Red Wings unable to gain in East wild-card race with loss to Rangers

NEW YORK -- The Detroit Red Wings failed to gain ground in the Eastern Conference wild-card race in a 4-1 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Gabe Perreault had his first NHL hat trick, and Jonathan Quick made 31 saves in his return from an upper-body injury after missing eight games for the Rangers (32-36-9), who have won four of their past five games. Adam Fox has two assists.

"Means a lot," said Perreault, the No. 23 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. "Teammates made some nice plays, so had a couple of easy ones tonight. But it definitely feels good to get the hat trick, but most importantly, get the win." 

David Perron scored for the Red Wings (40-28-8), who have lost three of four and eight of 12 (4-7-1). John Gibson made 16 saves.

"We knew Jonathan Quick and how he's played against us in the past couple of years," Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. "We knew he would be a factor, but man, was he really a factor. (We) threw everything at him. They scored opportunistic goals that kind of ... we kept pushing and pushing, but we weren't able to get a puck by Quick."

The Red Wings entered Saturday in a four-way tie in points for the second wild card in the East with the Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers. Detroit opens a four-game homestand Sunday against the Minnesota Wild, who won 4-1 against the Senators on Saturday. Columbus hosts the Winnipeg Jets later Saturday; Philadelphia is idle.

"Our opponent is playing right now," Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. "Last time I checked, they were doing us a favor, which is nothing that we want at this time of the year. We'd like to control ourselves, but we've got to move on, and the fact that we get to play tomorrow, especially (an) afternoon game, will be fine."

Jaroslav Chmelar gave New York a 1-0 lead at 13:19 of the first period when he tipped a shot by Vladislav Gavrikov past Gibson.

Perreault made it 2-0 at 15:59 of the second period with a wrist shot from the slot off a pass from Mika Zibanejad.

"At the start, I was kind of fighting it the first couple of shifts, so I didn't necessarily think I was going to finish like that, but once we started generating chances and I got that first one and that second, you're obviously thinking about the third one," Perreault said. "… Lucky enough, I was able to get out there and get the third one."

Larkin collided with Rangers forward Noah Laba at 8:39 of the second and struggled to get to the bench, where he remained and missed a few shifts before returning. 

He finished with seven shots on goal in 20:45 of ice time.

"It was an awkward play, awkward fall ... a little bit of a stinger," Larkin said. "Got up and shook it off."

Less than 30 seconds after J.T. Compher hit the post on a short-handed chance in the third period, Perreault scored his second of the game for a 3-0 lead with a power-play goal at 7:13. The 20-year-old tapped in a pass from Jonny Brodzinski.

"Obviously that (goal) would have been nice, but at the same time, we shouldn't have let it got to that point," Detroit forward Lucas Raymond said. "We’ve got to find ways to put pucks in the net."

Perreault completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal at 18:16 to make it 4-0. He finished with a team-high six shots. 

"I'm so happy for him. He played great today," Rangers captain J.T. Miller said.

Perron ended Quick's shutout with 33 seconds left, knocking in a loose puck at the far side of the net after a wraparound attempt by Emmitt Finnie for the 4-1 final.  

"You’ve got to score more than one and you’ve got to give up less than three. Our team did neither," McLellan said. "We had some opportunities. They just don't go in, but other than that, I think we can get out of the gate quicker."

The Red Wings outshot the Rangers 18-6 in the third.

"We've got to forget about this one quick and get ready for Minnesota tomorrow, and that's the focus for me right now and for our group and we talked about it after," Larkin said. "… We can't dwell on this one -- get a little better around their net and hungrier to put pucks away."

NOTES: Perreault became the fourth Rangers rookie in the past 30 years to score a hat trick, joining Chris Kreider (Nov. 30, 2013), Derek Stepan (Oct. 9, 2010) and Jan Hlavac (Feb. 11, 2000). … Red Wings defenseman Justin Faulk (lower body) and forward Mason Appleton (upper body) were unavailable; McLellan said each is questionable to play Sunday.