The Red Wings suffered a lopsided loss against the Florida Panthers in their regular-season finale, a performance they admitted nobody should be proud of.
The Detroit Red Wings capped another late-season collapse with the most lopsided loss of their centennial campaign in their regular-season finale against the Florida Panthers.
The Red Wings allowed eight goals for the first time since November 2022 as part of an 8-1 loss, closing out the year in disappointing fashion just days after they were officially eliminated from playoff contention for the 10th straight season.
Frustrated head coach Todd McLellan's postgame media availability session, during which he made it clear everyone should feel embarrassed about their performance, was brief.
But the players echoed their coach's sentiments, starting with J.T. Compher, who said he felt the club didn't respect the game the way they played.
“Brutal, horrible. There's really not much to say about it," said Compher, who completed his third season with the club. "No one in that room tonight should be anywhere near proud of anything that happened on the ice tonight."
"We didn’t play like we had respect for the game tonight, and that was the result,” he continued. “When you don’t respect an opponent or a game or anything in this League, that’s what happens.”
Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features.
The Red Wings were tied for the first overall spot in the Eastern Conference in late January, appearing well on their way to ending their long postseason drought.
But incomplete efforts down the stretch of the season proved costly, ultimately resulting in the Red Wings missing the playoffs and taking ownership of the longest active playoff drought in the NHL from the Buffalo Sabres, who are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2011.
"I think we'll probably have more, tougher conversations with ourselves internally over the next few days, but it was not putting together 60 minutes of detailed hockey enough, and it's very hard to do around that time, after the deadline, when teams are fighting for position, but that's what it takes," Compher said.
While the Red Wings finished the season with 92 points, the most they've accumulated in a season since their most recent playoff year in 2016, they still stumbled to a 9-15-5 record in their final 29 games.
"It's such a fine line," Compher, who won the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche in 2022, said. "We're not too many points away from where we wanted to go to get into the playoffs and give ourselves a chance to make a run, but it hurts like hell to be in this situation again."
"It's gotta be every guy, every single night, more detailed in our game in what we want to do. And that's how you win in this League."
Never miss a story by adding us to your Google News favorites!
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.