The Detroit Red Wings had a golden opportunity to jump back into a playoff spot on Saturday afternoon. They rode into Madison Square Garden to face the New York Rangers with one clear mission: Get two points.
The outcome of that mission, however, showed something completely different. The Wings came out flat, falling to the worst team in the Eastern Conference in a 4-1 loss.
John Gibson made 16 saves but allowed three goals. Meanwhile, the Red Wings peppered the Rangers with 32 shots. Yet, veteran Jonathan Quick made 31 saves to shut the door. The game would have been a 4-0 blanking had it not been for David Perron, who broke the shutout with about 30 seconds to go in the game.
But the story of the game was the listless effort from the Red Wings. Instead of showing the desperation that characterizes teams pushing for a playoff spot, Detroit just hung back and lost crucial battles.
A good example came on the Rangers’ first goal. Jaroslav Chmelar redirected a blast from Vladislav Gavrikov to give the Blueshirts a 1-0 lead. It was the redirection that was a problem, necessarily.
It was the fact that the Red Wings lost a battle along the board. They lost the battle a little too easily, to be honest.
Another glaring miscue was Gabe Perreault’s first goal of the game. The Red Wings left the Rangers’ youngster all alone in front of the net. No one picked him up to the point where he had enough time to take the pass from Mika Zibanejad and tee up the shot.
Saturday’s game was that sort of an effort. The Red Wings tried to stay in the game. But in the end, Perreault’s first career hat trick was the difference in the game.
Senators catch break with Red Wings’ loss
To make matters worse, the Ottawa Senators, the team the Red Wings are chasing for the final playoff spot, dropped a 4-1 decision to the Minnesota Wild. The Senators outshot the Wild 34-23, but it was Minnesota who found the back of the net.
The Sens have lost four of their last five games, but that hasn’t been enough for the Red Wings to leapfrog Ottawa into the final playoff spot. It’s almost as though the Red Wings don’t want the spot.
But it seems that the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Philadelphia Flyers do. They’ve been pulling out the stops in their respective games. If the Blue Jackets, Senators, and Flyers all continue their pace, it could be curtains for the Red Wings, who now own the NHL’s longest current playoff drought.