After a second regulation loss to Arizona in a week, the Red Wings' confidence and playoff hopes are dwindling fast

Detroit, MI—After this morning's skate, the Red Wings said they needed a strong start tonight, and for a moment, they had it.  Detroit had all of the puck in the opening minutes of this evening's game, and a bit more than three minutes in, Jake Walman earned them a power play when Clayton Keller hooked him as he drove hard to the net.  The Red Wings had a chance to capitalize on their early surge.

On the ensuing power play, the referee whistled Arizona for playing the puck with a high stick, and he was immediately surrounded by David Perron, Lucas Raymond, and Shayne Gostisbehere—all of them adamant that play should have continued because they remained in possession.  They might have been correct, but their urgency in lobbying an official before five minutes of hockey had been played reflected the frustration of a six-game losing streak and the desperation to end it.

They lost their case, and not long after, a failed Gostisbehere keep-in was ruled intentional offside, sending the face-off all the way down to Alex Lyon's zone.  The Red Wings won that draw and worked their way back to the offensive zone, only for Logan Cooley to take advantage of a poorly timed Moritz Seider blown tire and score a short-handed breakaway goal to give the visiting Coyotes a 1-0 lead.

In that moment, the game's rhythm inverted, and suddenly it was Arizona who had all of the possession and attacking flare, while the Red Wings seemed unable to complete even the simplest of outlet passes.  Though Detroit did manage to respond by the end of the first, the Red Wings never seemed able to recover their shaken confidence, and by the end of the night, the result was a 4-1 loss, the team's seventh regulation defeat in a row. 

"I see recently that we get down one, and it's a little bit deflating for the group," said Ben Chiarot, when asked what ails Detroit at the moment. "It was happening earlier in the year too. I remember same kinda thing. We'd give up the first goal and kinda get on our heels a little bit, but when we're playing well...it doesn't really bother us. We know we're going to get the next goal, and right now we've just lost that confidence."

With an even two minutes remaining in the period, Lucas Raymond finished off an incisive cross-ice Patrick Kane pass, giving the Red Wings a power play goal to tie the game on their third man advantage of the night.  The score would remain tied at one at the end of the first.

"No doubt I felt like they had a little bit better legs, probably a little bit of us pressing," said coach Derek Lalonde in assessing the first period. "I think our guys wanted so much—you saw the effort in practice—we tried to press a little bit."

In the second, Detroit was unable to build any momentum from Raymond's equalizer.  Instead, the Red Wings remained lifeless, and the blown defensive coverages that have defined the present losing streak recurred.  8:36 into the second, Michael Carcone restored Arizona's lead by deflecting an Alex Kerfoot shot past Lyon. 

Two Red Wings were on the scene in coverage but neither was able to force Carcone from his premium position, nor take away his stick.  D zone coverage "should be like a machine by this point and everyone knows exactly where they're supposed to be, being there at the right time, and we're not there yet," said Chiarot.

Detroit entered the third needing a goal, but as the NHL's leaders in third-period comebacks, that deficit should hardly have been insurmountable.  As the period began, the Red Wings applied modest pressure on Connor Ingram's net but did little to sustain or ratchet up that pressure into high quality chances.

Just past the midpoint of the third, another defensive breakdown left Nick Bjugstad alone in the slot, and Bjugstad finished off the chance, lifting the Coyotes to a 3-1 lead that did indeed feel insurmountable for the free-falling Red Wings, even with 9:58 still to play.

"It's frustrating because at times we had some jump," said Lalonde.  "We had some zone time.  It's just really frustrating they only had two chances in the third.  One was gifted on just a poor arrival, which we gave up the slot...Just frustrating that we were much better in some aspects of the game."

Lalonde lifted Lyon for an extra attacker with three-and-a-half minutes to play, and within 30 seconds of that decision, Keller hit the empty net to seal Detroit's fate.  His goal prompted a mass exodus from the Little Caesars Arena bleachers, and the remaining fans voiced their displeasure.

The night had begun with an optimistic octopus tossed to the ice after the national anthem, and it ended with vociferous booing from the fans who'd lingered to see the last of another sobering evening for the Red Wings.

At night's end, Detroit finds itself level on points with the Islanders for the final wild card spot in the East but having played one more game.  The postseason is by no means out of reach for the Red Wings, and it has been a season of extreme highs and lows, often one right after the other.  

However, after Detroit squandered its second chance in a week for a 'get right' game against the struggling, trade-depleted Coyotes, it's difficult to move past the fragilities that Dylan Larkin's absence from the lineup has laid bare.

"It's unacceptable," summated Perron.  "It's as tough as it gets right now in the room. We gotta find a way to bounce back. We gotta find a way to put our pride on the line and be better."

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