BREAKING STORIES Red Wings have fired their manager as they have reached an agreement to replace  him with former Tampa Bay Lightning head coach after they lose their seventh consecutive game and lose their NHL Wild Card status. However…

Red Wings lose 7th straight game as they fall out of NHL Wild Card spot

(AP) — Rookie Logan Cooley had a short-handed goal in the first period, Michael Carcone broke a tie midway through the second and the Arizona Coyotes beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Thursday night.

Connor Ingram made 28 stops for Arizona, which also beat Detroit 4-0 last week.

“We played two good games against them,” Coyotes coach Andrew Tourigny said. “They are a team that moves the puck very well and they’re dangerous off the rush and as of late, that is one of our strengths, defending against that. So, that was a good matchup for us.”

Nick Bjugstad put the Coyotes up 3-1 in the third, and Clayton Keller added an empty-netter with 3:04 left.

We were in control,” Tourigny said. “That’s the way we want to play.”

The suddenly slumping Red Wings have slipped out of a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, losing seven straight games in regulation for the first time since early in the 2019-20 season and getting booed off the ice following the latest setback.

This is as tough as it gets,” winger David Perron said. “We’ve got to find a way to bounce back, put our pride on the line and be better.”

Detroit had won a season-high six consecutive games before its current slide, putting the franchise in a position to make the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

Captain Dylan Larkin missed a fifth straight game with a lower-body injury, hurting the team at both ends of the ice.

“It’s not just Larks,” defenseman Ben Chiarot said. “You see the chances we give up and the breakdowns we have. When we’re playing well, those aren’t there. We’re giving up too many chances and that puts too much stress on us.”

Arizona won for just the fourth time in 22 games.

Detroit, which has gotten off to poor starts during its slump, gave up a goal on the first shot it allowed.

Lucas Raymond pulled the Red Wings into a 1-all tie late in the first period on a power play, set up by Patrick Kane’s cross-ice pass, but they were not able to do much more offensively.

Detroit’s Alex Lyon made 23 saves.

The 19-year-old Cooley, drafted No. 3 overall in 2022, scored on a Red Wings power play early in the game, set up by 20-year-old teammate Dylan Guenther.

“They have speed,” Tourigny said. “They scored a big goal on the PK to get us going.”

It was just the second time in 30 years that two players 20 or younger contributed to a short-handed goal and the first since Anaheim’s Brandon McMillan and Luca Sbisa did it in 2011.

“They’re going to be elite players in this league going forward,” Bjugstad said.