{"id":542850,"date":"2026-04-05T23:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T23:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/542850\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T23:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T23:07:14","slug":"todd-mclellan-blames-patrick-kane-for-red-wings-deflating-loss-vs-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/542850\/","title":{"rendered":"Todd McLellan blames Patrick Kane for Red Wings’ deflating loss vs Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

Todd McLellan<\/a> is one of the most direct and vocal coaches in the NHL. The Detroit Red Wings\u2018 bench boss calls it as he sees it. He definitely didn\u2019t sugarcoat his thoughts on Patrick Kane\u2019s late penalty, after the 5-4 defeat in regulation against the Minnesota Wild.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurts to not get anything out of this game,\u201d McLellan admitted, via NHL.com<\/a>. \u201cEspecially on a penalty 150 feet from our net and away from the play.\u201d McLellan\u2019s comment was a clear shot at Kane<\/a>\u2018s stick infraction that handed the Wild a late power play opportunity.<\/p>\n

Being booed off the ice at the sound of the second-period horn certainly served as a wake-up call for the Red Wings<\/a>. In the third period, they found their footing and tied the game at 4\u20134 after trailing 4\u20131. However, there was still time left for the Red Wings to trip over the same stone once again.<\/p>\n

Kane had scored the equalizer, yet he followed it up by committing a nonsensical tripping penalty on a possession-less Quinn Hughes. Minnesota<\/a> went on the man advantage, and Kirill Kaprizov cashed in with 1:51 left in the game\u2014and that was all she wrote for Detroit. <\/p>\n

\"Todd<\/p>\n

Todd McLellan and the Red Wings are in trouble<\/p>\n

Playoff implications for Detroit<\/p>\n

A win would\u2019ve put the Red Wings in a playoff spot with five games left in the 2025\u201326 NHL<\/a> season. Instead, they remain in the jam-packed fight for a wild-card spot. A divisional ticket is no longer available, as the loss to the Wild meant the Montreal Canadiens punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. <\/p>\n

The only way into the postseason for Detroit is now through the wild card. However, there are six teams fighting for those two spots, so the Wings\u2019 odds decrease tremendously. <\/p>\n

Red Wings\u2019 playoff drought<\/p>\n

With the Buffalo Sabres clinching a playoff spot for the first time since 2011, and snapping their 14-season playoff drought, the Red Wings could now carry the burden of the longest active playoff drought. For a franchise that once prided itself on making the postseason 25 years in a row, these are unforeseen levels of misery in Motor City. Detroit\u2019s last playoff appearance was in 2016, and its last playoff series win in 2013.<\/p>\n

The Red Wings can still turn things around, but the loss against the Wild had the feel of a playoff-elimination defeat, even if it was in a regular-season outing. Needless to say, McLellan, Kane, and company can\u2019t afford to point fingers around the locker room. Instead, they must figure out a way to make the postseason and avoid yet another heartbreaking end to the season.<\/p>\n

SurveyWill the Red Wings make the Stanley Cup Playoffs?<\/p>\n

Will the Red Wings make the Stanley Cup Playoffs?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Todd McLellan is one of the most direct and vocal coaches in the NHL. The Detroit Red Wings\u2018…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542851,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5101],"tags":[599,93,5137,5,38,4,60585,2821,3358,5138,1930],"class_list":{"0":"post-542850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-red-wings","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-red-wings","10":"tag-detroitredwings","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-minnesota-wild","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-nomsn","15":"tag-patrick-kane","16":"tag-red-wings","17":"tag-redwings","18":"tag-todd-mclellan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116354616877225921","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}