Raymond remains a bright spot, but familiar defensive and goaltending woes flare up in Detroit's loss to the Penguins
Raymond remains a bright spot, but familiar defensive and goaltending woes flare up in Detroit's loss to the Penguins
On Sunday evening in Pittsburgh, 36 hours removed from a cathartic, slump-busting home victory, the Detroit Red Wings' troubles—questionable defending and goalkeeping feeding one another, with an attack unable to compensate—recurred in a 6-3 loss to the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.
For a while in the first period, though they trailed 1-0 and though they'd been outshot badly, Detroit didn't appear miles off the game's pace and perhaps even had some comfort in its patient, defensive game. The Red Wings had found space a few times off the rush on the counter-attack, and, while spending a lot of time in their own end, they weren't giving up many quality chances.
With just under five minutes to play in the period, David Perron knocked Erik Karlsson off the puck with authority, forcing a turnover along the boards then sending a pass to Lucas Raymond who stepped into the slot and wired a shot past Alex Nedeljkovic, the former Red Wing manning the Pittsburgh crease, to tie the game. With the goal, Raymond—perhaps the only outlier in his team's offensive struggles with Dylan Larkin injured—had a four-game point streak during which he's assumed the team lead in points.
Just as Detroit appeared to have asserted itself into the game, however, the Penguins struck twice in the final 1:07 of the first to take a 3-1 lead and command over the game heading into intermission, stunting the Red Wings' momentum.
The first goal was perhaps a bit unfortunate for the visitors. They'd defended a Pittsburgh rush well, but a loose puck fell onto the blade of Sidney Crosby, who beat a screened Alex Lyon with a backhand. Though Lyon had an obscured view of the chance and Crosby's backhand is as formidable as any in the league, it was a shot the Red Wing goaltender would have wanted to stop, considering how heavy a piece of it he'd gotten. For the second, the Penguins leaned on Detroit below the dots in the offensive zone for a classic cycle goal from Valtteri Puustinen.
Michael Bunting stretched the Pittsburgh advantage to 4-1 26 seconds before the halfway point of the second period, but the Red Wings third line, which had guided them to victory the afternoon prior, offered a glimmer of hope when Christian Fischer scored his second goal in as many games, another workmanlike O zone effort, this time even managing to keep his feet as he did so.
Once again, the Penguins delivered a late-period blow to derail Detroit's momentum when Lars Eller struck on the power play to make it 5-2 with only 21 seconds left in the second.
In the third, the Red Wings scored a six-on-four goal with three minutes and 23 seconds to play, enough to keep the game's closing minutes competitive but not to salvage even a point. It was Raymond's second goal of the game, once again finding a soft pocket of space for another snipe from the slot. With 26 seconds left and after several failed attempts at the net vacated by Lyon, the Penguins sealed Detroit's fate with an empty-netter from Drew O'Connor to make it 6-3.
The heavy forechecking and tight defensive coverage of the previous day's victory over the Sabres had been replaced by the woes of the seven-game losing skid Detroit had just broken out of. Neither the Red Wings' defense nor its goaltending inspired confidence, and the attack was unable to sustain meaningful offense. There were a few flurries, and Raymond was once again an imposing force, but Detroit couldn't create enough to overcome its troubles in the defensive zone.
Because the Islanders lost earlier in the afternoon, the Red Wings remained in a playoff position despite the loss. However, once again, Detroit finds itself needing to re-discover its confidence and consistency heading into another pivotal week for the postseason chase.
On the immediate horizon, the Red Wings host Columbus Tuesday in what ought to be a prime opportunity for two points. Then, on Thursday, Detroit will host the Isles in what will doubtlessly be a pivotal game between the two primary belligerents for the final wild card spot in the East.
Sunday, there were brief glimpses of the game they played against Buffalo, but if the Red Wings want to extend their campaign beyond the 14 games remaining in the regular season, they will need to find that form far more often, and they'll need to do it quickly.
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