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The Detroit Red Wings entered this week playing extremely well for head coach Todd McLellan. McLellan sparked the Red Wings to seven straight wins before a loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday. However, they have now lost three of their last four games following Sunday's loss to the Dallas Stars. And McLellan believes he has an idea of what's gone wrong.
McLellan spoke with FanDuel Sports Network's Trevor Thompson after the loss on Sunday. He mentioned noticing a shift in how his team has approached the game. This shift, in his mind, has led to poor results. It's something he is looking to correct as they play five of their next eight games on the road.
“Right now, I think we're a reactive team when a couple of weeks ago we were proactive. We were getting after it, and now we're waiting to see what happens and reacting to it. We've got to fix that, and we will,” McLellan told Thompson on Sunday night.
Red Wings' Todd McLellan acknowledges positives in Stars loss
The Red Wings did not put their best foot forward on the road against the Stars. Dallas jumped jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period. While Detroit kept Dallas at bay in the second period, it certainly wasn't enough to win on Sunday night.
However, the game wasn't all bad for the Winged Wheel. For instance, Detroit threw 34 shots on goal, which is a rarity for this team. In fact, their 34 shots on goal against the Stars marks the fourth-highest single-game shot total for the 2024-25 season, according to Evolving Hockey. Todd McLellan acknowledged some of the positive aspects of his team's performance on Sunday.
“There's some good in the game, too. There's no doubt about it — we're disappointed we lost. But there's individuals who have to feel good about how they played tonight. There's others who made some mistakes that are preventable, so that's not the end of the world. But we need to quit shooting ourselves in the foot,” the Red Wings coach told Thompson on Sunday night.
McLellan went on to mention some of the more significant mistakes the team made. He spoke about two, in particular. The Detroit bench boss says cleaning up those crucial mistakes can go a long way toward avoiding a sense of frustration from settling in.
“You look at the first one — the turnover. The penalty kill goal we gave up, we're stumbling all over ourselves and it's in the back of the net. You just take those two away early in the game and it's different. I want the players to understand that, but we have to fix things,” McLellan said.
The Red Wings close out this four-game road trip with a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday. Detroit certainly needs a win against a fellow Wild Card contender in the East. Let's see if McLellan's squad can pick up the important two points before returning home for a three-game homestand.
