From The Silky Mitten State: Are there positives to be taken from the Red Wings playoff push, despite the cruel conclusion?

For the Red Wings, the season ended cruelly and suddenly on Tuesday night in Montreal, thanks to an empty-net goal in a tied game 450 miles south in Philadelphia.

"It's hard—gutting," said captain Dylan Larkin after the game. "We're pretty sad in here. To see it come to an end—we have a great group of guys, a fun year, a great year—to see it come to an end like that is very sad, very hard."   "I wish we had more with this group," he continued. "Wish we had the opportunity to play in the playoffs. It would've been so much fun."

"For this team, the way that we battled whether it was to come back in games or just find ourselves in this position, it was incredible," said Patrick Kane. "It was like nothing I've ever seen. There's no quit in this team. Really had a lot of fun playing with these guys and playing for the team here in general."

"We became more selfless," reflected David Perron. "It was all about the team. Many ways to see that: guys blocking shots, guys maybe having left ice time, all that stuff, maybe playing the right way. When you do that, maybe it seems like you take away from your offense, but in the end, playing in these big games, big moments, it kinda goes the other way."

In both Kane and Perron's statements, there are inklings of the positives to be gleaned from Detroit's push for the playoffs, despite the sting of the ultimate result.  On the most recent episode of The Silky Mitten State, my co-host Connor Earegood and I discussed some of the benefits the Red Wings can derive from their end of season fight for a postseason bid.  Here's a sample of that discussion:

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