Dylan Larkin’s best friend pretty much assured that the Detroit Red Wings captain will be spending another spring without playoff hockey.

Zach Werenski, Larkin’s former Michigan Wolverines teammate and his off-ice bestie, scored the winner as the Columbus Blue Jackets came from behind for a 4-3 shootout victory over the Red Wings on Tuesday.

“Not much to say right now,” was Larkin’s post-game assessment. “That’s a letdown and in tough fashion again.”

Coupled with wins by the Ottawa Senators (6-2 over the Tampa Bay Lightning) and Philadelphia Flyers (5-1 over the New Jersey Devils), the Red Wings are now three points behind the Sens for the second Eastern Conference Wild Card spot for the NHL playoffs.

In reality, though, they trail by four points. The Wings would lose the tiebreaker to Ottawa, so they must finish ahead of the Senators.

Yes, Detroit got a point on Tuesday, but it was about as pointless a point as they could get.

“We know we have to give everything every night, try and get two points every night,” Detroit defenseman Justin Faulk said. “Right now, we’ve got a hill to climb.”

And it’s a steep one at that.

“We’re in must-win territory now,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said.

“We’ve just got to keep playing and win and put ourselves in as good a spot as we can and get help,” Larkin added.

If that sounds like a lot of hope to be clinging to, that’s because it is.

We’re supposed to believe that a team that’s won back-to-back games just once over the past 28 games is suddenly going to reel off four wins in a row?

Sorry folks. Ain’t gonna happen.

Red Wings Did This To Themselves

The playoff chances of the Red Wings sit today at 6%, and that seems like an optimistic number.

Perhaps the saddest part about this latest Hockeytown letdown is that it is entirely self-inflicted.

The Red Wings simply couldn’t get out of their own way.

They were 17 seconds from a regulation win on Tuesday when Adam Fantilli tied the game for Columbus. Sunday, in a 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Wild, Detroit battled back to tie after entering the third period down 4-1. Then a foolish penalty by Patrick Kane led to Minnesota’s game-winning power-play goal.

“I hope (this loss is) not the one and I hope the Minnesota one is not the one that is the final nail in the coffin,” Larkin said. “And I hope we get some help and we have something to play for, to get in.”

That’s an awful lot to hope for, Dylan.

Especially considering that these are just the latest examples of the Red Wings’ self-inflicted wounds.

Remember when they were 1:30 away from a 3-2 victory in Florida and lost 4-3? How about when they squandered a 3-1 third-period lead to the Vegas Golden Knights and lost 4-3 in overtime?

Two years ago, the Red Wings fought gallantly to the finish line, missing the playoffs on a heartbreaking tiebreaker. Last season, they rallied impressively from the depths of the standings following a mid-season coaching change, but ran out of steam down the stretch.

This season’s failure is no one’s fault but their own. On Jan. 24, the Red Wings were first in the Atlantic Division, 12 points clear of the playoff cutoff.

And they still aren’t going to make the cut.

“It’s not a good feeling right now,” Faulk said.

Sadly, though, it’s become an all-too-familiar feeling for this team.