Dreary first period spells doom for Edmonton Oilers in Detroit

The Edmonton Oilers suffered their second straight loss Tuesday night, falling 3-1 to the Detroit Red Wings in Michigan.

The Red Wings scored two goals in 52 seconds just before the halfway point of the first period.

Wings forward Dylan Larkin walked in front and scored a power-play goal. Then Patrik Nemeth pounded a long slapshot past a screened Mikko Koskinen.

The Wings outshot the Oilers 13-5 in the period.

After the game, Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said it’s becoming more difficult for the team to routinely try and dig itself out of a hole.

“It wears on you,” he said. “I mean, it’s a heck of a lot harder to chase a game than it is to play with the lead (and) that’s the way the game’s built right now.

“So that’s frustrating for us. But I thought we pushed hard. It wasn’t from a lack of effort. We’ve got to find some scoring in our lineup somewhere.”

Koskinen made several good stops in the second period to hold the Oilers within two.

Tippett said his team needs to push past the frustration from a lack of goals.

“Sooner or later, somebody’s going to capitalize on one of those opportunities,” he said. “I mean, Nuge (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) had a couple good opportunities in the second period. We’ve got to find a way to chip in throughout the roster here a little bit.

“We’re a little dry right now, but hopefully it’ll come.”

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The Oilers finally applied pressure in the third and broke through with 7:12 left on Leon Draisaitl’s tenth goal of the season.

Detroit’s Andreas Athanasiou had a breakaway 20 seconds letter, but Koskinen stretched out to make a left leg save.

The Oilers went on a power play with 6:25 to go. Goaltender Jimmy Howard held strong in the Red Wings’ net to preserve the lead.

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Wings defenceman Filip Hronek sealed it with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Oilers captain Connor McDavid said his team can take away a thing or two from a high energy Red Wings team.

“They skate well, I mean all their lines,” he said. “Their D skate well too. They just clutch and grab and hold up throughout the middle there, it slows the game down. So credit to them, they did what they had to do..

“I thought we did a good job battling back in the third, making it a game there, and having a bunch of opportunities to tie it. But we started too late again.”

Nugent-Hopkins said he wants to take ownership over the team’s lack of secondary scoring.

“I mean, I put a lot of that on myself right now,” he said.

“It’s not going in for me, I’ve got to find a way. Whether I’m banking one off my legs and in, or something like that, something’s got to start going. So I take a lot of responsibility in that, and I want to get that going.”

The Oilers (8-4-1) will play in Columbus on Wednesday night.

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