Now that the month of March is over, the Detroit Red Wings have eight games remaining on their schedule and insist that they're sticking together.
For the third time in their last four games, the Detroit Red Wings fell behind 3-0 against a club they're battling with for postseason position.
Before the first 20 minutes of Tuesday's game in Pittsburgh against the Penguins was in the books, the Red Wings trailed 3-0 and 14-5 in the shot counter, eventually dropping a 5-1 final score.
It was the latest missed opportunity to add badly needed points in the win column, and another example of a sluggish start, despite being challenged twice in the past week by head coach Todd McLellan to play with greater intensity and “heaviness.”
Forward Andrew Copp, who is well aware of the recent comments from McLellan, said that their initial preparations for the game were positive.
“I thought the first couple shifts actually weren’t bad, then, yeah, one ends up in the back of the net, so it looks like it was a bad start,” Andrew Copp said. “I thought our team talk was good. All our prep was good, the third (Penguins goal) was probably the backbreaker that deflected, kind of a bad bounce.”
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However, despite the recent slide, Copp said the Red Wings are not only sticking together but that they're still alive in the race to end their playoff drought.
"We have eight games left, and we're sticking together; we're absolutely not out of it," he said. "We got a lot of help tonight, that was huge. We've another huge game Thursday, and we can't linger and say woe is us."
We're sticking together, and we've got eight games to prove it."
In order for the Red Wings to make the playoffs now, not only will they need to start putting points in the column, but they'll also need outside help.
Given how scorching hot their competition had played in March, that's not a likely scenario.
Regardless, there is still plenty that can happen between now and the beginning of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 18.
If the Red Wings are to participate in them for the first time since 2016, they'll need to ditch the poor habits and sluggish starts that plagued them for so many games in March.
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