RECAP: Red Wings come up short in 4-1 loss to Mammoth

DETROIT – Following Wednesday night’s 4-1 loss to the Utah Mammoth at Little Caesars Arena, Detroit Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan discussed what he believed ultimately defined the second half of this midweek back-to-back set for both clubs.

“Tonight, for me, the difference was obvious,” McLellan said. “It was the play around our net. It wasn’t just the goals we gave up. It was some of the chances that they had, even earlier in the game. They were much better around their blue paint, and I’m not talking about goaltending. I’m talking about clearing and batting pucks away, making sure sticks were on plays inside that scoring slot area.”

Goalie Cam Talbot finished with 24 saves for the Red Wings (19-13-3; 41 points), who went 4-for-4 on the penalty kill against the Mammoth (17-16-3; 37 points).

“We’re going to have to be a little better in back-to-backs with our schedule moving forward,” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. “Some really tough matchups, like this back-to-back was, so just growing and experience. We’ve done it on the road, when you don’t have your best -- you got to find a way to win and bring something better than what we brought tonight.”

The game’s first goal didn’t come until the 1:44 mark of the second period, when Mammoth captain Clayton Keller wristed in a rebound from the slot after Nick Schmaltz’s shot went off Talbot’s pads to put them on top 1-0.

Then at 14:17, Jack McBain doubled Utah’s lead by finishing off a centering pass from Michael Carcone to make it 2-0. That happened a few minutes after Detroit couldn’t convert on back-to-back power plays --- first at 9:19, then another at 11:55.

“It’s frustrating, for sure, when you don’t score on those,” Emmitt Finnie said. “I thought we generated some good looks, but definitely a little frustrating when you don’t score.”

On the Red Wings’ fourth power play of the game, Finnie beat netminder Karel Vejmelka with a one-timer from the left face-off circle off a behind-the-goal-line feed from John Leonard, getting it to 2-1 with 10:05 remaining in the final frame. For Leonard, that lone assist marked his first point wearing the Winged Wheel.

“It was a great play by Leonard,” Finnie said when asked what he saw before scoring his eighth goal of the season. “We had numbers behind the net. I figured we were going to come out with that puck, so I was just trying to put myself in a good position.”

Unfortunately, Utah scored two goals in a 31-second span – Dylan Guenther made it 3-1 at 15:52 before Kevin Stenlund lit the lamp at 16:23 – then held on the rest of the way to prevent Detroit from winning its third game in a row.

“Credit to them,” Finnie said. “They played pretty hard. I don’t think we had a good enough third period.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will face off against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Saturday night for the front half of a back-to-back, home-and-home set.

WHAT WAS SAID

McLellan on Detroit’s power play, which went 1-for-4

“We can’t ask it to score four, three or two a night. It got us one goal. Yeah, it wasn’t real good, but it got us one goal. We didn’t score 5-on-5, and we gave up four goals… It has to be better, but for me, it was the 5-on-5 play around the net.”

Larkin on his club finding itself chasing another game

“It would be nice to not make a trend of that and come out next game ready to go, ready to play in a tough building on the road. We have things we have to address, and like we’ve done all year, Todd has brought it up in meetings and we’ve improved on it.”

Finnie on how Utah made it difficult for Detroit to get to the net

“They dominated the net play against us tonight on both ends. I thought we weren’t good enough in our own end, and they were boxing us out and taking away our chances.”