Detroit — They got mad. But they couldn’t get even.
And now the Red Wings find themselves in the same spot they’ve been before, falling behind again as they try to outrun their own haunting history.
On nights like this, it starts to feel inevitable, too. That decade-long playoff drought isn’t going to end itself in Detroit, and after results like that — a 3-2 loss at home to Ottawa in what captain Dylan Larkin had dubbed a “massive game” — it gets harder to see a way out of this malaise.
Far from impossible, mind you. And for a welcome change, the Wings actually got a little help Tuesday night from some of their Eastern Conference rivals in the playoff chase, as the Islanders, Bruins, Penguins and Flyers also lost.
Still, they all had to admit, this was about as frustrating as it gets, watching a tired, depleted Ottawa team come into their own building, take a 3-0 lead midway through the second period and then leapfrog Detroit in the standings at the final horn.
“You just opened the door for them,” defenseman Moritz Seider said, shaking his head. “Yeah, it’s kind of hard right now.”
Hard to explain, certainly. Hard to swallow as well. And while the Wings heard the boos that came cascading down at Little Caesars Arena, they hardly needed to be told how they should feel about any of this.
“The room is mad,” said Larkin, who returned to the lineup Tuesday after missing the last seven games with a lower-body injury. “The guys are mad. That was a big game for our hockey team.”
The biggest yet, arguably. But they’re all big from here on out, because the Wings (84 points) probably can’t afford more than two or three losses — if that — the rest of the way. They’re only one point behind Ottawa for the final wild-card spot in the East with 11 games remaining in the regular season. Yet when all is said and done this spring, it’ll likely take 98 points — maybe even 100 — to make the postseason in the East. And the way the Wings have fallen off the pace, that seems like a serious reach.
Their playoff odds took a serious hit Tuesday, falling below 50 percent after a second straight home loss. That’s a far cry from where things stood two months ago, when Detroit was tied atop the conference standings with Carolina, a whopping 16 points ahead of the Senators.
“But it’s where we are,” Larkin said, “and we’ve been here.”
They have, of course, in each of the past three seasons. We all know how those turned out, too, because the Ilitch family’s arena that opened in 2017 still hasn’t hosted any playoff hockey.
“Obviously, we’ve been in that situation before,” Seider said. “We know how much it can stink. We better come up with an answer for that. It’s all on us right now.”
This effort against the Senators wasn’t close to an acceptable answer, either.
Sure, Ottawa came in on a roll, with a 14-3-2 mark over the last two months — third-best in the NHL — and the league’s stingiest defense over that span. Monday night, the Senators allowed just 10 shots — an NHL-season low — in a 2-1 road win over the New York Rangers.
But they were also down a handful of defensemen for this game, and their third pairing Tuesday night featured two rookies making their NHL debuts together. Rather than take advantage, though, the Wings made things far too easy on them with a start that head coach Todd McLellan charitably described as “sluggish” afterward.
There were some wild emotional swings early on, as a would-be power-play goal by Alex DeBrincat was overturned by a coaches’ challenge and followed almost immediately by a can’t-have Ottawa goal at the other end. It was the 15th time in their last 19 games the Wings have given up the first goal. It’s the seventh straight game they’ve gone scoreless in the first period.
And by the time they realized they were in a fight Tuesday, they were staring at a 3-0 deficit midway through the second period.
They’d rally from there, with fourth-line winger Dominik Shine tipping in a pass from Simon Edvinsson to rouse the Wings’ bench late in the second and then Larkin adding a power-play goal early in third to get the LCA crowd back into it as well. But while they had their chances to tie it late — none better than a James van Riemsdyk deflection that clanged off the pipe — they wouldn’t. They couldn’t, much to their chagrin.
And now they must know they can’t afford any more nights like this.
“I mean, we gotta be honest with ourselves: That’s a very winnable game,” Seider said. “And if we’re not upset with ourselves, we’re doing something wrong.”
Problem is, that was a losing argument Tuesday night. And the playoff standings only confirmed it.
john.niyo@detroitnews.com
@JohnNiyo
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Niyo: ‘Angry’ Wings can only blame themselves as playoff hopes take a hit
Reporting by John Niyo, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
