Detroit Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan once again called out his players after they dropped a 5-3 final to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday evening.
Fresh off their 5-2 victory over the Atlantic Division-leading Buffalo Sabres on Friday evening, the Detroit Red Wings returned home with the opportunity to get back into a Wild Card postseason position.
Instead, they were doomed by another slow start - this time against the Philadelphia Flyers, who jumped out to a 4-0 lead before withstanding a furious comeback rally, eventually winning 5-3.
Not only did the Red Wings allow multiple odd-man rushes and breakaways by the Flyers, but their urgency level until the final five minutes of play with so much on the line once again seemed lacking.
Afterward, head coach Todd McLellan pulled no punches and said that his team's performance was nothing short of disappointing.
“Disappointed in that performance, we’re not getting tricked either by the three goals at the end of the night that made it close. That was a disappointing response after a big win for us in Buffalo."
Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features.
McLellan has previously called out the performance of some of his players as being nothing more than “jerseys” on the ice, and he seemed to revisit that sentiment, saying he knows they’re capable of more.
"I think there’s more in a lot of guys," he said. "I think some guys came to compete, but not think at all. The stuff we did is Training Camp material, and here we are at Game 72, so I’m disappointed.”
Just as they did against the Senators, the Red Wings had their would-be first goal of the game washed out because of an offside zone entry.
However, McLellan doesn't believe that it should have been a momentum killer for his team.
“It’s a rule. We broke a rule and got caught," he said. "They lost one, too. It’s frustrating, but it’s a rule. It can’t kill momentum, because if the referee or linesman — and it is very hard, obviously, because there are a lot of these calls — but if they were really sharp and caught it, it would be blown down before we even scored, so it doesn’t matter.
“I don’t buy into the frustration of, ‘Hey, you scored, and it didn’t count.’ It should have been blown down anyhow, so it’s no big deal to me.”
After Flyers forward Owen Tippett completed his third career hat trick to increase the lead to 4-0, the Red Wings started a furious comeback rally with goals from Mason Appleton, Alex DeBrincat, and Lucas Raymond.
They pressed hard for the tying marker, but the comeback attempt was ultimately foiled after Flyers team captain Sean Couturier scored into the vacated net.
There has been plenty made about Detroit's slower start to games of late, allowing their opponents to gain the advantage before they begin battling back.
With the standings packed so tightly and with time running out, the Red Wings simply can't afford to keep squandering opportunities to break their lengthy postseason drought.
"A good push at the end, but we've got to start playing way earlier than that," DeBrincat said. "Just didn’t think we started the game very well.”
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.