RECAP: Detroit handed 6-3 loss in Dallas

DALLAS -- The Detroit Red Wings dropped a 6-3 decision to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Monday night.

Goalie James Reimer made 29 saves for the Red Wings (14-9-4; 32 points), who are winless in their last three games. With the victory, the Stars improved to 16-8-3 (35 points).

“I think we scored enough goals to win,” Andrew Copp said. “I think we created enough to win, for sure. I think the PK let us down and a little bit too much d-zone.”

Daniel Sprong gave Detroit a 1-0 lead at 5:19 of the first period. After aggressive forechecking from Christian Fischer forced a turnover in Dallas’ defensive zone, he got the puck to Robby Fabbri in the left face-off circle. Fabbri passed to a wide-open Sprong in the slot, who scored his seventh goal this season.

The Stars tied it, 1-1, at 13:35, lighting the lamp on the first power play of the night for both clubs. Fabbri exited at 18:10 after taking a puck to the face, but returned in the second period.

Dallas took a 2-1 lead with 0.1 seconds left in the first, beating Reimer with a shot through traffic from just below Detroit’s blue line.

“You never want to give up one in the last minute,” Copp said about the Stars’ buzzer-beater goal. “And then just the way it happened, a little bit of a back-breaker.”

After extending it to 3-1 at 11:15 of the middle frame, the Stars made it a 4-1 just 2:13 later. The Red Wings responded at 13:51 when Jonatan Berggren knocked home a rebound on the doorstep, trimming the deficit to 4-2. Joe Veleno and Shayne Gostisbehere assisted on Berggren’s first goal with Detroit this season.

“Needed it,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said about Berggren’s tally. “I liked the goal. We had some net presence there.”

Bringing Detroit back within one at 13:21 of the third period, Joe Veleno scored a power-play goal in the crease to make it a 4-3 game. He was assisted by Alex DeBrincat and Gostisbehere.

But Dallas answered again, extending its lead to 5-3 on the power play 30 seconds after Veleno’s seventh goal this season. Then at 19:18, the Stars potted an empty-netter to put the game out of reach.

“I think we built confidence over the course of today’s game,” Copp said. “I think we were a little shaky about how it was going to go, just missing those guys that we are. But hopefully we built a little bit of confidence and that we can play with anybody at any given time if we’re playing the right way.”

NEXT UP: Looking to snap their three-game winless streak, the Red Wings will battle the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Tuesday night.

Perron suspended six games for cross-checking

Shortly before Monday’s puck drop, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced that David Perron was suspended for six games, without pay, for cross-checking Ottawa Senators defenseman Artem Zub during Saturday’s game in Detroit. In 26 games this season, Perron has seven goals and six assists.

QUOTABLE

Lalonde on Reimer’s night

“Reimer battled extremely hard after end-period goal, which was really good on him. He gave us (an opportunity) being within a goal late in the game. We needed everyone and he was part of that.”

Copp on Detroit’s defensive game against Dallas

“In the d-zone, we weren’t as quick to close on guys today for sure. Their power play is really good. We got to clean that up a little bit. We got to stop the trend. I think we were going really well there for about seven games to get out by seven goals. We got to find that again.”

Copp on how to generate offense with key forwards out of the lineup for the near future

“We scored three (goals) tonight. Three is enough to win. We had a bunch of chances that didn’t go. We have guys up and down the lineup that can score. Obviously, we’re missing three of the big boys for sure.”