Detroit — The playoff picture just became a little murkier for the Red Wings.
On a night several teams around them in the standings lost, the Wings did too Tuesday, losing 3-2 to Ottawa.
Carter Yakemchuk and Lars Eller scored goals 1:37 apart midway in the second period, extending the Senators’ lead to 3-0.
Goals from Dominik Shine and Dylan Larkin (power play), who returned to the Wings’ lineup, cut the deficit. But not enough, in the end.
“That room is mad, guys are mad,” said Larkin, the Wings’ captain, who missed the last seven games with a lower-body injury.
“That was a big game for our hockey team. Unfortunately, how well we’ve played all year against that team (three victories), this one kind of wipes away our record again those guys. That was a big game.”
With the loss, the Wings remained at 84 points and below the playoff cut line. Ottawa, with the victory, leapfrogged past the Wings with 85 points and moved into the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference.
Boston (86 points), the first wild card, lost at home against lowly Toronto. The New York Islanders (85 points) lost at home to Chicago. Pittsburgh (86 points) lost to Colorado.
The only teams around the Wings that won were Columbus (a winner over Philadelphia, who failed to move up), who moved ahead of Pittsburgh with 87 points.
BOX SCORE: Senators 3, Red Wings 2
The Wings have missed the playoffs for nine consecutive years, and the last two have been close calls in the final days of the season. Defenseman Moritz Seider feels the Wings have learned from those disappointments.
“Different personnel,” Seider said. “As simple as it is. We’ve been in that situation before. We know how much it can sting. We better come up with an answer for that. It’s all on us right now. It doesn’t matter who we play, we need points.
“We want to play well but sometimes you need a gritty one.”
After a pair of emotional games at home – the Wings defeated Montreal and lost against Boston – coach Todd McLellan felt the Wings were a bit off compared to those two games.
“We were a little slower, a little sluggish for whatever reason,” McLellan said. “We put pucks into areas that we wanted but we didn’t win those areas. We got pucks to the net, but we didn’t get to the screen, tip or deflection areas, which we did against Boston, but we didn’t do that tonight.
“There’s going to be emotion. Everybody is unhappy with the result and some of the input into the result. We earned the right to be frustrated. We didn’t perform well enough.”
Yakemchuk, making his NHL debut, also assisted on Ottawa’s first goal, beginning the scoring play with a between the legs pass to Tim Stutzle, whose shot was deflected by Brady Tkachuk (20th goal) on the power play.
Larkin, scored a power-play goal at 4:13 of the third period, slicing Ottawa’s lead to 3-2. Larkin pounced on a rebound near the hashmarks and snapped a shot past goaltender Linus Ullmark, Larkin’s 29th goal.
“It was good to be back with the guys,” Larkin said. “We found a way to get back into this one and that is what we’re going to need down the stretch. A couple of goals that feel like we were controlling the play and they go down and score on us, and then we found ourselves in a hole.
“We dug ourselves out of it and we’re going to need that going forward to the end.”
Dominik Shine redirected Simon Edvinsson’s shot, Shine’s third goal, cutting Ottawa’s lead to 3-1.
The Wings had a power play with just over six minutes left in regulation time, but failed to convert, James van Riemsdyk’s redirect hitting a post.
But the game’s complexion changed on the goals by Yakemchuk (first, at 9:28 of the second period) and Eller (fourth, at 11:05), putting the Wings into a difficult position.
“The first one we got caught long on a shift and they got fresh (legs) and all of a sudden they’re moving around and we missed coverage and there was miscommunication,” McLellan said. “(The next goal) was mental, not so much structural, but mental mistake that goes against the game plan a little bit.”
They were the type of goals against that sting with only several weeks left in the season, and the games mean so much.
“You have the chances and play good hockey, but then simple mistakes end up in the back of the net,” Seider said. “That’s frustrating because you just open the door for them and it’s kind of hard right now. But we have plenty of games left and it’s a great challenge in front of us.
“We have to make the most of it.”
The Wings had an apparent power-play goal in the first period by Alex DeBrincat called back, when video review determined the play was offside. The goal would have given the Wings an early 1-0 first period lead, and Ottawa answered with Tkachuk’s power-play goal, shortly after.
“Tough swing right there,” Larkin said.
The Wings lost forward Emmitt Finnie late in the third period after Finnie was slammed against the boards. Finnie missed the last five minutes of the game in concussion protocol.
tkulfan@detroitnews.com
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Dylan Larkin’s return spoiled in Wings’ loss: ‘Guys are mad’
Reporting by Ted Kulfan, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
