Shorthanded Red Wings fall short vs. Senators

Detroit — The injuries are beginning to mount for the Red Wings, and one wonders if the losses will, too.

The shorthanded Wings fell behind early Friday, rallied to tie, but ultimately lost 4-2 to the Ottawa Senators.

Ottawa’s Mark Stone swept in a loose puck underneath goaltender Jimmy Howard at 7:08 of the third period, breaking a 2-2 tie.

Howard made the initial save on defenseman Stefan Elliott, but the puck squeezed through him and sat uncovered underneath Howard’s body.

BOX SCORE: Senators 4, Red Wings 2

Stone came in untouched from the side and slammed the puck into the open net for his 16th goal.

“One of those I have to do a better job there boxing out,” defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. “Everyone thought he (Howard) had it but obviously he didn’t. If we just do our job and box out, that doesn’t happen.”

Chris Tierney scored his second of the game, an empty-net goal, with 17.1 seconds left to give the Senators the two-goal lead.

Luke Glendening and Dylan Larkin scored for the Wings (14-15-4).

Thomas Chabot scored for Ottawa (14-15-4).

The Wings were without defensemen Mike Green (lower body) — ruled out for the next 3-to-5 weeks by coach Jeff Blashill after the morning skate — and Danny DeKeyser (upper body), and forwards Darren Helm (upper body) and Anthony Mantha (hand), all  still weeks away.

Whether it was because of injuries, or the rugged schedule of late, except for the second period the Wings played slow for most of this game.

“The second was our best period by far, we played way faster,” Blashill said. “In the third, we didn’t play as fast, all of a sudden guys who had pushed the pace slowed their games down a little bit for no reason.

“They (the Senators) scored and they got momentum and were able to muddy the track at that point.”

Ottawa does an effective job of trapping teams once it gets a late lead, and was able to suffocate the Wings.

“They don’t give you much at all and sit back and hold onto the lead,” Blashill said. “We got some chances once we got the puck in the zone, but again, for me we played too slow in the neutral zone once they got the lead.”

Dylan Larkin tied the score at 2 at 12:08 of the second period.

More:Red Wings' Mike Green out 3-5 weeks; Filip Hronek recalled from G.R.

Larkin was in the box for hooking and just as the Wings had killed off the penalty, Frans Nielsen found Larkin alone near the blue line, Larkin breaking in alone for his 14th goal.

Glendening cut the Senators lead to 2-1 with a late first-period goal.

The Wings capitalized on Ottawa miscommunication near the net, and Glendening pounced on a loose puck, backhanding the puck over Anderson’s shoulder at 18:20 of the first period.

Ottawa controlled the opening 20 minutes, taking a 2-0 lead against a Wings team that looked slow and lethargic.

“With two days off we were expecting a better start for sure,” Glendening said. “With the way we played the last two games, but we battled back, but we let it go and that’s frustrating.”

ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com

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