"We Can't Have That": Penalty Killing Woes Return In Red Wings' 2nd Straight Home Loss

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The good news for the Detroit Red Wings during Sunday's matinee contest against the Winnipeg Jets is that they didn't allow any five-on-five goals against.

The bad news is that they couldn't keep the puck out of their net while shorthanded.

Michigan's own Kyle Connor scored two goals for the Jets, who built up a 3-0 lead before withstanding a late Red Wings rally attempt and ultimately won by a 3-2 final score. 

“The penalty kill failed us - and the penalty, unsportsmanlike conduct right after we get scored on, bang, they’re up 2-0," said head coach Todd McLellan afterward. "We can’t have that. Pretty simple. But the penalty kill let us down.”

The Red Wings trailed 1-0 after Cole Perfetti's deflection eluded goaltender John Gibson; Keegan Kolesar, who had fought Tyrel Bauer, had been penalized. 

Immediately after Perfetti's goal, J.T. Compher, who was incensed that a penalty wasn't called after he had been leveled by Bauer, was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Connor then scored his second goal of the afternoon shortly into that infraction, weaving through Detroit's zone and beating Gibson with a backhander. 

Connor struck again shortly into the second period once again on the power-play, beating Gibson off a rebound from Josh Morrissey's shot. 

“First goal was a lucky one, second one was a penalty that we didn’t need to take," lamented McLellan. "Third one was off a rebound. So, we’ll keep working on that, try to fix it.”

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The Red Wings themselves had multiple chances with the man-advantage, including late in regulation with the chance to knot the score. However, their only PPG came courtesy of Viktor Arvidsson, who scored his first with the club since signing as a free agent during the summer. 

Emmitt Finnie scored early in the third period, burying a centering feed from Michael Brandsegg-Nygård. 

The Red Wings, who are hard-pressed for offense thanks to the departure of Patrick Kane along with the absence of Dylan Larkin, can't afford to give up goals while shorthanded, or take careless penalties. 

It's put them into an early hole to begin the season, and to keep it from snowballing, there's only one solution - win the next game. 

"Winning the next one is the only simple answer," McLellan said. "It snowballs if we don't win the next one, so it's what our focus is."

"It is early, and we are what we are," he continued. "We're a work in progress, and we know we lost a fair amount of offense. We need to keep games low-scoring." 

The Red Wings host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday evening. 

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