The Detroit Red Wings are rueful over squandered chances as time dwindles: ‘It’s painful’
In a match where there was little margin for error, the Detroit Red Wings committed two costly blunders within a span of two minutes late in the second period.
This proved decisive on Tuesday, as despite outplaying and outshooting the Washington Capitals by a considerable margin, they ultimately lost 2-1.
With a record of 38-32-8 and 84 points, the Red Wings can only hope that this loss doesn’t jeopardize their playoff aspirations. They face an uphill battle, trailing the Capitals by a point for the final wild card spot, while being tied with the surging Pittsburgh Penguins, whom they will face on Thursday (7 p.m., Bally Sports Detroit).
“All three teams have four games remaining,” stated Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde. “Obviously, this one stings because we played a pretty good game. We just got away from our puck play at the end of the second. We couldn’t have been any better for the first 35 minutes.
We had some turnovers. That’s their MO. They just get saves by an outstanding goaltender and they take advantage of opportunities if you give it to them. Unfortunately, at the end of the second, we gave them some opportunities.”
Dylan Strome broke the deadlock with 2:13 left in the second period after J.T. Compher’s clearing attempt landed straight to Martin Fehervary, who set up the goal.
To compound matters, Alex Ovechkin scored his 30th goal with only 7.2 seconds remaining in the period, a play that could have been avoided. David Perron made a risky pass back towards his zone to Moritz Seider, who failed to handle it, resulting in a turnover.
“Not the greatest pass by me; I got to put that on his stick,” admitted Perron. “That’s a play we do all the time. Sometimes you hit the weakside D coming up the ice and just unfortunate I didn’t make the right play on his stick. Not a great play by me.”
That proved to be all the offense Charlie Lindgren needed in his 42-save performance, which was 1.1 seconds away from being a shutout before Patrick Kane scored late.
Adding to their woes, Red Wings center Andrew Copp suffered a broken cheekbone with 5:41 remaining in the third period due to a high-stick by Nicolas Aube-Kubel, which officials missed.
“We had a lot of chances. We just didn’t execute. That’s twice Lindgren has had our number,” expressed Dylan Larkin. “As forwards, as guys that are relied on to put the puck in the net, it’s one that we’re going to be thinking about late tonight.”
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