Tempe, Arizona — Strange how these overtime or shootout results in the NHL can feel occasionally for a team.
You lose sometimes, yet feel like you stole a point, depending on how you played.
But for the Red Wings, Tuesday’s 4-3 shootout loss to Arizona — yes, even though the Wings earned one point — still felt sickly.
The Wings led, 3-1, in the third period and should have had a clean two points. No worries or angst, especially against an Arizona team that had lost nine consecutive games.
Instead, they blew a lead, lost despite outshooting the Coyotes, 40-23, have growing goaltending concerns, and there’s an increasing sentiment this Wings season is tumbling out of control.
The Wings are winless in their last three games and have won only three of their last 10 games (3-6-1).
“We have to find a way to get two points,” captain Dylan Larkin said of Tuesday’s final result. “A heartbreaker, for sure.”
There was a definite sense of frustration and disappointment in the Wings’ locker room after the game. The Wings have talked all season about the desire to play meaningful games deep into the season and be in playoff contention.
But, this recent losing streak is putting those hopes in jeopardy.
“We’re not happy,” defenseman Jake Walman said. “We’re trying to be a great team, not just a good team. Every player has to dial it in and we’ll be a better team. We know what we can do in here. We have to finish off these games.
“We have to close those games out.”
Coach Derek Lalonde admitted Tuesday’s loss “stings” because of the Wings’ effort, and the three goals were probably good enough to win. Lalonde feels there is some frustration in the locker room.
“Of course, because the will and effort is there,” Lalonde said. “I’m not saying we have to be perfect, but we almost have to be perfect to win on some of these nights. Unfortunately, this was one of them.”
The Wings still have an opportunity to salvage this three-game trip with a win Thursday in Vegas (10 p.m., BSD/97.1). They’ve played well in spots during the first two losses on this trip, but need to put a complete game together.
“Just stay at it,” Lalonde said of his message to the Wings. “The road trip is right there for us, to get three points in three games. We have to stay at it. There’s been parts of our game that have been real good. (Tuesday) was probably a little more consistent throughout the entire game than we’ve had in the past couple games.
“We did enough to win.”
Goaltending dilemma
The Wings’ goaltending situation is getting a bit hairy.
The hope Tuesday was Magnus Hellberg would take advantage of his start and show himself to be a trusted complement to Ville Husso, who has struggled lately, maybe partially because of overuse.
Hellberg and Alex Nedeljkovic (now in Grand Rapids) haven’t shown enough consistency to take some of the workload off Husso’s hands.
But Hellberg wasn’t overwhelming in Tuesday’s loss, stopping 20 of 23 shots and allowing both shooters to score in the shootout. Hellberg also allowed the two third-period goals that allowed Arizona to tie the game — and both goals needed to be stopped, in Lalonde’s estimation.
Still, Hellberg did have a key save late in regulation to help ensure one point in the standings for the Wings, then made a couple of big saves in overtime.
“Goals two and three can’t go in on an NHL goalie; he’d be the first to admit that,” Lalonde said. “With that said, when we were out of gas, he made some saves at the end of the third that got us a point and he was excellent in overtime.
“It’s a little frustrating. It felt like three goals probably should have been enough (to win).”
With Nedeljkovic attempting to get his game in order in Grand Rapids, there’s a good chance Nedeljkovic could be recalled to get another NHL look, possibly sooner than expected.
“We’ll keep reevaluating our goalie situation, where we are at,” Lalonde said.
Hellberg wasn’t pleased with his performance and understands the competition in the Wings’ net currently is wide open.
“Ned is a great guy and he is a real great goalie, too,” Hellberg said. “Obviously, there is competition there. He is still in the organization, so the competition doesn’t end just because he went (to Grand Rapids). I just have to try to work hard every day and prove to the coaching staff and to (general manager Steve) Yzerman that I deserve to be up here.”
Unique atmosphere
Tuesday’s game was the Wings’ first at Mullett Arena, on the campus of Arizona State, with the Coyotes awaiting the future possibility of a new arena in Tempe for them, after leaving an arena in suburban Glendale after various disputes.
Capacity at Mullett is 4,600 and Tuesday’s game was listed as a sellout, although it appeared there were some empty seats throughout the rink and there were seats unsold on ticket websites.
The crowd was predominantly Wings fans, and with the feel of the rink, it made it a unique atmosphere compared to the 31 other larger NHL arenas.
“It was great. I loved it,” Walman said. “A little college (hockey) atmosphere. It was good, a good change. It would have felt better with a win.”
Lalonde wasn’t sure what to expect but was impressed.
“This whole building has been a pleasant surprise,” Lalonde said. “I’m not different than you guys; you don’t know what to expect. But even the guts of it, our visitors’ room is excellent, our coaches room is excellent. The arena was great, just unique, a little smaller but on the whole, considering everything, it was aces.”
Lalonde, a veteran of the college hockey ranks, agreed with that comparison.
“It did feel like a college hockey game for sure, (and that’s) not a bad thing,” Lalonde said. “They’ve done a real good job with it.”
Red Wings at Golden Knights
▶ Faceoff: 10 p.m. Thursday, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
▶ TV/radio: BSD/97.1
▶ Outlook: Vegas (28-15-2) holds a slim lead atop the Pacific Division standings, but has lost its last two games and is a middling 5-4-1 in the last 10 games … RW Mark Stone is out because of an undisclosed injury … C Jack Eichel (33 points in 32 games) has one point (a goal) in his last four games, with a minus-nine rating.
ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tkulfan