The Red Wings fall to the Rangers again and lose the special teams battle

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings entered the season hoping to close the gap on the teams ahead of them, including elite clubs like the New York Rangers.

Instead, this gap appears to have widened.

The Rangers opened Thursday's game with three second-period goals and scored three power-play goals to defeat the Red Wings 5-2 at Little Caesars Arena.

Detroit fell to 1-3-0 after sweeping the home-and-home series against last season's Presidents' Trophy winners. The Rangers are 3-0-1.

Artemi Panarin scored three goals for his eighth career hat trick and added an assist.

Midway through the second period, the Rangers scored three goals in a span of 3:34 to take a 5-1 lead. Cam Talbot, who made his first start in a 3-0 win over Nashville on Saturday, was substituted for Alex Lyon after allowing five goals on 18 shots behind a shaky defense.

The Red Wings continue to struggle on the power play. They went 1 for 4 but converted late on a JT Compher goal long after the result was decided. They are 2 for 15 in four games.

In the early stages, they had a good opportunity to score first with two overlapping power plays, which gave them a five-on-three for 42 seconds, but they failed to convert.

Panarin then scored two goals – on the Rangers' first shot at 8:30 and then 11 seconds into a power play at 15:39.

Moritz Seider's first goal of the season cut Detroit's deficit to 2-1 at 1:27 of the second minute. But Vincent Trocheck got a Panarin shot on the power play at 8:46, Panarin completed his hat trick at 11:42 and Victor Mancini extended the lead at 12:20.

The Red Wings lost 6-2 in the second period of their home games against the Penguins and Rangers. Both times, a three-pointer within a short period of time sent the starting goalkeeper to the bench.

The Red Wings visit Nashville on Saturday (2 p.m., Bally Sports Detroit).