Red Wings clinging to 'hope' with another season slipping away

They were one shift, one shot, one stop away from potentially saving their season. Instead, the Red Wings may have let another one slip away.

The defeat was evident in Dylan Larkin's eyes after the Red Wings' 4-3 shootout loss to Columbus in which they surrendered the tying goal with 16 seconds to go. The despair was audible in his voice when he said, "I hope that’s not the one, and I hope the Minnesota one is not the one that’s the final nail in the coffin. I hope we get some help."

Detroit's captain, who shoulders the burden of a franchise-worst playoff drought, shook his head and added, "That’s a letdown, in tough fashion again. Played a good 57 minutes, good overtime -- not much to say right now.”

Larkin is right. The Red Wings played pretty well in their biggest game of the year, Larkin in particular on his bad knee. They mostly met the moment. They responded well after rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka committed a careless turnover behind his own net that spotted the Blue Jackets an early lead, showing more mettle than they have through most of their extended slide.

They tied it midway through the first on a power play goal by Larkin, took the lead in the second on a terrific rush by Justin Faulk, and retook the lead late in the third on another goal by their big trade deadline acquisition, this time on a bomb from the point off a face-off win. Before Faulk's second goal, the Wings' much-maligned penalty kill wiped out a double-minor on Ben Chiarot. They didn't dominate the game, but they were the much better team in the third in a fight for the final playoff spot in the East.

And they had most of the chances in overtime. It just didn't matter in the end.

"I liked our effort tonight," said McLellan. "I didn’t like, we didn’t like going down 1-0 that quick. But in the past few weeks when that’s happened, we’ve gone away for a little while and all of the sudden (the deficit) is two or three. And I thought we performed well and got ourselves back into the game. Not a lot of complaints about the effort, the intensity. It felt like a pretty even game, a lot of battles, a lot of booked shots. Those are all good signs for a team."

J.T. Compher had one of his best nights of the season at the face-off dot. He had won eight of 10 draws before his last one, including a couple that the Red Wings really needed after a pair of icings in the final minute with some tired legs on the ice, and the Blue Jackets playing six on five. But he lost the one they needed most, and seconds later the game was tied. Three consecutive icings ultimately doomed Detroit.

"We had opportunities to get the puck out and do it the right way and have a little bit of poise when the net is empty and put the game away," said Larkin. "We chopped it around. J.T. was so good on face-offs and of course the one that we don’t get, it’s in the back of our net."

"But that’s the way it goes," said head coach Todd McLellan. "And really, the only chance we gave up 6 on 5 was that opportunity. So, it wasn’t our night."

And it's no longer their season. It frankly hasn't been for the last two months. The Red Wings were tied atop the East with the Hurricanes after a road win in Winnipeg on Jan. 25. They have eight wins in 25 games since. They've picked up five of the last 18 points in front of them. They are now three points behind the Senators for the final wild card spot in the East with four games to play -- and Ottawa holds the tiebreaker with several more regulation wins -- not to mention one point behind the Blue Jackets and tied with the Islanders. They have been jumped by the Flyers, who come to Detroit Thursday night.

"We felt we had to go a certain record. And we pretty much gotta win out," Larkin said. "That’s what it is. We just gotta keep playing, and win, and put ourselves in as good a spot as we can, and get help."

A lot has to happen for a team that hasn't been able to make a whole lot happen for itself. The Senators and Flyers both won Tuesday night, strengthening their grip on their respective playoff spots. The Red Wings had every chance to win, and took another crushing loss on the heels of a 5-4 defeat to the Wild on Easter that was decided in the final two minutes.

Compher could have sealed it at the dot. Any number of Wings could have won it in overtime, from Larkin to Lucas Raymond to Andrew Copp to Alex DeBrincat, when it felt like they never relinquished the puck. Gibson could have clinched it with a save in the shootout after Patrick Kane and DeBrincat had given Detroit the lead; earlier in the year, he probably would have made the extra save they needed in regulation.

But at each turn, the Wings failed to finish the job, which is exactly what this core of players is becoming known for at this juncture of the year.

The Red Wings are sliding toward their 10th straight playoff miss, and their fourth straight due to a late-season tailspin. They will likely need four straight wins to close the season and some assistance around the league, a familiar team in an all-too-familiar place, backs against the wall, looking for a hand.

"We got a point, and that point may keep us alive," McLellan said. "There’s still points on the table. We have to come back and have a good practice (Wednesday) and get ready to play Philly. We’re in must-win territory now, so we’re still there."