Detroit Red Wings badly outplayed in 6-3 loss to Penguins, but hold playoff position

The Detroit Red Wings didn’t help their playoff hopes, but neither did their closest rivals.

One day after ending a seven-game losing streak, the Wings were back on the short end of a final score, losing 6-3 on Sunday to the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena. But the Wings (34-28-6) stayed in the second wild-card berth by virtue of one point.

By the time their game began, the New York Islanders already had lost their Sunday matinee, keeping them below the Wings in the standings, at 73 points. (The Washington Capitals are also at 73 points). Other than Alex Lyon starting in net, it was the same lineup that toppled the Buffalo Sabres Saturday in Detroit. The Penguins outshot the Wings, 40-27, taking advantage as the Wings reverted back to the shoddy team defense that has hampered their efforts throughout March.

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Lucas Raymond scored twice, the second on a power play setup by Patrick Kane with 3:23 to play. The Wings had Lyon pulled for much of the remaining time, and Drew O’Connor scored into an empty net with 26 seconds to play.

The Penguins, hanging on in the chase but unlikely to make the playoffs, made things difficult. They drew two penalties in the first 10 minutes and scored a second after the second power play expired when Reilly Smith redirected Marcus Petterson’s shot at 10:10.

That deficit was leveled by Raymond, who netted his fourth goal in four games when he fired a wrist shot from the dots at 15:39 that slipped by former Wings goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, who had lost his stick. At the time, shots favored Pittsburgh, 12-2. Sidney Crosby corralled a bouncing puck and scored on a backhand at 18:53, and Valtteri Puustinen scored with 43.2 seconds left in the first period to leave the Wings in a 3-1 hole.

Michael Bunting pushed it to 4-1 midway through the second, scoring another net-front goal. The Wings looked like they might make a game of it when Christian Fischer finished a perfect set-up by Michael Rasmussen from behind the net, but Lars Eller tipped Crosby’s shot during a power play with 20.7 seconds to go in the second period to put the Wings back down by three goals.

The Wings have 14 games left, six of them at home, and next play Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from  Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.