The Detroit Red Wings were mathematically eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs after a 5-3 defeat to the New Jersey Devils at Little Caesars Arena on Apr. 12, which also marked their final home game of the regular season.
This outcome means Detroit will miss postseason play despite having been in contention earlier in the year. The team has two games left before closing out its season.
Head coach Todd McLellan said, “When we went to Training Camp, we had three goals in mind. One 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, but since the Olympic break, we didn’t have much of that, and it ended up costing us.”
Goaltender John Gibson made 27 saves for Detroit (41-30-9; 91 points), while Jake Allen stopped 25 shots for New Jersey (41-36-3; 85 points). Captain Dylan Larkin said, “Those games in February and March, you have to accumulate points as much as you can, and I said that earlier this year. We put ourselves in a good spot, but we didn’t get the job done.”
Detroit took an early lead with Justin Faulk’s goal but could not hold off New Jersey’s response. After trading leads throughout much of the game—including goals by David Perron and rookie Emmitt Finnie—the Red Wings conceded three unanswered goals late in the third period.
Reflecting on missed opportunities down the stretch, Lucas Raymond said: “We had plenty of opportunities throughout this season, especially down the stretch here, to seize different moments.” McLellan added about recent months: “You’re out by 20 points, you’re out by five points – no matter how you get there, it’s hard. It’s hard on everybody…you got to take a step back and look at what we did or didn’t do.”
The Red Wings host games in downtown Detroit according to their official website. The franchise is one of six original teams in National Hockey League history according to their official website and has won eleven Stanley Cup championships according to their official website. The team represents Detroit as its top-performing American franchise within the league according to their official website.
Detroit will conclude its regular season with an away matchup against Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.
