Red Wings Miss Opportunity to Gain Ground with 4-3 Home Loss to Rangers
With the out-of-town scoreboard in its favor, a commendable effort from Detroit isn't enough to take points off the league-leading Rangers and take command in the wild card race
© Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports - Red Wings Miss Opportunity to Gain Ground with 4-3 Home Loss to RangersAt a six-on-five manpower advantage needing a goal with less than a minute in which to find it, the Red Wings had a chance.
Dylan Larkin, having made certain the lane was open with a shoulder pass, zipped a pass from the wall to Patrick Kane standing on the opposite side of the slot. Kane had options at the back door and tried to feather a pass across for Robby Fabbri that might've produced the equalizer, had Ryan Lindgren not brushed it aside with his stick.
The puck might've caromed on to Lucas Raymond—also open at the back door—but instead it skittered to safety, and before long came the final horn with the scoreboard showing Red Wings 3, Rangers 4.
It was a night of missed opportunity for Detroit, and those near misses didn't start in the final minute; they spanned the game. The Red Wings played well for long stretches against the Presidents' Trophy frontrunners but not well enough to overcome familiar lapses. Detroit blew coverages off face-offs, squandered its momentum within 25 seconds of a second period goal that had put it ahead 3-2, and conceded the game-winner on the power play (New York's third of the game) thanks to an offensive zone penalty.
"It's not really just the end," said Andrew Copp, when asked about the intensity of the game's final stages. "It's tight the whole way. It's plays that had happened in the first period are magnified. It's throughout; it's not just the push at the end. It's that time of year where everything gets magnified."
"We played hard," assessed Dylan Larkin. "We played good enough to get a point, get two points tonight, and I think when you get to this time of year, every time you drop a game, it feels like an opportunity missed. It's been hard. The hockey's been hard and tight, and we've been talking about every play, and making sure you make every play, and we left a couple out there tonight, which makes it hurt more."
"Good. Certainly not perfect, certainly not great," said Derek Lalonde of the evening's effort. "A little frustrating in that you can play a perfect game and lose to a team of that caliber. I don't think we did that. I think we gave them a little bit too much. I think if you would've told me we would've kept their top six off the board five-on-five, I would've liked out chances."
The Red Wings conceded a goal to Barclay Goodrow with less than 30 seconds to play in the opening period that sent them to the intermission trailing 2-1. Detroit's effort to that point had largely been a commendable one. The Red Wings kept the Rangers' top gunners corralled and found quality looks of their own in transition. However, off a defensive zone draw, Detroit afforded Goodrow too much space to win the race to a loose puck in the slot and fire it past Alex Lyon.
The Red Wings' best hockey of the night came in the second, with J.T. Compher tying the game just 84 seconds into the period then Larkin burying the rebound from a David Perron one-timer on the power play 13 minutes and 19 seconds into the frame.
However, instead of continuing to apply pressure with the league leaders appearing in serious and sustained difficulty for the first time all evening, Detroit allowed and immediate odd-man rush look, with Goodrow capping it off by knocking home a rebound. The Red Wings had bodies back but failed to tie him up at the back post.
In the third, with Perron in the box for high-sticking, Chris Kreider scored from his customary position around the goal mouth to make it 4-3 with 9:46 to play. Detroit had glimpses where it might have tied the game but failed to sustain the attacking threat it needed to equalize, instead limping over the finish line after what had been a good if imperfect performance, to borrow Lalonde's assessment.
Fortunately for the Red Wings, the out-of-town scoreboard was friendly on Friday night, with the Capitals and Flyers both losing in regulation as well, so Detroit's wild card hopes were none too diminished by its own point-less effort. It's a pattern that's repeated quite a bit over the team's last two weeks of hockey: just good enough to stay afloat but not so much as to seize control.
That will have to change in short order for the Red Wings to win the race for the final wild card position. As Lalonde said, "We did get some help around the league...but we've got to take care of it ourselves."
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