Red Wings Frustrated By Poor Execution

DETROIT — Can you run out of patience after the Detroit Red Wings opening game of the season?

Coach Todd McLellan sounded like that when he discussed how and why his Detroit Red Wings fell 5-1 to the Montreal Canadiens in Detroit’s home opener.

As a mid-season coaching replacement, McLellan did what he could to apply Band-Aids Detroit’s issues last season. But now that he’s starting the season with the team, he’s been clear about how he wants his team to play and he is pledging to hold the Red Wings accountable if they don’t play that way.

This was supposed to be a memorable night, the start of the Centennial celebration. Axel Sandin Pellikka, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard and Emmitt Finnie played their first NHL games. The crowd was into it. And the Red Wings didn’t deliver their best effort.

“Todd’s going to come in here and if he’s harder, I can see it, ” Larkin said. “I don’t really have a good answer for you, but it was out on the ice. We showed it. And like I said, it’s even more disappointing because it was such a special night. The crowd was so good and those three guys playing in their first NHL games, you always want to make it special. And there wasn’t much going on that was special.”

Frustration in Game 1

McLellan’s frustration resulted from his team’s forecheck being rendered ineffective by some Montreal two-on-one breaks. Canadiens were behind Detroit players too often. Larkin said the game felt chaotic “and a lot of the chaos was self-inflicted.”

“We just spent three weeks, three and a half weeks at training camp dealing with these situations,” McLellan said. “Now if it happened once or twice in a game, be okay. But there’s seven, maybe six or seven outnumbered rushes at the end of the first period from the 10-minute mark on and it’s unacceptable. We’ll have to drill it back into them.

If the Red Wings can’t make their forecheck work against Montreal, then how are going to make it work against higher-octane offenses like the Edmonton Oilers, Vegas Golden Knights, Tampa Bay Lightning or Toronto Maple Leafs.

“I thought we started the game well, we were on our toes, we scored, we gave up that first goal, Exactly something we pre scouted and an individual or two made an error,” McLellan said. “… You could feel the air go out a little bit, but we should be able to keep and sustain. All of a sudden, you’re chasing the game and the coach is bitching and complaining about outnumbered
rushes. You lose your offensive edge, too, and now you’re caught in between. Did we create some chances down the stretch? Yeah, but in garbage time, it doesn’t matter.”

Boos Showed Up

The home crowd booed the Red Wings at times. Nine years without qualifying for the playoffs gnaws at everyone, even when there is 81 games left in the regular season.

“We earned the Bronx boos, whatever you want to call them,” McLellan said. “We earn those and it’s up to us to fix it.”

Because this is an Olympic season, the schedule is condensed. They play the Maple Leafs Saturday and Monday in a home-and-home.

“We have to fix it quick because this schedule this year we play every other day,” Larkin said.  “… the stuff we were doing out there was over the top. And you know. I think we’ll fix it. I think Todd is gonna probably give it to us as he should.”