The Detroit Red Wings fought back against the Montreal Canadiens. In both games this week, Montreal had leads in the home-and-home, sometimes by more than one goal, that pushed Detroit to the limits.
Every time, the Red Wings fought their way back and grabbed four points from Montreal. However, their strong efforts were not enough as they were eliminated by the Washington Capitals' win against the Philadelphia Flyers. That win came moments before the Red Wings won in the shootout on a Patrick Kane goal.
Detroit did what they needed to do, almost. Win against Montreal and have Washington earn one point or no points at all.
The Capitals found a way to grab two points instead, ending a promising finish the Detroit's season. The finish to the season is a heartbreaking one but one cannot fault the organization, whose players fought till the very end and put everything into the final push.
The Detroit Red Wings had a tough ending to an overall good season
They could do no more as they got the points they needed to earn a spot but Washington had other plans.
The players, especially Lucas Raymond, played extremely hard the past few weeks to get into this position. The team was dedicated to winning, motivated to play in the playoffs, and played every game down the stretch like it was their last.
The roster deserves a lot of credit for not giving up and pushing through the tough times to be in the mix.
Most players are emotionally spent as this run took a lot out of them but now they can sit back, be frustrated for a bit, and then it is back to work. The emotional run is over but it is not due to a lack of effort.
This version of the Red Wings has no quit. They were behind against the Toronto Maple Leafs and got two points. They were down in both games against the Canadiens and got four points.
This team is not like the teams in the past of the Red Wings as they fought until the final whistle. There were hiccups throughout the season that could have been beneficial if games had different outcomes.
Detroit had played well out of the gates. They went 6-3-2 in October and were one of the highest-scoring teams in terms of goals. However, things would later change as the Red Wings would go 3-9-1 from December 7, 2023, through December 31, 2023.
After the struggles in December, they got back to winning in January but that, once again, went backward as Detroit went 2-8 in late February to early March.
Couple this with the lower-body injury to Dylan Larkin and the struggles of the defense and goaltending, Detroit was going backward instead of forward.
With that said, they did battle back to get into the playoff race once again. With everything that happened throughout the season, they got back to being within striking distance of a playoff berth late in the season.
Their efforts came up just short in the final five minutes. A strong effort in the end but it was not in the cards this season. General Manager Steve Yzerman has work to do to further strengthen this roster but with little cap space to work with. This off-season should be interesting.