DETROIT -- The Red Wings seem resolute in their endeavor to add a touch of drama down the stretch this season.
Once a sure bet to make the playoffs -- and cause a little damage when they got there -- has turned into some serious hand-wringing after another inexplicable loss, 5-4 in overtime Thursday, to the struggling Arizona Coyotes.
Inexplicable? Try inexcusable for a team that not long ago looked like it was poised for a good run in the postseason.
The Coyotes were 1-17-1 in their previous 19 games. They had lost eight straight.
But the Wings, playing at home and coming off what they hoped would be a rejuvenating 2-1 overtime win Sunday over St. Louis, made Arizona look like a Stanley Cup contender -- as they've done against a lot of other also-rans on their schedule lately.
It was an all-too-familiar problem in this game from coach Mike Babcock's perspective.
"The puck kept going in our net," he said, which is his way of saying he didn't care for the way goaltender Jimmy Howard played his position.
It wasn't just this game, however. The Wings have lost seven of their last 10 games in which they've given up an all-too-generous 35 goals.
A goals-against average like that is the kiss of death in the postseason, which is why Babcock is imploring his All-Star goalie to find his game -- and quickly.
"I just want Howie to be Howie," Babcock said before the game. "And Howie wants to be Howie, too. He wants to play every night, and he wants to play well.
"It's hard to be a goaltender in this league, just like it's hard to be a quarterback in the NFL and a pitcher in baseball -- especially doing it every single day, year after year. And when you start not doing it, people start to question you."
So it was after Howard fell to 5-6-2 since returning from a groin injury that kept him out a month. At least three of those goals Tuesday night were imminently stoppable, including -- and especially -- the game-winner at 3:08 of overtime by Mark Arcobello, his second of the game.
Howard was hugging the post to his left and gave Arcobello far too much room, and he slid the puck past Howard well inside the far post.
"I thought we controlled lots of play, but we were chasing the game all night long," Babcock said. "Every time we got something going, they'd score, they'd score, they'd score ... When the puck goes in five times in the National Hockey League, you're not going to win."
Babcock is giving his team the day off Wednesday, when he'll decide which of his goalies start Thursday against visiting San Jose -- the first of three games in four days for the Wings.
Luke Glendening (his 10th), Justin Abdelkader (21) Jakub Kindl (5) and Gus Nyquist (23) scored the Detroit goals. Kindl, who also had an assist with a dazzling stretch pass on Abdelkader's goal, started in place of Niklas Kronwall, who was scratched with a lower-body injury after the pre-game warm-up.
Pavel Datsyuk missed his fifth straight game, also with a lower-body injury. And Erik Cole left the game with a head injury late in the first period.
Babcock, however, would not accept injuries as a mitigating factor in this loss.
"I don't buy that," he said. "Everyone else gets an opportunity to play. I felt we had a good enough lineup to win. The puck went in the net."
That said, repeatedly, the Wings (39-21-12, 90 points) were grateful for the point, which increased their lead to five points over fourth-place and idle Ottawa in the Atlantic Division standings. Both teams have 10 games remaining.
"These kind of games, you want to get two points," captain Henrik Zetterberg said. "But every point you get now down the stretch is important."
Babcock doubled down on that sentiment.
"We got a huge point tonight," he said. "The other side of it is, we lost a huge point. But we also got a huge point, so I'll take that as a positive thing."
