With a 2-1 loss to a direct wild card rival, Detroit loses control over its playoff destiny with just four games left in the season
With a 2-1 loss to a direct wild card rival, Detroit loses control over its playoff destiny with just four games left in the season
Detroit—Sitting to address the media after a 2-1 defeat on home ice to the Washington Capitals that took the Red Wings' playoff fortunes out of their hands, Dylan Larkin's voice wavered. He spoke softly and slowly, having to search for each word before it would come.
"Just trying to process it all, process the game," Detroit's captain said. "There's a lot of emotions. Frustrated. We just played well. Just couldn't put the puck in the net...Very frustrated."
The Red Wings mustered a season-high 43 shots on goal, but they couldn't beat Washington goaltender Charlie Lindgren until only two seconds remained in the game, by which point it didn't matter anyway.
"We had chances, a lot of chances, a lot of shots," said Larkin. "We just didn't execute...That's twice now Lindgren's kinda had our number. We just didn't score. As forwards, as guys that are relied on to put the puck in the net, it's one that we're gonna be thinking about late tonight."
"Just didn't go our way tonight," said coach Derek Lalonde. "Liked our game. Obviously this one stings...We got away from our puck play at the end of the second. We couldn't have been any better for the first 35 minutes...We gave them some opportunities."
"Obviously you always wanna do more if you don't score enough, but definitely a lot of really good looks," added David Perron.
It was a game that began wide open and perhaps a bit sloppily in both directions, but the fast pace made it difficult to understand how it remained scoreless until under three minutes remained in the second period. Dylan Strome gave the visiting Capitals a lead with with two minutes and 13 seconds to play in the second, but, considering the volume of offense Detroit had generated to that point in the game, a one-goal margin was more than surmountable in the third period.
However, the game's decisive moment came before the third period did. A Perron pass for Moritz Seider in the neutral zone bounced off Seider's skate and onto the blade of Alex Ovechkin, the greatest scorer in the sport's history. Ovechkin beat Alex Lyon to the short-side with the clock showing just eight seconds left in the second, and the Capitals led 2-0. Where a one-goal deficit to turn around in the third felt within reach, the two-goal margin combined with Lindgren's form in the Washington crease felt a death sentence.
"Not the greatest pass by me," reflected Perron. "I gotta put that on his stick. That's a play we do all the time...Just unfortunate that I didn't make the right play on his stick. Sometimes it happens and he handles it. This time he didn't handle it, and it went back the other way, and Ovechkin scored. Not a great play by me."
If Ovechkin's goal was the game's most important moment, its cruelest came with just under six minutes to play in regulation. Still trailing 2-0, Andrew Copp took a stick to the face from Nicolas Aube-Kubel. The blow left Copp in a heap just inside his own blue line, but no call came from the officials.
After the game, Lalonde revealed that the blow—which didn't draw blood—was worse than just a flesh wound for Copp, saying, "Doc just told me he broke his cheek bone. My understanding was if it's an injury, they can take a look at it...They said they didn't see it. What can you do?" He said that an X-ray would verify that initial diagnosis, while also noting that he didn't know whether Copp might be available for Thursday and that the referees did not review the initial non-call.
As the final horn sounded, Patrick Kane scored an academic goal from point-blank range to cut the deficit to 2-1, accomplishing little more than spoiling Lindgren's shutout. The goal prompted as muted a celebration as you will see in the NHL, with the beleaguered Red Wings retreating to their own end of the rink without so much as a fist bump exchanged amongst the six attackers who had desperately been trying to equalize with Lyon lifted as the game dwindled away.
"I think that we go into games with the right mentality," said Perron. "Everyone's bought in, playing the right way, doing the right things, and that's why it's so disappointing right now." And he's right. After a chaotic first two minutes or so, Detroit settled into what was generally a commanding effort with one glaring exception: an inability to beat Lindgren.
The Red Wings carried play, creating danger off the rush and forecheck while limiting Washington's chances, and Lyon was sound as the final line of defense, finishing the night with 21 saves on 23 shots. They looked the better team all night save for the final five minutes of the second, but, thanks to Lindgren, it didn't matter.
The time for taking solace in process in the face of adverse results has passed with just four games remaining on the regular season schedule. Instead, as Larkin said, tonight's was a game that will keep Detroit up at night.
When the day began, the Red Wings controlled their own playoff destiny. As it ends, now with 84 points in 78 games and looking up at these same Capitals (85 points in 78 games) for the final wild card spot in the East, Detroit will need help.
The good news—such that it is considering the circumstances—is that four games do remain for the season to take one last swing. "This one certainly stings, but we still have some games," said Lalonde. "If we take care of business, I still think we're in this thing. Just gonna be a little harder now."
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