The Red Wings squandered a lead to the Blues, showing their worst and finest qualities.
DETROIT – Todd McLellan had a lot to be unhappy about on Saturday. It was evident that the coach was upset when he saw his Detroit Red Wings squander 3-1 and 4-2 advantages to the St. Louis Blues after the Red Wings had held the Blues scoreless for over a whole period of the game. He was also dissatisfied with how the collapse in Detroit transpired, becoming “sloppy” after building up multigoal leads at Little Caesars Arena.
Yet, as McLellan spoke following a 5-4 that should have been avoided—one that, according to forward Keegan Kolesar, “ruins the rest of the day”—he found himself pausing before fully boiling over.
“I should be losing my marbles, but I’m not,” McLellan remarked. “However, I believe that the group can accomplish this and correct it.”
A game that Detroit led by two goals with 12 minutes left shouldn’t have ended in a regulation defeat. It’s difficult to accept, let alone not obtain any points from that circumstance. But as McLellan processed the letdown, he discovered himself feeling more upbeat.
“I still enjoy everything we’ve been doing,” he added. “I agree. This might be beneficial for us. For instance, we were starting to get at ease, we still understand what we have to accomplish—we must do it. It doesn’t just magically appear and, boom, you have it. And to be honest, I believed we were doing it—and doing it effectively—in the first period, the first period and a half. … It’s possible that we got a little complacent or lackadaisical, and it bites you back. So, a really important lesson for our team.”
McLellan would have entered the media area and lighted his players after a game like this at times during his two years coaching the club. A game they ought to have won and one they squandered due to careless play and defensive mistakes.
And perhaps his decision not to criticize the team on Saturday was partly due to what the group has already experienced. It’s also because the Red Wings outplayed the Blues in a lengthy series of games. In the same game, they showed their greatest and worst. Let’s go over what happened.
1. McLellan’s first and a half periods were no mistake. On Saturday, the Red Wings gave up a goal early when a loose backcheck allowed Blues player Dalibor Dvorsky to score a simple backhand goal. The Pistons’ defense, on the other hand, was almost flawless for the following thirty minutes. In the first three minutes of the game, Dvorsky scored, and Detroit didn’t allow a shot on goal for the remainder of the first period—and then for nine more minutes of the second.
