Red Wings’ Playoff Hopes Flickering After Loss to Golden Knights 6-3
The Detroit Red Wings have come within a whisper of a wild-card playoff spot. The Saturday, March 22, loss to the Las Vegas Golden Knights crushed hopes that they will see any post-season play.
Vegas sank the Red Wings further from the playoffs Saturday with a 6-3 victory over the Wings.
Alex DeBrincat scored his 32nd goal at 9 minutes, 36 seconds of the third period, cutting into Vegas’ lead by 5-3. But Vegas’ Jack Eichel scored his 22nd goal into an empty net at 17:59 to restore a three-goal lead by Vegas and give the Wings another painful defeat.
With this loss, the Red Wings (32-31-6, 70 points) have now dropped nine points behind Ottawa (79) and five behind Montreal (75) in the race for the two Eastern Conference wild-card spots. With only 13 games left for the Wings, the possibility of ending an eight-year playoff drought grows less and less by the day.
“Thirteen games is a lot, but we can’t take any more games off,” DeBrincat said in a Detroit News report. “Every game is a must-win now.”
Lucas Raymond and Patrick Kane scored power-play goals for the Red Wings, but the Wings permitted two Vegas power-play goals and several others as the defense failed to step up to Vegas’ puck handling. Kane and Dylan Larkin each had two assists.
The Wings’ defensive struggles were exploited by the Golden Knights (41-20-8, 90 points) throughout the evening.
“We were good enough offensively to win the game and not close enough defensively to win,” coach Todd McLellan said. “We score two power-play goals. You should be able to find your way out of that game with a win. Now, they get two (power-play goals) and our penalty kill wasn’t every good, but we’re still giving up way too much.”
The Red Wings will continue their four-game road trip on Monday, March 24, in Utah.