DETROIT — There is a new candidate for the Red Wings' worst game of the season.
And it might be difficult to out-worse this one.
The Wings were never really in it Tuesday as the Arizona Coyotes — occupying last place in the NHL overall standings heading into the game — handily defeated the Wings 9-2.
This, after the Wings put together another candidate for season's worst Saturday, a poor 6-2 loss in Florida.
That's three consecutive losses for the Wings (24-27-6) and six losses in the last eight games, as the Wings hit a definitive rough spot in their season.
The lone bright spot for the Wings: forward Jakub Vrana returned to the lineup after shoulder surgery, played in his first game, and scored a power-play goal.
Robby Fabbri (power play) scored the other Wings' goal, Fabbri's 17th goal and third in three games.
But nearly every other aspect of the Wings' game was not good enough.
The team defense, particularly down low and around their goaltender, was shoddy on Arizona's first three goals.
The Wings have allowed at least five goals in five of the six losses during this eight-game stretch, including 10 goals to Toronto and Tuesday's nine to Arizona.
Offense has dried up a bit, with the Wings only scoring five goals in the last three losses.
And the goaltending, though not being helped with the defense in front of them, is struggling.
Alex Nedeljkovic started Tuesday, was replaced by Thomas Greiss in the second period, but returned after Greiss allowed two goals on three shots. Nedeljkovic stopped 19 of 26 shots.
The Wings talked after Saturday's loss about the need to not get discouraged with the recent losing, but the way they pushed back after the loss to the Panthers wasn't ideal.
"We can't be deflated or frustrated," said forward Sam Gagner after the Florida loss. "We have to find ways to improve.
"We're trying to building here and we've had stretches where things have gone real well and we have to find that consistency. You take lessons from games like (Saturday) and try to build, and hopefully be better next game."
But obviously that didn't turn out to be the case.
"We have to find consistency in our game," Gagner said. "We played well, we played great against Carolina (last week), but we have to build off those good games and find ways to be consistent with it, be an every night team.
"It's a tough league and you play against good teams all year. We have to keep finding ways to build and get better."
Nick Schmaltz had two goals and two assists for Arizona, Jakob Chychrun had two goals, Barrett Hayton assisted on three goals, and Clayton Keller had a goal and two assists as quite a few Coyotes got healthy offensively. Goalie Karel Vejmelka stopped 26 shots, as Arizona (17-35-4) climbed out of 32nd, into 31st, overall in the NHL.
The return of Vrana was a bright spot for the Red Wings, who have missed his goal-scoring ability.
Coach Jeff Blashill started Vrana with Pius Suter and Tyler Bertuzzi, though it sounded after Tuesday's morning skate that will fluctuate for the time being. Blashill tried several different combinations through Tuesday's games.
"We’ve had a little bit of movement in the (Dylan) Larkin line (during the season)," said Blashill after the morning skate. "We’ve had (Filip) Zadina there, had Bert there, (Vladislav) Namestnikov there. We’ve kept (Lucas) Raymond and Larks together. Bert and Fabbs and Suter have had lots of moments of being really good, not quite as good here lately.
"That’s where I’m going to be fluid, might try different line combinations as we go through the game without turning it into a blender."
The happiest Arizona Coyote, incidentally, only played one shift.
Veteran forward Phil Kessel started and played 30 seconds - Kessel also nearly scored - before leaving the ice. The Coyotes arranged a charter flight to have Kessel fly back home for the birth of his first child.
