Team captain Dylan Larkin struggled to find answers after another sluggish start led to a damaging regulation loss for the Detroit Red Wings.
The Detroit Red Wings entered Tuesday evening's contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins, a club that had played the previous evening, with the expressed goal of getting off to a better start.
Instead, they found themselves trailing 3-0 and outshot 14-5 in the opening 20 minutes of play at PPG Paints Arena en route to a 5-1 setback, dealing another blow to their already slimming postseason chances.
As of now, the Red Wings remain two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second and final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
It was their fourth regulation defeat in their last five games, and third straight in which they initially trailed 3-0. Goaltender John Gibson, who was making his 12th consecutive start, was pulled for the second straight game for Cam Talbot.
Despite saying all the right things after their loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday and again following Monday’s practice, the Red Wings came out sluggish once more and paid the price.
"It’s a tough start for us," team captain Dylan Larkin, who scored Detroit's only goal, said afterward. "Disappointing that we come out and start like that, and I don’t really have the words for the start.
The second two periods were better, and we played better. We just didn’t get the puck by Skinner. That's what it was."
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Larkin, who missed a handful of shifts during the game, appears to be playing injured and could still be feeling the effects of the lower-body ailment he suffered in early March, resulting in missing seven games.
While head coach Todd McLellan gave Larkin credit for gutting it out, he also noted that the club needs him at full effectiveness.
"We have to give him credit for slugging through it; it's clear he's not a hundred percent the way he's skating, yet there are situations he has to play better," McLellan said. "If you're going to put the gear on, you have to be real good and positionally sound, so we expect that from him."
McLellan has not been shy about criticizing his team’s performance during this recent stretch, even saying Monday that at this point in the season, he and his coaching staff shouldn’t have to “extract competitiveness or heaviness” from their players.
"I thought our practice would set us up well for this game, and it didn’t,” McLellan said. “So, perhaps our approach was the wrong one. I don’t know, or else it didn’t get through."
"We’ll spend the next 10 or 12 hours to try to figure out what we’ll do tomorrow and get them ready.”
The Red Wings continue their three-game road swing with a stop in Philadelphia to battle the Flyers on Thursday. With their runway rapidly shrinking, the Red Wings have no choice but to somehow gain points in the standings.
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