Detroit City Wire

The Detroit Red Wings returned to Little Caesars Arena on Friday night after an eight-day road trip but were unable to overcome the New York Rangers, losing 4-1. Head coach Todd McLellan and his players did not offer travel as an excuse for the defeat.

“Sometimes you’re there physically, which tonight I thought we were for the most part,” McLellan said. “I’m not sure we were there between the ears again, and that includes offensively. We had some pretty good opportunities. Yes, Jonathan Quick made some great saves, but when you’re sharp, alert and attentive, some of those go in for you.”

Goaltender Cam Talbot made 22 saves for Detroit (9-6-0), while Jonathan Quick stopped 32 shots for New York (7-6-2), helping the Rangers improve to a league-best 7-1-1 record on the road this season.

“A lot of travel and the time difference, but we had plenty of time in between to get ready,” Lucas Raymond said. “That’s on us, but we have Sunday. I think everyone wants to get out there as quick as possible.”

The Rangers took an early lead when Will Cuylle scored on a power play at 6:46 of the first period following a cross-ice pass from Mika Zibanejad.

“Take a penalty, and we give up a goal that is part of the pre-scout,” McLellan said. “An hour before we went on the ice, we talked about that exact situation, and we make a mistake. Now, we’re down by one and chasing the game.”

Detroit tied it at 11:06 in the first period with J.T. Compher converting Mason Appleton’s pass behind Quick. Andrew Copp assisted on Compher’s third goal of the season.

Noah Laba put New York back ahead in the second period by scoring off a loose puck at 4:52.

Patrick Kane returned to Detroit’s lineup after missing nine games due to injury and nearly scored midway through the second period following a misplay by Quick, but was denied by Braden Schneider's defense.

“If anybody was going to have the puck in that situation, and I could pick one individual, I’d pick Patrick Kane,” McLellan said. “It didn’t go our way, but there’s a wide-open net and one that makes it 2-2. Now, who knows what could happen?”

In less than a minute during the third period, Artemi Panarin extended New York's lead with a wrist shot at 7:29 before Alex Lafrenière added another goal on a breakaway at 8:27.

“I thought we did a pretty good job of giving ourselves a chance most of the game and then, they strike to make it 3-1 and then we kind of give them one to make it 4-1,” Compher said. “Then, it feels way different. We had our chances.”

Detroit outshot New York 33-26 but failed to convert any of its four power-play opportunities.

“We know we have a good power play and have to execute better,” Raymond said. “We didn’t play with enough speed and we were sloppy through the zone. A lot of different things… You’re not always going to score, but you got to gain momentum and come out of there with a bit of push for the team. We didn’t do that tonight. We’re aware of it and it’s just about making it better moving forward.”

Looking ahead, Detroit will host Chicago Blackhawks for their next game on Sunday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena.

McLellan commented further on Detroit's offensive performance: “We had way more opportunities tonight that we did in Vegas. Back end of the trip, I don’t know how much gas we had in the tank, but we created enough opportunities to get it to 1-1. I give our guys credit there because we didn’t open the game up, checked to the end and gave ourselves a chance at least. The difference tonight is we had more opportunities, it didn’t go our way, we get a little bit frustrated and all of a sudden, it’s 4-1.”

Raymond assessed Friday's performance: “Today was far from the way we’re supposed to play and the way we know we can play. It was far from our game.” On recent offensive struggles he added: “We’re a little bit too much on the outside right now – looking for that perfect opportunity and guys not getting to the net. We’re not getting to those dirty areas right now, where a lot of those goals are scored. We talked about it after the Vegas game and knew it coming into this game. It’s easy when it’s not going in to start looking for it even more.”

Compher summarized Detroit's chances against New York saying: “We had chances to score but you have to score. They did a little bit more than us.”