@ Detroit

The script remains unchanged, even if the names on the back of the sweaters occasionally rotate. Watching Calle Jarnkrok and Nicolas Roy jump out to a two-goal lead felt like finding a twenty-dollar bill in an old jacket, only to realize the jacket is currently on fire. Naturally, the second period served as a cold reminder of reality, as the defense decided that covering Lucas Raymond and Patrick Kane was merely a suggestion rather than a requirement. Letting a 2-0 lead vanish into a 3-2 deficit before the second intermission is the kind of mid-tier trauma that keeps the fan base humble and the local liquor stores in business.

Max Domi tried to play the hero by knotting things up early in the third, briefly tricking everyone into believing this team possessed a backbone. That illusion lasted about four minutes before Raymond struck again, proving that the Wings were more than happy to exploit a blue line that surrendered 35 shots while only managing 23 in return. By the time Simon Edvinsson and Andrew Copp were padding the stats with empty-netters, the familiar numbness had fully set in. It’s a special kind of talent to make a three-goal loss look both inevitable and exhausting, but if there's one thing this franchise excels at, it's finding new ways to deliver the exact same result.