Red Wings 4, Kraken 5: Penalties Doom Detroit as Win Streak Ends at Five

Detroit, MI—Through 40 minutes, the inevitable letdown following an early season hot streak appeared imminent for the Detroit Red Wings.  Then, for about 15, it felt as though the Red Wings might never lose again thanks to three power plays goals in 14 minutes, propelling the hosts to the lead.  In the end, Detroit put its penalty kill to the test one time too many, the Kraken equalized late, and Seattle claimed overtime victory, 5-4.

"Great to come back from 3-1 down, but we had two points there in our hands and let them slip," said captain Dylan Larkin after the game.  He had registered three points himself, proving instrumental in the comeback, but he was also guilty of the hooking minor that set the stage for Jared McCann's equalizer with 1:22 left on the clock.

The home crowd was less than thrilled with the game's officiating throughout the evening, and it voiced its displeasure as Larkin was sent off.  Larkin, however, blamed himself, not the official who blew his whistle, saying "I put my stick in the guy's midsection and gave the ref an opportunity to call it."

In the three-on-three overtime, Seattle owned the puck, then eventually found the game-winner on a counter-attacking sequence that began with Lucas Raymond striking the post at the opposite end of the rink and ended with Jordan Eberle re-directing a pass from McCann past a helpless Ville Husso at the back post.

"Just one of those nights," said Derek Lalonde.  "Could probably manage a lot of things much better, but to get a point out of this, a pretty good sign for us."

For Lalonde, that "pretty good sign" stems from the fact that his team faced its first serious adversity of the young season and responded.  The second-year head coach appeared able to separate that triumph from what was ultimately his team's undoing—surfeiting on penalties.

"We basically said, as well as we've played in those first six games, we haven't had a lot of things go wrong, and we obviously had a stretch of four or five minutes, where it went against us, a little adversity there," Lalonde said of the conversation in the Red Wing dressing room during the second intermission.  "And I just thought it was a really good challenge for us."

"And I felt if we got one, we'd get two, and that's what happened," he continued.  "We'll tap back into that."

The game's third period was defined by special teams, a dynamic that suited the Red Wings until suddenly it didn't.

Shayne Gostisbehere began the comeback effort with a dart of a one-timer just two minutes and 10 seconds into the third and Eberle in the penalty box for tripping Larkin.

Two-and-a-half minutes later, with Devin Shore in the box for high-sticking Christian Fischer, Larkin received the puck with his heels on the goal line from Gostisbehere.  He cut quickly to the inside and fired a wrist shot past Joey Daccord's blocker to tie the score.

Just past the midpoint of the third, it was Alex DeBrincat's turn on the power play.  Standing just beneath the top of the circle on his familiar left flank, he received a pass from Larkin from the goal line.  He took a touch to control the puck, then wired a wrist shot to the far post, which Daccord had just vacated.

Little Caesars Arena erupted, and it appeared the Red Wings' winning ways would last at least a game longer.  It seemed a familiar narrative was setting in—DeBrincat's too-good-to-be-true scoring touch lifting Detroit to another home victory.

However, just as the Red Wings had seized temporary control on the man advantage, they would soon relinquish it on the penalty kill.  

With under four minutes to play, Daniel Sprong went to the box for boarding.  The Red Wings nearly withstood that penalty, but instead, in its dying seconds, Larkin went off for hooking and McCann leveled the game on the ensuing power play.

To Lalonde, the end-result came down to two factors: the Kraken's intensity and his own team's penalties.  He described Seattle as "by far the fastest team we've played to date."  "They felt like a team that had their backs to the wall," he added.

Meanwhile, he noted that six penalties prevented the Red Wings from getting into a rhythm.  Detroit could not put its depth to use in the manner that had helped see the team out to five-straight wins entering the evening's action.  Opportunities to roll four lines were scant because so little of the game played out at five-on-five.

Still, Lalonde was far from dour as he debriefed the game.  

He praised referee Mitch Dunning for his communication in admitting fault for a missed penalty against the Kraken (a thrown stick by Jaden Schwartz) in the build-up to Seattle's second goal.  He lauded his power play—"any time it goes out there, it feels like it gives us a chance."  And most of all, he lauded the resilience to overturn a 3-1 deficit, if only temporarily.

Detroit's winning streak couldn't last forever, and the good news is that its end came in a game where the Red Wings still skated off with a point.  Now 5-1-1 to start the year, Detroit will have a chance to start a new winning streak on Thursday night, when they host the Winnipeg Jets at Little Caesars Arena.