By Mike Whitaker
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings have one of the best power-play units in the National Hockey League, and they had five different opportunities with the man advantage in the opening 20 minutes of play against the rival Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.
But what should have been an advantage for Detroit turned into a frustrating nightmare.
Not only did the Red Wings fail to score on their multiple opportunities in the first period, but the Senators also scored twice on their first three shots of the contest en route to what was a 4-3 win.
Alex Lyon’s performance in the first period was shaky, leading to head coach Todd McLellan replacing him with Cam Talbot after one period.
He had a simple response when asked if he felt Ottawa’s goals came due to either Lyon fighting the puck or defensive breakdowns.
“Both,” he said. “Both.”
Former Red Wings forward David Perron scored in the second period to extend the lead to 3-0. Detroit managed to cut into the lead with an early third-period power-play goal from Patrick Kane, only to have the Senators score soon afterward to increase their lead to 4-1.
Detroit then made things interesting with a pair of goals from Lucas Raymond and Vladimir Tarasenko, and despite a furious late-game push to knot the score, which included a shot off the post, the Red Wings ultimately lost for the 11th time in 14 games.
Frustrations boiled over for the Red Wings in the first period, which saw defenseman Simon Edvinsson drop the gloves against notorious Senators pest and captain Brady Tkachuk.
“The opportunity came up and he wanted to fight and I’m not backing down,” Edvinsson said. “We needed that spark.”
But the spark the Red Wings badly needed in the opening 20 minutes was to take advantage of their multiple power-play chances. They didn’t do so and once again had to contend with a frustrating setback.
“You don’t score and the other team gets a lot of confidence,” McLellan said. “Their goaltender starts to feel real good and you wonder if it’s ever going to happen (scoring). You are wearing out seven or eight players because they played a lot of hockey there and it showed up in the second period. We didn’t have a lot of legs and power to get through things, it affected us that way.”
“We had chances and they didn’t go in and on the other end they score two of their first three shots and that’s generally really deflating.”
Still three points back in the Wild Card playoff chase and only 10 games left in the regular season schedule, time is running out for the Red Wings. The club hosts the Boston Bruins March 29 at 8 p.m. in a national telecast on ABC.
