RECAP: Red Wings fall to Senators, 6-3

DETROIT --The Detroit Red Wings fell short on both sides of the special-teams battle in a 6-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon.

The Red Wings and Senators concluded a back-and-forth first period tied, 2-2, with Joe Veleno and Adam Erne both scoring goals for Detroit. Ottawa took a 3-2 lead less than two minutes into the second, but Filip Hronek evened the score with a 5-on-3 goal at 12:14 of the same period. The Senators pulled away with unanswered goals in the final frame, handing Detroit its fifth straight loss.
"When you're involved with five goals-against on the special teams, you'll have zero chance," head coach Derek Lalonde said about the Red Wings, who also finished 1-for-7 on the power play against Ottawa. "At least it's an exact on what to remedy, in that it's special teams."
Goalie Ville Husso made 22 saves for Detroit, which dropped to 13-11-6 overall while the Senators improved to 14-14-2 (30 points) on the season.
"We gotta find a way to take a deep breath and kind of sort it out quicker than we are," captain Dylan Larkin said. "We're letting one thing happen and then we kind of get off our routes, then a lot of things open up for the power play. It starts with winning face-offs and clearing 200 feet. That didn't happen tonight."
NEXT UP: The Red Wings will face the Washington Capitals on Monday night at Capital One Arena.

SCORING SUMMARY

Detroit 1, Ottawa 0 (2:32, 1st period)
Detroit got off to a fast start when Dominik Kubalik's behind-the-goal-line pass went to Veleno in the right faceoff circle. Veleno, who was skating in his 100th career NHL game, sent a shot that snuck through the legs of both Travis Hamonic and Senators netminder Cam Talbot into the back of the net. Elmer Soderblom also recorded his first career NHL assist on Veleno's fourth goal of the season.

Ottawa 1, Detroit 1 (12:47, 1st period)
Drake Batherson put Ottawa on the board when he converted a tough-angle attempt that bounced off Husso's shoulder.
Detroit 2, Ottawa 1 (14:56, 1st period)
Jake Walman took a feed from Pius Suter, then fired a shot from just below the blue line that was redirected by Erne past Talbot for a goal.

Ottawa 2, Detroit 2 (18:42, 1st period)
Alex DeBrincat set up Thomas Chabot from the point for his fifth power-play goal of the season, the most by any defenseman in 2022-23.
Ottawa 3, Detroit 2 (1:40, 2nd period)
Batherson picked up a rebound, then scored on the power play for his second goal of the afternoon.
Detroit 3, Ottawa 3 (12:14, 2nd period)
Filip Hronek, assisted by Lucas Raymond and David Perron, sniped home his seventh goal of the season from the high slot on a two-man advantage to improve his season point totals to 7-18--25 in 30 games. Hronek became the first Red Wings defenseman to reach the 25-point mark within a season in 30 games or less since both Brian Rafalski and Nicklas Lidstrom achieved the feat in 2010-11.

Ottawa 4, Detroit 3 (8:14, 3rd period)
From the right faceoff circle, Claude Giroux threaded in a power-play goal to reclaim Ottawa's lead.
Ottawa 5, Detroit 3 (12:48, 3rd period)
Tyler Motte recorded a short-handed tally off a pass from Parker Kelly for his 13th goal of the season.
Ottawa 6, Detroit 3 (16:49, 3rd period)
Austin Watson's short-handed empty-net goal concluded the scoring on Saturday afternoon.

QUOTABLE

Lalonde on the penalties
"It starts just with some discipline. I think that it limits it."
Lalonde on recent things that the Red Wings can build off
"The one difference, hopefully, is that our 5-on-5 play has been pretty darn good. Even with the previous four losses, you take out the Florida game, our 5-on-5 play was excellent in some areas."
Larkin on battling through injuries
"There's a lot of guys battling through right now, with illness or whatever it may be. Or broken bones, but that's the way it's going right now for us. Everyone's dealing with something, but it's okay."