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The Detroit Red Wings are falling out of postseason contention as the 2024-25 season nears its end. The Red Wings knew it would be difficult to make the playoffs, given their brutal second-half schedule. Still, the manner in which Todd McLellan's team has fallen is hard for fans to watch. And things did not get any better at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Thursday against the Ottawa Senators.
The Red Wings received ample opportunities to score, receiving five power plays early in the contest. However, the league's third-best power play unit entering this game could not convert. As Detroit failed to score, Ottawa began capitalizing. And McLellan recognized this trend took the wind out of his team's sails.
“What did we have? Five power plays in the first 22 minutes of the game. Couple things happen, you don't score. Other team gets a lot of confidence, their goaltender starts to feel real good. You wonder if it will ever happen. And you're wearing out seven, eight players,” the Red Wings coach said, via a clip shared by FanDuel Sports Network Detroit.
“I think it showed up in the second period. I didn't think we had a lot of legs and a lot of power to get through things. So it affected us that way. And the fact that we had the chances and it didn't go in, yet at the other end, they score two of their first three shots. That's generally really deflating.”
Todd McLellan's Red Wings fall to Senators despite late push
The Red Wings fell behind early in Thursday's contest against the Senators. Detroit allowed two goals in the first period, as McLellan alluded to after the loss. In the second period, ex-Red Wings winger David Perron made it 3-0 Ottawa.
Detroit did not go down quietly, however. Patrick Kane scored his 19th goal of the season in the third period to make it a 3-1 game. After an Ottawa goal, Lucas Raymond found the back of the net to make it 4-2. In the final minutes, Vladimir Tarasenko scored against his old club to pull Detroit within one. However, it was too little, too late, as McLellan acknowledged in his postgame presser.
The Red Wings have fallen to a record of 33-33-6 with this loss. Detroit is losing momentum in the postseason race with 10 games remaining. They will look to get back on track when they take on the similarly struggling Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
