Todd McLellan has a stern message for his team immediately after losing 7-2 on Thursday
Photo credit: NHL.com
Detroit Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan made a stern statement about his team following Thursday night's tough 7-2 loss to the New York Islanders.
The Detroit Red Wings lost in back-to-back games, and on the same occasion, the first rank of the Atlantic Division.
Straight losses to the Buffalo Sabres and the New York Islanders put an end to the team's five-game winning streak, and the team looked especially disorganized last night in Long Island.
In his post-game press conference, Todd McLellan explained what went wrong and sent an important message to his players.
Todd McLellan Sends A Message To The Whole Locker Room In Press Conference
A lack of effort, concentration, execution, and energy led the Red Wings to give up seven goals to the New York Islanders.
Todd McLellan didn't hesitate to call out what went wrong for his team in the last two games:
"On this road trip, we haven't done a real good job of handling [adversity]. That's a huge area of growth for this team. When it doesn't go your way, how do you respond?
We didn't start well in Buffalo last night, but we responded a little better as the night went on. Here, we didn't start well and never got it going.
Certainly, there's the on-ice product that has to be worked on, but there's the between-the-ears part that has to be managed as well."
We didn't start well in Buffalo last night, but we responded a little better as the night went on. Here, we didn't start well and never got it going.
Certainly, there's the on-ice product that has to be worked on, but there's the between-the-ears part that has to be managed as well."
For him, players didn't do a great job of managing the puck, which led to turnovers and goals, with the same issues worked on since the 5-1 home opener loss to the Montreal Canadiens showing up again:
"Our puck management through the neutral zone or in the offensive zone led to multiple rushes going the other way.
Our sort-out coming into our end was nonexistent, really. They found the fourth man, the third man. They scored off rebounds.
Areas that we worked on, tried to put time into, corrected or thought we corrected after Game 1, they showed up tonight."
"We didn't generate enough early. It gets to 7-1, or whatever it was, it's garbage time. They're playing a different game and getting through it.
Maybe some calls even went our way, so we got some time on the power play, but not enough from a lot of players offensively as well."
Our sort-out coming into our end was nonexistent, really. They found the fourth man, the third man. They scored off rebounds.
Areas that we worked on, tried to put time into, corrected or thought we corrected after Game 1, they showed up tonight."
"We didn't generate enough early. It gets to 7-1, or whatever it was, it's garbage time. They're playing a different game and getting through it.
Maybe some calls even went our way, so we got some time on the power play, but not enough from a lot of players offensively as well."
The Red Wings will have an opportunity to bounce back tomorrow against the St. Louis Blues.
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