Raymond’s Two Goals Don’t Prevent Red Wings From Falling to Minnesota Wild

The Detroit Red Wings held the lead three separate times Thursday but were unable to hold on any of them in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Quinn Hughes-led Minnesota Wild.

Coming into the game, coach Todd McLellan’s team was 21-4-1 when scoring first. They scored first and didn’t win this one.

The Red Wings sorely missed defenseman Simon Edvinsson, who tweaked an injury pre-game and sat out for the night. Travis Hamonic slotted into the lineup.

For all the talk on the ESPN broadcast about Patrick Kane’s chase of Mike Modano’s points record for American players, it was the young guard (mostly) on the scoresheet. Lucas Raymond had the Red Wings first two goals tonight. His first came on a power play early in the first period to put the Red Wings up 1-0. Kirill Kaprizov and the Wild answered with one of their own before the end of the first period.

The second period was quieter on the scoring front but saw the teams trading blows and penalties until Raymond broke the tie with a goal off a Red Wings turnover on the boards bench-side, putting himself at five points in the last five games. Elmer Soderblom and Marco Kasper were notable bright spots for the Red Wings, with Soderblom generating several turnovers in the Minnesota zone using his size and physicality.

However, Minnesota tied the game 2-2 with a goal just 30 seconds into the third period on a goal by Mats Zuccarello. He ended the night with three points.

The Red Wings did respond with a tip-in goal from James van Riemsdyk a few minutes later. But they were unable to maintain a lead as Zuccarello scored his second goal to re-tie the game at 3 within just a minute of play. Emmitt Finnie, relatively quiet since being demoted from the first line, recorded an assist on van Riemsdyk’s goal.

From there, the Red Wings were unable to retake the lead and seemed somewhat deflated as the Wild took the game to overtime and Kaprizov netted the game winner with an assist from Quinn Hughes 45 seconds into OT.

It wasn’t a pretty game from Detroit, a team that hasn’t known a regulation win with Cam Talbot in net in over a month. However, the veteran netminder was one of the reasons why the Red Wings were even in the game. Talbot had a sequence on the penalty kill where he made a series of saves that led him so far out of the net that it was a miracle the Wild didn’t score. Talbot may not be winning games for the Red Wings, but the defense certainly needed to step up tonight. It did not.

Takeaways

Rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka  was going to be given the night off against Minnesota in favor of Hamonic. ASP was plus-one in the game and Hamonic was even. But that changed when Edvinsson was unable to play. Sandin-Pellikka was plus-one in the game and Hamonic was even . . . The Alex DeBrincat- Andrew Copp- Kane line had a tough night. The line didn’t get on the scoresheet and the trio was a combined minus-8. Kane has one point in his last five games and is minus-6.

Key Moment

In a 3-3 game, with 3:37 left in regulation, DeBrincat had a breakaway, and shot wide right.

Key Stat

The Red Wings tried to acquire Hughes recently from Vancouver. But the Wild landed him instead. He assisted on three of Minnesota’s four goals.

Up Next

The Red Wings play the Winnipeg Jets Saturday night at 7 p.m. on FanDuel Sports Network. The Jets were first overall in the NHL last season, and sit 29th this season. But they are 5-1-2 in their last eight games.