RECAP: Red Wings drop third straight game with 6-1 loss to Senators

OTTAWA -- For the second straight night, the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators played a fiery affair at Canadian Tire Centre.

But another encouraging start developed into another disappointing end result for the Red Wings, who fell, 6-1, to the Senators on Tuesday.
"I thought we were ready to play," Detroit head coach Derek Lalonde said. "I thought we had some bite to our game early. Then it was just an inability to execute, especially on the special teams."
Tensions from Monday's game were still fresh between the Atlantic Division foes, with emotions boiling over early in the first period on Tuesday. After Dominik Kubalik's game-opening goal less than four minutes into the contest, Senators forward Tim Stutzle drew a penalty shot that sparked a fight between Tyler Bertuzzi and defenseman Artem Zub.
Ottawa went on to score four goals four different ways before the end of the opening frame: on Stutzle's penalty shot, shorthanded, at even strength and on the power play. The Senators scored a goal in both the second and third periods en route to completing a back-to-back sweep over the Red Wings.
"That's an impossible game as a goalie," Lalonde said about Ville Husso, who made 21 saves for the Red Wings. "He never got comfortable. Everything he faced was a breakaway or a power-play situation through the entire game. We didn't give him much of a chance."
Detroit dropped its third straight game, falling to 28-24-8 (64 points) on the season. Ottawa (30-26-4; 64 points) picked up its third consecutive victory.
Filip Hronek (upper-body) exited Tuesday's game in the middle frame and did not return.
NEXT UP:The Red Wings will host the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena.

SCORING SUMMARY

Detroit 1, Ottawa 0 (3:50, 1st period)
Kubalik received a stretch pass from Olli Maatta and buried a wrister from the top of the left face-off circle to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead.

Ottawa 1, Detroit 1 (4:08, 1st period)
Stutzle tied the score at one apiece with a penalty-shot goal.
Ottawa 2, Detroit 1 (7:52, 2nd period)
Austin Watson gave Ottawa its first lead of the night by netting a shorthanded goal on a breakaway.
Ottawa 3, Detroit 1 (15:46, 1st period)
Watson one-timed Derick Brassard's feed into the back of the net while taking a stick to his face. It was Watson's second goal of the game.
Ottawa 4, Detroit 1 (16:09, 1st period)
A cross-ice pass from Drake Batherson got to Alex DeBrincat, who scored a power-play goal for his 20th tally of the season.
Ottawa 5, Detroit 1 (8:34, 2nd period)
From the slot, Claude Giroux sent DeBrincat's feed past Husso for Ottawa's second man-advantage goal of the night.
Ottawa 6, Detroit 1 (5:17, 3rd period)
Giroux's shot from above the left face-off circle was redirected by Brady Tkachuk, putting the game out of reach for Detroit.

QUOTABLE

Lalonde on what thought of the back-to-back overall
"I think we enabled them quite a bit these two games. A little credit to them, obviously. They played two really good games and executed very well, which we did not. Uncharted territory for us in the fact that we've been playing so well of late."
Lalonde on Hronek's status
"We'll evaluate tonight, but he had to leave the game. Something he actually went into the game, so we'll evaluate that. A better feel in the morning."
Captain Dylan Larkin on the Red Wings' performance in Ottawa
"Just not the way we wanted this trip to go. We're definitely leaving with our tail between our legs. It's a tough feeling."
Larkin on how the Red Wings can pick themselves up and get momentum back
"We have a lot of games coming up. They are all big. It's tight, but there's still time to win games and we're right there. We have games against teams that we're trying to catch, so let's see what happens. We gotta take a lesson from these guys (Senators) and the way they played."