Red Wings' head coach hints at referees playing favorites following 4-1 loss to Capitals
Photo credit: Yardbarker
Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan had something to say about the officiating during Tuesday night's game, a 4-1 setback against the Washington Capitals.
The Detroit Red Wings saw their postseason odds drop to less than 10% after their unfortunate 4-1 setback on Tuesday night against the Washington Capitals.
Both Detroit and Washington were tied 1-1 entering the 3rd period when the Capitals then rattled off 3-straight goals.
It was eerily similar to Detroit's loss against the Capitals earlier in the month in which they led 2-1 entering the 3rd period, only to surrender 4 goals as part of a 5-2 loss.
One notable aspect of the game was that neither team had a power play, something that head coach Todd McLellan noted in his postgame comments.
We had the same ref tonight that we had in Ottawa, where they called a penalty on Mo (Seider) late in the game, so I didn't think he was going to call anything tonight.
McLellan then continued by calling out Detroit's effort in the 3rd period in which they once again imploded against the Capitals.
The third (goal) makes no sense, we get beat up ice again and don't put ourselves in a situation we have to pull the goaltender. That has to get fixed. That's the only way we're going to improve as a hockey club, rebound from things that don't go our way and to have that happen is disappointing.
We were way better this game than we were (11) days ago. That implosion didn't make any sense to me. This one, so they scored the second (goal), what are we going to do? It was a sneaky shot, fortunate, we're still OK. So give your teammates a chance to use the six minutes to pull the goaltender and we're going to overtime at 2-2 or losing 3-1. We look up with three minutes left and it's 4-1. That can't happen.
You still have to check for your chances, you can't open it up and pout and get lazy. Perhaps we did that and maybe that's the lesson we're learning.
We were way better this game than we were (11) days ago. That implosion didn't make any sense to me. This one, so they scored the second (goal), what are we going to do? It was a sneaky shot, fortunate, we're still OK. So give your teammates a chance to use the six minutes to pull the goaltender and we're going to overtime at 2-2 or losing 3-1. We look up with three minutes left and it's 4-1. That can't happen.
You still have to check for your chances, you can't open it up and pout and get lazy. Perhaps we did that and maybe that's the lesson we're learning.
| POLL | ||
MARS 19 | 218 ANSWERS Red Wings' head coach hints at referees playing favorites following 4-1 loss to Capitals Are the Red Wings officially too far out to make the 2025 playoffs? | ||
| Yes | 131 | 60.1 % |
| No | 87 | 39.9 % |
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