Wings fail to deliver in huge game, fall at home
Helene St. James
The setting had all the atmosphere of a playoff game: Warm weather, the town buzzing, a game where victory would be mean one step closer to the desired finish, and defeat, a crushing blow.
Tuesday’s event was the biggest game the Detroit Red Wings have played at Little Caesars Arena since opening their new home in 2017. Their opponent, the Washington Capitals, came into the night as one of the chief threats to the Wings’ push to make the playoffs.
Those hopes took a hit as the Wings couldn’t turn a strong performance into the desired outcome. Their 2-1 loss left them on the outside of the playoff picture, with just four games left — three of them on the road — to get back inside. The Wings (38-32-8) have 84 points to Washington’s 85.
The Wings largely controlled the pace, but were put on their heels in the final few minutes of the second period. There was just 7.2 seconds left when David Perron’s pass to Moritz Seider lead to a turnover that led to 38-year-old Alex Ovechkin taking advantage of Seider tripping to get into Detroit’s zone and make it 2-0.
With that, Ovechkin reached 30 goals for the 18th time in his career, moving him into first place for most 30-goal seasons in NHL history.
Washington goalie Charlie Lindgren (42 saves) had the bulk of work compared to Alex Lyon, making save No. 30 early in the the period when Dylan Larkin had a breakaway. Not even a man advantage about 6 minutes in helped; not even an octopus landing on the ice with about 6 minutes left helped; not even a second power play — with the goalie pulled, too — made a dent. There was 1.1 seconds left when Patrick Kane score.
The Wings next play Thursday at the Pittsburgh Penguins, another team that’s in the mix for a playoff spot.
On their toes
The pace at the start matched the magnitude of the game, with both teams on their toes. The Wings did a good job funneling pucks at Lindgren, like Larkin making quick work of setting up a clean shot for Ben Chiarot. For a team that has been guilty of passing up shots in search of perfection, it was a good sign to see the emphasis on just getting
the puck on net. Max Pacioretty tried to start something early with rookie defenseman Simon Edvinsson, who wisely ignored him.
Fast first
The first period took just 29 minutes to play as