This is the third straight season Detroit has struggled down the stretch, fallen out of a playoff spot and failed to qualify for the postseason, but this is the most painful.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 24, the Red Wings were tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for first in the Eastern Conference and had a 12-point cushion in the playoff race. Since then, they have gone 9-14-4, ranking 28th\u00a0in points percentage (.407), 30th\u00a0in goals per game (2.59) and last in 5-on-5 goals (41).<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we went to training camp, we had three goals in mind,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cOne was to get physically harder to play against. The second was to build up the resilience and the mental toughness, and the third one was game management. I thought we were making gains in those areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut since the Olympic break, we didn\u2019t have much of that, and it ended up costing us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detroit let too many points slip away.<\/p>\n
The Red Wings blew a 3-1 third-period lead and lost to the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 in overtime March 4. They blew a 3-2 lead with 1:30 left in the third and lost to the Florida Panthers 4-3 on March 10.<\/p>\n
After rallying from a 4-1 deficit to tie the Minnesota Wild 4-4 in the third period April 5, they gave up a goal with 1:51 to go and lost 5-4. They blew a 3-2 lead with 16.2 seconds left in the third and lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 in a shootout April 7.<\/p>\n
Then came Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can accept the pressure as a challenge, or you can succumb to it, and we seem to choose the second one,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cSo that\u2019s the way it is, and the only way to get out of it is, you work your way out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the game, the players stood at center ice to salute Paul Woods, the longtime radio analyst who is retiring after this season. Amid cheers for Woods, there were more boos.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt stinks, obviously,\u201d forward Lucas Raymond<\/a>\u00a0said. \u201cWe had a clear goal coming into this year, and we didn\u2019t do it, and we had plenty of opportunities throughout this season and especially down the stretch here to seize different moments. That\u2019s disappointing for us.\u201d<\/p>\n