{"id":391590,"date":"2026-01-05T09:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T09:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/391590\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T09:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T09:14:11","slug":"mclellan-would-rather-red-wings-not-have-to-fight-back-dhn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/391590\/","title":{"rendered":"McLellan Would Rather Red Wings Not Have To Fight Back \/ DHN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coach Todd McLellan<\/a> appreciates the resilience of his Detroit<\/a> Red Wings.<\/p>\n

That being said, he\u2019d much rather that they chose to start games on time.<\/p>\n

Sidney Crosby, folks. pic.twitter.com\/yQLgxDJyQp<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

In each of the club\u2019s past two games, the Red Wings dug themselves a 2-0 first-period hole. At Pittsburgh on New Year\u2019s Day, they battled back to forge a point in a 4-3 overtime loss.<\/p>\n

Saturday on home ice, they weren\u2019t so lucky. Down 2-0 again in the first period in the rematch with the Penguins<\/a>, Detroit would go on to suffer a 4-1 setback.<\/p>\n

Bryan Rust opens the scoring with his eighth point in his last six games! \ud83d\udc4f<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa: ABC pic.twitter.com\/8yCAqBEQ7f<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 NHL (@NHL) January 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

As much as he admires the never-say-die approach of his team, McLellan<\/a> would prefer his team to embrace the concept of playing with a lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, the resilience thing, you know, what I was trying to say in Pittsburgh, I hope it came across that way, is that it\u2019s an exceptional quality to have to be able to bounce back and deflect and dig in when you have to dig in,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cBut if you\u2019re in those situations, usually something\u2019s happened to require that. And the starts to some of our games have put us in those situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 22 games this season, the Red Wings have surrendered the game\u2019s first goal. They are 9-10-3 in those games.<\/p>\n

Detroit has trailed after one period in 16 games. Impressively, they\u2019ve battled back to go 8-6-2 in those games.<\/p>\n

Big Difference When Red Wings Show Up From The Start<\/p>\n

On the other hand, when the Red Wings score first, they are 15-4-1. And when they are ahead after 20 minutes, the team\u2019s record is 10-1-0.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, we had that miracle where we were down by four (to the St. Louis Blues) and came back (to win 6-4),\u201d McLellan<\/a> said. \u201cWe can reflect on that and say, whoa, pretty resilient team. But what led up to that?\u201d<\/p>\n

You know the answer, but McLellan is going to explain it anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur starts haven\u2019t been where they need to be,\u201d the coach said. \u201cI think our team has to be a little more direct to start with. We need to establish how we want to play, or try to establish that way instead of feeling our way into the game and figuring out how it\u2019s going to go.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to take anything away from the guys for being resilient, but again, you have to address some of the problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Red Wings are in Ottawa Monday night, a rink where they are 1-6 in their past seven visits. Puck drop is at 7:30 pm. It would be in the Wings\u2019 best interest to be ready to go from the start.<\/p>\n

If you keep digging yourself into a hole, it\u2019s inevitable that eventually, you\u2019re going to get buried.<\/p>\n

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