The Detroit Red Wings and host Tampa Bay Lightning limp into their third matchup this season coming off bad losses on Tuesday night in Florida.
Holding the top wild-card spot, the Red Wings had another terrible-looking injury to a forward, this time Andrew Copp, in a 4-3 setback against the Florida Panthers.
Coach Todd McLellan’s team, which leads the Boston Bruins by just one point in the wild-card standings and is three points clear of the bubble, appeared to be headed to a significant victory, leading 3-2 with 1:30 left.
Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe, however, leveled the game with 90 seconds left.
Tied 3-3, Detroit could have headed to overtime with at least one point in the bank, but the club took off greedily on a three-on-two rush with 25 seconds to go.
A turnover spun the play back toward the Red Wings’ defensive end, and Florida’s Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk worked the puck over for Verhaeghe’s go-ahead goal at the 15-second mark on a shot that clipped the stick of new Wings defenseman Justin Faulk, acquired from the St. Louis Blues on Friday.
It was a devastating defeat for a club needing every point in the Eastern Conference’s tight playoff race.
“We have a job to do, and the first thing we have to do is recover from this loss,” stated McLellan, whose group is 4-6-2 in the past dozen matches. “Then we have to figure out how to plug some holes. … It’s another (game) where, at the least, we should be leaving with a point. But we’re not. It’s a tough one to swallow.”
Copp’s injury comes on the heels of the one sustained by fellow forward Dylan Larkin last Friday, also against Florida. The captain (28 goals, 55 points) has missed the last two games.
Another listless showing in Tuesday’s 5-2 home loss to Columbus dropped the Lightning to 1-6-0 in the past seven matches. They played without two defensemen in Darren Raddysh (personal) and Erik Cernak, who was injured in a fight with Michael Kesselring in the Buffalo Sabres’ wild 8-7 win Sunday night.
Compounded with Max Crozier’s long-term injury and Emil Lilleberg’s facial fracture, their rear guard has taken a major hit.
Cooper admitted after Tuesday’s loss that his team was “in a rut.”
The Atlantic Division’s second-place team has excelled offensively and defensively this season, but it generated just 18 shots against Columbus and has been outscored 35-22 over the last seven games.
Cooper said his squad is failing to get out on its patented fastbreak.
“Tonight was abnormally bad,” he said. ” … This little rut we’re in has lasted a lot longer than I anticipated. There’s probably a little frustration that sets in. … Our rhythm’s not there, obviously our execution is clearly not there. I think our emotions have been a little bit of a roller coaster.
“When something goes poorly in the game, we kind of compound it. … Our heads are down, a little bit of kicking the can. We’ve just got to make sure there’s no pity party here.”
J.J. Moser scored for the seventh time in the Columbus loss, tying his career high for goals set in 2022-23.
The two teams have not met since November and split a pair of early season contests, each winning on home ice.
