The Detroit Red Wings managed to make history last month, pulling off a historic comeback victory over the St. Louis Blues and marking just the fifth time in their history that they won a game in which they initially trailed by four goals.
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While they didn’t make history on Saturday evening when a nearly identical situation happened to them in reverse, it still stirred familiar feelings about what has gone wrong for the franchise throughout its lengthy postseason drought.
The Red Wings had a 4-1 lead over the Buffalo Sabres at the midway point of the second period on Saturday evening, only to eventually blow the lead and lose in overtime by a 5-4 final score.
Not only did the Red Wings fail to convert on two key power-play opportunities in the game’s final frame, but they also surrendered a shorthanded breakaway goal that knotted the score.
Head coach Todd McLellan, who was hired nearly 11 months ago to help bring a new level of accountability to the franchise, stated the facts as plainly as he could afterward on what needs to happen in order for Detroit to get over the hump.
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“I’ll take you all the way back to Traverse City — on the first day (of Training Camp) we talked about game management and learning how to play certain situations,” McLellan said. “Clearly, we haven’t learned that yet. I don’t know if you could write a script like that. We’re short-handed, trying to score and creating turnovers.”
“Until this group figures out what’s important at certain times of the game, we’re going to have those nights,” he continued. “Simple as that.”
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During the setback, the Red Wings once again surrendered multiple odd-man rushes against the Sabres, who have now won both matchups against Detroit so far this season.
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Perhaps even more frustrating for Detroit is that dropping points against a team like the Sabres—who sit in last place in the Eastern Conference, could ultimately be the difference between making or missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs in such a tightly packed race.
Detroit can’t afford to allow points to slip away like that, especially in games where they had a multi-goal lead. But if they can’t figure out the kind of game management skills that McLellan routinely refers to, it could be deja vu again.
“Until we value it and figure it out, I’ll be talking about this again,” McLellan said.
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