strike. Detroit managed to counter with a power play goal of its own, courtesy of Marco Kasper (suddenly heating up offensively, with two goals in his last three games), in the final two minutes of the period to send the Red Wings to the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.
Eklund scored his second of the night not quite six minutes into the second, re-tying the game. Michael Rasmussen proceeded to benefit from the sort of fortunate bounce that has seemed to go against Detroit all season, when his poke check knocked the puck caromed off a skate and in. It seemed the Red Wings would carry another lead into intermission, but instead Tyler Toffoli buried another equalizer in the final minute of the second to make it 3-3.
Detroit conceded a fourth to Luke Kunin 6:19 into the third, and perhaps more troublingly, it was the Sharks who played with greater urgency following the goal. Just as the Red Wings seemed doomed, the power play came through once more, with Alex DeBrincat tucking home his own rebound to tie the game at four at the clock showed 2:06 to play. Detroit survived to make it to overtime only for 2024 number one overall pick Macklin Celebrini to deliver the dagger, just 46 seconds into overtime.
For goaltender Cam Talbot (as for the rest of his teammates, to be harsh), it was a night to forget, with 29 saves on 34 shots, and at least one brutal goal against (Eklund's second, which came from a low danger area along the wall at the point and struck Talbot squarely in the glove, only for the puck to deflect up and in).
In the featured video above, I spoke further to the idea that the loss in San Jose sends the Red Wings' season thoroughly off the rails.
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