Red Wings Fall Behind, Fight Back, Come Up Short . . . Again

For a guy who’s grown up in an era of MP3s and Spotify, evidently Detroit Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond knows what it sounds like when the record’s stuck. And boy, is his team ever stuck in a bad groove.

Thursday, the Red Wings dug themselves a 3-0 deficit against the Ottawa Senators. They gamely fought back to lose 4-3.

Thing is, in the NHL, you don’t get a cookie for battling. The only reward comes from winning.

That’s why Raymond and Red Wings coach Todd McLellan were echoing the same response regarding Thursday’s game.

Not good enough.

Often, Detroit players talk about growing and learning from the experience of being in the midst of the playoff battle.

This goal by @timstuetzle18 is #Sens dads approved 👊#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/cPo0ClXS7n

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 27, 2025

Raymond, for one, has heard enough. The time for talk is over. Not it’s all about put up, or shut up.

“It feels like a little bit of a repeated record talking about that and where we want to go,” Raymond said. “And I think now it’s just about time to show up. It’s about getting it done.

“You can say however many times you want that we’re going to do everything in our power to get there. But I think for us right now, it’s just about digging in and getting it done and keeping that belief in ourselves.”

Are Red Wings Lacking Belief?

McLellan was also discussing the team’s belief system and how it’s being tested to its limits during the club’s current 5-12-1 skid.

“I go back to when we arrived,” McLellan of taking over as Detroit coach on Dec. 27. “We talked about building up a belief system, and it’s getting tested. It has been getting tested this whole month.

“And it’s not just the wins and losses in your record. It’s about what happens in a game. We’ve seen that multiple times where it doesn’t go our way and it drops off for five minutes and then we get it back. So it’s as much mental as it is physical and structural.”

Performance Simply Not Good Enough

Thursday’s loss was a perfect example of this malaise. In fact, it was a microcosm of the club’s season. Dig a big hole, battle back gamely but ultimately come up short of the objective.

Detroit is still sitting a mere three points out of a playoff spot. And yet, the Wings can’t take advantage of that opportunity dangling before them, because they can’t put together a complete game.

“We play hard, we commit, we do all that type of stuff, but that’s not good enough,” McLellan said. “We have to get better defensively. We’ve got to get better on in the faceoff circle. We have to have better coverages.

We knew this was a good goal right away 🤷‍♂️#GoSensGo pic.twitter.com/way6i7vg4g

— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 28, 2025

“I look at the game tonight. Four-three. Wow. You almost came back. You made it close. But that may be the most outnumbered rush situations I’ve seen this year from our team, anyhow. The first goal was four-on-two. There was real multiple two-on-ones. There were short breakaways where the D was just getting walked from the tops of the circles in way too much.

“Until we learn to take that crap out of our game, we’re gonna need six a night, and that can’t happen. So that’s not good enough. When you use those words, sometimes people think effort or whatever. No, it’s systematic. It’s the mind. It’s understanding the game that’s not good enough.”