Todd McLellan praised the event and applauded his team’s effort.
A couple of lapses, however, and perhaps a missed call cost the Detroit Red Wings Saturday in a 5-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Ohio Stadium before the second-largest crowd to attend an NHL game (94,751).
“We talked about, like, whatever the result was going to be, as long as we had a good effort, we should cherish what we just went through here,” McLellan told media in Columbus. “It’s a really unique experience. It was an incredible night. The league, the city of Columbus, the Blue Jackets deserve a lot of credit for the way they put this game on. It was really smooth and first class all the way through. I think the fans got a hell of a game to watch, and we’ll all tell those stories 10 years from now.
“But you’d love to end that story by saying, ‘Oh, by the way, we won,’ and we can’t do that now. I think we played well enough to win, but we have work to do managing it.”
Justin Danforth fired in his own rebound with 2:17 remaining in the third period to snap a 3-3 tie and the Blue Jackets (30-22-8) swept the two-game set from the Red Wings (30-24-6) to move two points ahead of them into the top wild card spot.
The Red Wings felt they deserved a better fate with a 46-21 edge in shots and a dominant third period that included goals by Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat (his second of the game with 3:24 to play) to erase a 3-1 deficit.
“I thought we played a hell of a game,” McLellan said. “When you think of the type of game we played two nights ago in Detroit (5-2 loss) and the response that we got … we were aggressive. But at the end of the day, we have to learn how to win those games and not lose them.”
Danforth’s goal was a bit controversial as he high-sticked Simon Edvinsson while entering the zone, taking the defenseman out of the play. Officials discussed the play but opted not to call a penalty which would have negated the goal.
“I got a stick up in my face. I won’t comment anything more on that,” Edvinsson told reporters. “To lose on that, it sucks. It’s very frustrating.”
Dylan Larkin said of the explanation from officials: “They said Simon was falling down and going into the stick. It’s a stick in the face and we still have two guys who’d like to make the play, but we didn’t, and they scored, so we didn’t even get a point. That’s a tough one, especially clawing our way back in that game.”
McLellan did not harp on it.
“We should never be in that situation, not with the two D-men back there,” McLellan said.
Kane said his team played to the game plan.
“Wanted to shoot a lot of pucks, get a lot at the net,” Kane said. “Obviously, anything can happen in this type of environment. Comes down to one play here or there. Everyone wanted it on the bench for each other. The vibes are great, but just didn’t get it done. So obviously we need to be better in those game-winning type situations to make a play here, there, play it safe and make sure we’re at least getting a point in those situations. Especially when you come back, it’s almost even more disheartening to lose that way.”
