from Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News,

"Special teams were a big part of it," said coach Derek Lalonde of the Wings' loss, as Colorado scored a shorthanded and power-play goal with the game in the balance. "But probably a little bit of credit to their high-end guys. This will be frustrating, but a reality of where we are down the stretch here. The underlying numbers will say we played a pretty good game but we didn't execute and their difference makers were difference makers.

"We had some flashes of pretty good hockey but not enough."

Pius Suter had the Wings' goal, while goaltender Ville Husso stopped 16-of-21 shots before being replaced by Magnus Hellberg in the third period.

"The game felt a little out of reach and he (Husso) wasn't sharp," Lalonde said. "Five goals on (21 shots) is not ideal. It's a frustrating game for him but we're going to play him through it. We see a ton in Ville and we think he can be a real good goalie for us. He's shown that this year."...

Since the Wings (30-29-9) defeated the New York Rangers Feb. 23 to climb above the playoff cutline, they've only won two of 11 games (2-8-1).

"We have to finish things out the right way," Larkin said. "We can't just go out there and not give it our all. We have fans coming to the rink, good crowds with good energy in the building and we have to show up and build on that and play hard."

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