The Detroit Red Wings’ playoff aspirations have been dealt a blow after a defeat to the Ottawa Senators. The Red Wings, who were fifth in the Eastern Conference at the start of the month, have now dropped to 10th with just 11 games remaining.
Senators Leapfrog Red Wings in Eastern Conference Standings
The Senators, despite missing their two best defensemen, managed a 3-2 victory in regulation at Little Caesars Arena. This allowed them to leapfrog the Red Wings in the standings. “Obviously very, very disappointing outcome tonight,” defenseman Moritz Seider said. “You have the chances, you play good hockey, but then simple mistakes end up in the back of the net.”
Seider added that while it was frustrating, there were “plenty of games left, great challenge in front of us, great opportunities, and got to make the most out of it.”
McLellan Laments Sluggish Performance
Coach Todd McLellan noted his team’s sluggish performance. “We were a little bit slower, little bit sluggish for whatever reason,” McLellan said. “We put pucks into areas that we wanted to, but we didn’t win those areas after.”
McLellan added, “Got some pucks to the net, but we didn’t get to the screen or the tip-in or deflection areas — which I thought we did against Boston, but we didn’t do that tonight against Ottawa.”
Opportunity Remains Despite Recent Losses
Despite the loss, there is still a chance for the Red Wings to recover. Key players are returning from injury, with captain Dylan Larkin scoring on the power play in his return against the Senators. The Red Wings also benefitted from other results, with the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins all losing in regulation.
McLellan said this Red Wings team would write its own story in the month of March. He noted that it was another month in a season, and that there were new faces in the locker room from the ones that went through late-season collapses in the past three seasons. Up to this point, the story sure has been familiar.
The Red Wings had won all three previous meetings against the Senators entering the night. After an overtime win in Ottawa less than one month ago, it looked like this Detroit team might be ready to change that.
After suffering consecutive regulation losses, at home, to teams in that same race, what happens elsewhere has to be secondary. It’s all about what the Red Wings are doing. And on Tuesday, the answer was … not enough.
All year, McLellan has…