DETROIT — That's a wrap on the Red Wings' season at Little Caesars Arena, and considering the outcome, maybe it's best there's no more games until September.
The home finale was rough. The Wings closed out the home portion of their schedule Monday with a 6-1 loss against Dallas.
The Wings were never in this game.
As the score would indicate, the Stars dominated. Dallas (45-21-14) looked like a team preparing for the playoffs next week, looking to earn home-ice advantage, and the Wings (35-35-10), well, there's two road games and three days left in their season.
David Perron scored his 24th goal to cut the Dallas lead to 6-1 late in the second period. The Wings were more spirited and engaged in the final 20 minutes, but trailing by five, the outcome had long been decided.
Goaltenders Ville Husso and Magnus Hellberg struggled all evening.
Husso was lifted after allowing three goals on five shots, just seven minutes and 50 seconds into the game. Hellberg came on in relief and allowed three goals on 17 shots.
It was a disappointing home ending for the Wings, who finished the season 19-17-5 at LCA.
The crowds were generally larger, more engaged, and reflected the optimism surrounding the Wings this season. For most of the season, there was a decided home-ice advantage for the Wings, despite the team missing the playoffs for a seventh consecutive season.
Coach Derek Lalonde, in his first season, felt the energy from the home fans.
"The beauty about Hockeytown and our fanbase is they're real fans," Lalonde said after Monday's morning skate. "They have a true feel of what's going on. They appreciate how the guys have battled this year. They're seeing flashes of it, and it's gotten them excited, too.
"They give us a jump."
There was little, or no, time for Wings' fans to really get excited in this game.
Roope Hintz (one goal, three assists) opened the scoring, driving to the post and converting a nice feed from the point from Thomas Harley for Hintz's 36th goal, at 4:53 of the first period.
Esa Lindell pushed it to 2-0, cashing in on Hintz' drop pass from the top of the slot, at 7:59.
Ty Dellandrea capped the onslaught against Husso at 12:10.
It was a ragged start all the way around for the Wings, who had hoped to maintain a high level of compete down the stretch against playoff-caliber teams.
"These games are important for us to keep playing the right way," Perron said after Saturday's loss. "Some of the stuff is still at play out there for us. That's something you can look back when we head to training camp in Traverse City next year. Those are details that are going stay with us and the young guys.
"It's only going help the young guys or whoever is going join our group over the summer. It's only going help them jell quicker. I just feel like we've gotten better in a lot of aspects of our game. That's something he (Lalonde) should be proud of as a first-year head coach."
At various points the last several weeks, Perron, captain Dylan Larkin and other veterans have talked about how the Wings wanted to be competitive in these final games, with the message being the Wings wanted to be in those same spots their current opponents were currently - fighting to be in the playoffs, or for playoff seeding.
The Wings had been playing that way. But these last two games against Pittsburgh and Dallas saw the bar fall for long stretches.
"The message before (games has been) we want to be in those spots that they are next year or maybe those important games all the way through the season," Perron said.
