Red Wings Crap Out in Vegas, Lose 6-3

The Detroit Red Wings would like nothing more than to discover that old saying what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas is applying to them. However, the way things are going lately for the club, that seems unlikely.

A lot of things that have been going wrong for the Wings continued to descend in a downward spiral Saturday during a 6-3 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.

For starters, Detroit lost for the ninth time in 11 games. Coughing up three first-period goals, the Red Wings were surrendering three or more goals in a period for the seventh time in the club’s past 10 losses. They also lost for the fourth straight visit to T-Mobile Arena.

Plenty Of Bad To Go Around

In the woeful first period, Detroit forward Vladimir Tarasenko completely abandoned his defensive assignment on Tomas Hertl’s second goal of the game to snap a 1-1 tie. With three seconds left in the frame, Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider allowed Nicolas Roy to get behind him and score.

"In front — Roy scores!"

"Two seconds to go in the first, Nicolas Roy's 10th of the year!"

🎙 @Dan_DUva

Roy reaches double-digit goals with a late strike in the first period. pic.twitter.com/g7ReCCJc5N

— Golden Knights Radio (@VGKRadioNetwork) March 23, 2025

Earlier in the week, Red Wings coach Todd McLellan, worried by the team’s poor play on two-on-one breaks, had them drill on two-on-ones in practice. So when Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane got loose on a two-on-one late in the opening frame, they naturally made a complete hash of it and never created a legitimate scoring chance.

During the second period, Red Wings rearguard Simin Edvinsson let Hertl gain inside position on him at the net front to score on a Vegas power play and complete his hat-trick.

Detroit was two-for-two on the power play, one of the few bright spots on the night. However, the Red Wings penalty kill went 0-for-2 against the Golden Knights power play.

Milestone For Raymond

Opening the scoring with a power-play goal, his 24th tally of the season, Detroit forward Lucas Raymond was reaching the 70-point plateau for the second straight season.

Lucas Raymond – Detroit Red Wings (24)
Power Play Goal pic.twitter.com/BMOCZ4urep

— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalVideos) March 23, 2025

He joined Steve Yzerman (4), Segei Fedorov (3), Marcel Dionne (3) and Dale McCourt (2) as the only Red Wings players to register multiple 70-point seasons by the age of 22.

Kane, with his 11th power-play goal of the season and DeBrincat, with his 32nd goal, also scored for Detroit.

Red Wings Slip Sliding Away

With the loss, the Red Wings were slipping further out of the Eastern Conference Wild Card chase. Detroit has 70 points with 13 games to play.

Ottawa beat New Jersey 3-2. With 79 points, the Senators hold down the first Wild Card. Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens would rally from a 4-1 deficit to gain a point in a 5-4 shootout loss to Colorado. The Canadiens are the second Wild Card team with 75 points.

The New York Rangers (74) beat the Vancouver Canucks, while the New York Islanders (73) gained a point in an overtime loss to Calgary. With 71 points, the Columbus Blue Jackets are also ahead of Detroit in the standings.