Trending: Wings' missed opportunities and penalties costly in 2-1 loss

OTTAWA --During their recent hot streak, the Red Wings have played a rather disciplined brand of hockey. However, that was not the case in Thursday's 2-1 loss to the Senators in Ottawa.
After surrendering a goal at the 19:21 mark of the first period to trail 1-0, the Wings knotted the score at 1-1 on a tip-in by Michael Rasmussen off a Mike Green blast at 3:55 of the second period.

But once the score was tied, the Red Wings were assessed three consecutive penalties, including 52 seconds where the Senators had a 5-on-3 advantage. Ottawa scored only one power-play goal to take the lead, 2-1, but the tone was set as Detroit had to play catch-up.
The Senators took a few penalties of their own in the second period, but the Wings looked a bit gassed and didn't mount much of a threat with the man-advantage.
In the third period, Detroit was awarded two penalty shots -- one to Andreas Athanasiou and the other to Rasmussen, but Senators goalie Craig Anderson made the saves.
It was only the third time in Red Wings history they were awarded two penalty shots in the same game.
Mud Bruneteau was awarded two penalty shots against Chicago on November 24, 1938 and missed both shots; Mike Karakas was in the Black Hawks' net.
On December 15, 2007, Valtteri Filppula and Pavel Datsyuk had penalty shots versus the Florida Panthers and goaltender Tomas Vokoun. Filppula was successful while Datsyuk missed.
Rasmussen was Detroit's lone goal scorer on Thursday with Green and Trevor Daley drawing the assists.
Cody Ceci and rookie Drake Batherson (power play) scored for Ottawa. It was Batherson's first career NHL goal and it was also his NHL debut.
The Red Wings lost for only the third time in their last 10 and dropped to 8-9-2 on the season. Ottawa raised its record to 8-8-3.
Detroit will conclude its brief two-game road trip with a Saturday afternoon contest (1 p.m. face-off) against the Devils in New Jersey.
The Senators will host the slumping Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.
1.Michael Rasmussen:For the last several games, Rasmussen has proven to be a force with his net-front presence. For the second consecutive game, he scored a goal in front of the net by using his big body and tremendous hand-eye coordination. It was his fourth goal of the season and it's apparent the 19-year-old is beginning to find his way in the NHL. He may need a little more experience, but the talent is certainly there for the 6-foot-6, 221-pound rookie.

Quotable:"You guys always kind of ask me that (net-front presence), I just say the same thing. It's kind of my game, my job. It was a really good shot by Greener. I just kind of stood there and it banked off me. It was a good play. It got the shaft there and then it went five-hole or something. Yeah, I just got a piece of it." -- Rasmussen
Quotable II: "He's an excellent net-front guy and I think he's a good player everywhere else. So where is a guy going to separate himself in the NHL? To me, it's net-front for him. I thought that when I watched him last year. I think he's going to score lots of goals in this league because he knows how to go to the net, he knows how to tip pucks, he knows how to screen, he knows how to leverage his body. I think he's going to be a real good net-front guy for a long time." -- Wings coach Jeff Blashill
2.Jimmy Howard/Craig Anderson:It may be redundant, but once again, Howard's stellar play in net gave the Red Wings a chance to win. The Senators had several quality scoring chances as they were allowed an open lane to the Wings goal, forcing Howard to make several point-blank saves. Howard faced 36 shots and made 34 saves for a .944 save percentage. As good as Howard was, Ottawa's Anderson was a bit better. He not only stopped two penalty shots, he had terrific rebound control and gave up very few second chances around his net. Anderson stopped 34 of the 35 shots he faced for a .971 save percentage.
Quotable:"I chalk that one up for Anderson. He played great. They played extremely aggressive on the forecheck. They were able to hold us off. We had our opportunities and either Anderson was there, or we missed the net. He made two great saves on the penalty shots and that's the game." -- Howard
Quotable II: "Both goalies were good. Both teams had chances and didn't score as much as they would like. Certainly, we had real chances that we didn't score on -- when you get two penalty shots and you don't score, those were real players taking the penalty shots. So good for Craig Anderson, he's been a good goalie in the league for a long time. In the end he made two critical plays at critical moments." -- Blashill

3. Gordie Howe:Yes, you read it correctly. Shortly after the Red Wings successfully won a challenge of goaltender interference, nullifying a goal by the Senators' Dylan DeMelo, the Wings were issued a minor penalty for hooking. The public address announcer said, "Two-minute minor to Detroit's No. 9." After some rolled eyes and laughter, the correction was made as Wade Megan was assessed the penalty. So, for a brief moment Mr. Hockey was a member of the Red Wings again, even if it was in an ethereal way.
   Quotable: "We caught that. We weren't sure if Gordie was coming back." -- Blashill
   Quotable II:"Yeah. I started laughing. That was a little weird." -- Howard
   Quotable III: "I thought it was 39. They told us 39. That would have been a tough one. But they kept sending Megan back to the bench and calling for 39. That was going to be a tough one, too. It worked out." -- Niklas Kronwall