Sluggish Red Wings Falter Again Early, Lose 5-1 To Penguins
For the third time in their last four games, the Detroit Red Wings fell behind their opponent by a 3-0 score en route to a damaging regulation loss that dealt another blow to their postseason hopes.
Follow Michael Whitaker On X The Detroit Red Wings used all the right kind of words and phrases following their 5-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. Alex DeBrincat called their slow start "unacceptable". Lucas Raymond said they needed to play "with more desperation".
Those words rang hollow on Tuesday evening against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who raced out to a 3-0 lead and a 14-5 shots advantage in the opening 20 minutes of play en route to a 5-1 win at PPG Paints Arena. pic. twitter.
com/g3CsQsRwWj ā Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) April 1, 2026 Once again, the Red Wings were plagued by a slow start against an opponent that, like the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers, had played the previous night. The Penguins scored barely four minutes into the game on their first shot of the night, courtesy of Rickard Rakell. Former Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha haunted his old team minutes later by increasing the lead to 2-0, giving him 30 goals in a season for the first time in his career.
Egor Chinakhov then gave Pittsburgh a 3-0 advantage late in the frame. Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news , game-day coverage, and player features . For the second straight game, goaltender John Gibson was pulled in favor of Cam Talbot, who played the final 40 minutes.