Penguins miss chance to clinch playoff spot in loss to Red Wings

DETROIT – The Pittsburgh Penguins had an opportunity Tuesday night to clinch a playoff spot for the 13th straight season.

They had a chance to build some late-season momentum, too.

All they had to do was go into Detroit and take two points away from a team that is hovering around the 13th spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

They didn’t really come all that close.

Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Mantha scored two goals apiece and the Penguins spent most of the game chasing the Red Wings en route to a 4-1 loss.

They’ll get their next chance at clinching a playoff spot when they face the Red Wings again Thursday night at home.

“We can’t be frustrated. It’s a useless emotion at this point,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “We’ve just got to make sure that we get ready for the next one, and that’s the mindset that we have to have. We’ve been in the playoff mode here for three weeks, four weeks. Nothing’s changed in that regard. We still have to solidify a playoff spot. We’ve got to be ready for the next game.”

The loss ensured the third-place Penguins will not catch first-place Washington in the Metropolitan Division race. They’re five points back with two games to play. They’re two points behind the second-place New York Islanders as well, so they’ll need help if they want home-ice in the first round of the playoffs.

If it’s any consolation, they’re still in the driver’s seat in the battle to claim the third guaranteed playoff spot in the division, thus avoiding wild-card status. They’re two points up on fourth-place Carolina and three points ahead of Columbus and Montreal, who are tied for eighth in the conference.

Their magic number remains two. Any combination of two points gained by the Penguins or lost by Montreal or Columbus will ensure a playoff berth.

“You only have so many chances to clinch,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “We’ve got these guys again, so we’ve got to regroup. We did some good things. We’ve just got to limit our mistakes and find a way to execute a little better around the net. If we do that, we’ll get the result we want.”

The Penguins faced an uphill battle Tuesday night because their offense continues to struggle. They’ve scored a total of 18 goals in their last nine games.

Phil Kessel scored on a two-on-one with Crosby late in the first period to snap a streak of 29 games without an even-strength goal, but that was all the offense the Penguins mustered.

“I don’t think we had the puck enough in the offensive zone,” Sullivan said. “We were forcing plays that weren’t there. As a result, we were robbing ourselves of the opportunity of forcing them to have to expend energy defending us.”

Sullivan mixed and matched line combinations throughout the game, looking for an offensive spark. He said his confidence in his team’s offense has not waned, however.

“I know this team can score,” Sullivan said. “When we play the game the right way, I know this team can score.”

Despite their unimpressive spot in the standings, the Red Wings are among the hottest teams in the league. They’ve won six in a row, thanks in large part to a sensational run from the top-line combination of Bertuzzi, Mantha and center Dylan Larkin.

The line struck four times against a patchwork Penguins defense that was playing without top-pair defensemen Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin.

“They put pucks into areas if you get your shots blocked, and then it’s a footrace and they’re pretty good at it,” defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. “That was their game plan and they executed it.”

Detroit’s third goal illustrated Gudbranson’s point well. Larkin collected a puck along the boards deep in his defensive zone and bounced an unremarkable clearing attempt up the middle of the ice. Mantha raced past Marcus Pettersson and swept it past Matt Murray to make it 3-1.

“They’ve got speed,” Crosby said. “There were times early in the third where we were carrying the play, we got good zone time, then they flick a puck and they get an opportunity. We have to expect that.”