RECAP: Red Wings can't catch Rangers in 4-1 loss

DETROIT -- It would’ve been easy for the Detroit Red Wings to sum up Friday night’s 4-1 loss to the New York Rangers as a product of playing their first contest back at Little Caesars Arena following an eight-day road trek out West, but head coach Todd McLellan and his players weren't interested in making excuses postgame.

“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.”

Goalie Cam Talbot made 22 saves for Detroit (9-6-0; 18 points). As for Quick, his 32-save night helped New York (7-6-2; 16 points) improve to an NHL-best 7-1-1 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.”

Seventeen seconds into their first power play of the night, Will Cuylle buried a wrist shot from the left face-off circle after receiving a cross-ice pass from Mika Zibanejad on the rush to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 6:46 of the first period.

“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.”

Not long after Talbot denied Noah Laba on a short-handed breakaway, the Red Wings pulled themselves back even when J.T. Compher one-timed Mason Appleton’s nice below-the-goal-line pass behind Quick to tie it up 1-1 at 11:06 of the first period. Andrew Copp also had the secondary assist on Compher’s third goal of the season.

But Laba, a native of Northville, Mich., managed to get on the board by batting home a loose puck at 4:52 of the second period, sending New York back in front 2-1.

With less than a minute before the halfway point of the middle frame, Patrick Kane -- back in Detroit’s lineup after missing the past nine games because of an upper-body injury -- nearly scored after a misplay by Quick, but a bouncing puck that was tough to corral along with a nice defensive play by Braden Schneider prevented Detroit’s veteran forward from tying things up.

“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?”

Finding the back of the net twice in a span of 58 seconds, the Rangers saw Artemi Panarin’s wrist shot from the right face-off circle find twine at 7:29 before Alex Lafrenière’s breakaway goal stretched things to 4-1 at 8:27 of the third period. Ultimately, that capped Friday’s scoring for both Original Six clubs.

“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 on the night, but went 0-for-4 on the power play.

“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.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings are set to host the Chicago Blackhawks for a Sunday matinee at Little Caesars Arena.

WHAT WAS SAID

McLellan on what he’s seeing offensively from his club

“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 on Friday’s loss

“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.”

Raymond on Detroit’s offense the past couple of games

“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 on the Red Wings’ offensive chances against the Rangers

“We had chances to score, but you have to score. They did a little bit more than us.”