Raymond’s hat trick helps Red Wings earn point in OT loss
PITTSBURGH – Lucas Raymond’s hat trick earned the Detroit Red Wings a crucial point in their playoff race.
They had to settle for a 6-5 overtime loss on Thursday, falling just short to the Pittsburgh Penguins in a crucial game. The two points got the Penguins into the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Wings (38-32-9) have 85 points. The Washington Capitals, who also lost to stay at 85 points with three games left, but they have 29 regulation victories to Detroit’s 27. The Philadelphia Flyers won to reach 85 points, with two games remaining.
Raymond rushed to the net to complete his second career hat trick with 5:07 to play in the third period, evening the score at 5-all with his 29th goal of the season. Raymond scored twice in the first period, and Jeff Petry scored in the last minute of the second period to pull the Wings within 4-3 going into the third period.
They endured falling behind by two goals when, while on a power play, Daniel Sprong made a pass that Jeff Carter tipped, and then won the footrace to get possession, driving the puck into Detroit’s zone and scoring on Alex Lyon. Dylan Larkin undid some of that damage when he netted his 32nd goal of the season, with 7:04 to play. Alex DeBrincat assisted on all of Raymond’s goals.
Erik Karlsson scored 1:47 into overtime. Sidney Crosby earned his 1,000th assist on the play, and moved into 10th place all-time in points with 1,591.
The Wings next play Saturday against the Maple Leafs in Toronto, where Auston Matthews is two goals shy of reaching 70. After that, there’s a home game Monday against the Canadiens, and Tuesday’s regular-season finale in Montreal.
Staying apace
The Wings fell behind just 2:40 into the game, when Crosby gave another example of why he’s likely to garner some votes for the Hart Trophy. Taking the puck behind the net, he made a smart play in making a pass to a wide open Bryan Rust, who fired a shot before Ben Chiarot could use his stick as a block. Drew
O’Connor finished the play.
The Wings were able to push back right away, though, thanks to Raymond’s quick work using his backhand to redirect DeBrincat’s pass at 3:39. Kris Letang put Pittsburgh back in the lead when he got in behind Detroit’s defense and beat Lyon at 15:09.
Back to back
A late goal can be demoralizing for a team to give up — the Wings know that freshly, having given one up with 8 seconds left in the second period in their previous game. This night it was there turn to celebrate a late goal, as Raymond
scored again with 13.8 seconds left in the first period. DeBrincat passed his linemate the puck again, and Raymond swooped in and beat former Wings goalie Alex Nedeljkovic with another backhand move. (Nedeljkovic has been a huge part of the Penguins post-trade deadline revival, posting a 2.57 goals-against average and .913 save percentage in the nine-game point streak the Penguins took up against the Wings).
Keeping it close
Crosby recorded his 41st goal and 88th point of the season when he drove to the net just in
time to tip Rust’s pass, giving Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead at 7:58 of the first period. A couple minutes later, he engaged in a wrestling match with Ben Chiarot, landing each player in his respective penalty box.
The Penguins moved ahead, 4-2, when Rust scored at 12:44, but the Wings were able to get closer with another last-minute goal. This time it was Petry who got it done, taking a pass from Moritz Seider and firing a shot from the top of the right circle. Sprong also picked up an assist as the Wings were able to go into the third period down only by one goal.