The Detroit Red Wings are fighting for their playoff lives as they prepare for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. Detroit is looking to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2016. Unfortunately, head coach Todd McLellan is still looking for more effort out of his players.
Detroit showed this effort against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night. However, their Saturday night clash with the Philadelphia Flyers saw the team turn in another lackluster and flat performance. McLellan recently admitted that he is still trying to get intensity out of his players in practice.
“We address some of it in the video… and then we put it into play in practice. And that's all fine and dandy, but we're going into April. Video and practice should be just polishing things up and away you go. You shouldn't be trying to extract competitiveness or heaviness on the players at this time, but we are,” the Red Wings coach said, via WXYZ Detroit anchor Alex Crescenti.
The Red Wings are still well within range of a playoff spot. In fact, Detroit is one point back of a postseason spot. In saying this, two other franchises — the Flyers and the Ottawa Senators — are also one point out of that same spot.
Detroit only has nine games remaining on its schedule. These remaining weeks will determine what sort of team this group is. Can they put in the effort required to make the postseason, or will the postseason drought extend to 10 years? Detroit will start to answer this question on Tuesday against the Penguins.
