The Detroit Red Wings powered through an unusually late puck drop only to leave disappointed.
Their winning streak came to an end at five games but their point streak grew to six with Tuesday’s 5-4 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken at Little Caesars Arena. The Wings scored three straight man-advantage goals in the third period to move into a lead, but the Seattle Kraken were able to get a late power play goal, too, and scored with 4.9 seconds left in overtime.
“I think we are disappointed with losing like that,” Dylan Larkin said. “Great to come back from down, 3-1, but we had two points in our hand and we let them slip. Say what you want, it’s a minute left and I put my stick in a guy’s midsection and gave the ref an opportunity to call it. We took two penalties with four minutes left and they capitalized.
“We get a point, but we feel we should have had two.”
Larkin had a goal and two assists to extend his scoring streak to seven games (four goals, 10 assists). He converted on a man advantage a couple minutes after Shayne Gostisbehere had done the same thing; Moritz Seider assisted both times. Alex DeBrincat followed suit with his ninth goal of the season midway through the period, with Gostisbehere earning his third point of the night on that setup.
The Wings (5-1-1) came into the third period facing a two-goal deficit. Jaden Schwartz scored his second goal of the game at 17:54 on a slap shot, and Tye Kartye got some easy offense when he had a clear shot on Ville Husso at 19:04 of the second period. The Kraken scored again with 1:22 during a 6-on-4 advantage, with Jared McCann tying it at 4 apiece. Jordan Eberle scored in overtime.
“To be down two goals into the third and get a point out of this, we’ll take that,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “Give the guys a little credit, we had some adversity there at the end of the second. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t close it out. Took six penalties, they were all penalties. We took two in the last four minutes and that didn’t give us a chance. I’m fully convinced we would have won that game without our penalties late.”
Absolutely awful
The game was pushed to an 8:23 p.m. puck drop (it ended at 11:03 ) to accommodate what the NHL termed “Frozen Frenzy” night — all 32 teams in action, in staggered starts. The Wings were the only Eastern time zone team to have their game scheduled at a time they would normally be starting their second period.
“This is absolutely awful,” Lalonde said after the morning skate. “And I get it on the big picture, but I don’t know why our fans, who are as loyal as can be, passionate as can be, have to come to the rink for an 8:23 start. I mean, my family is not coming. They’re staying home tonight because of it.”
Husso’s play
Husso finished with 32 saves. He made several big stops, but the two goals near the end of the second period were ones he should have had. “It was tough,” Lalonde said. “There was a lot of volume. There’s a couple goals he definitely wants back. It was probably similar to his first couple starts, where it’s not awful, he has made some big saves for us, but – the previous four games we just played, there were no soft goals in there. But again, getting a point was pretty big, and he was part of us getting that point.”
Give and go
The Wings and Kraken engaged in a run and shoot first period, neither side able to generate much continual zone time. Larkin was able to get away on a breakaway but his shot sank into Joey Daccord’s right pad. A scrum erupted at 14:30 that landed Seider and Matty Beniers (Michigan) in respective penalty boxes. The Wings went on a power play with three minutes to play, but didn’t generate much momentum.
Breaking through
Joe Veleno had an early chance down low but his shot went off the crossbar. Instead he picked up his fourth goal of the season early in the second period when he redirected defenseman Olli Määttä’s shot from the blue line; former Kraken Daniel Sprong also drew an assist. The lead was short-lived, as Seattle converted eight seconds after Justin Holl went off for holding. Schwartz took advantage of a scramble in front of the net to put the puck behind Ville Husso, tying the score at 1.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her @helenestjames.
Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon,Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
Next up: Jets
Matchup: Red Wings (5-1-1 entering Tuesday) vs. Winnipeg (3-3-0).
Faceoff: 7 p.m. Thursday; Little Caesars Arena, Detroit.
TV/radio: Bally Sports Detroit; WXYT-FM (97.1).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings comeback fizzles in 5-4 loss to Kraken in overtime
