For the Detroit Red Wings, opening night needs to not be forgotten

Some quick thoughts on Game 1 of the season in Detroit.

First a programming note, I’ll have something tomorrow morning on the game between the Dallas Stars and Winnipeg Jets. I’ll be watching that game back via replay later tonight and have something quick on that game as well. Will do my best to write as often as I can on both teams throughout the season this way.

It was a rough opening night for the Detroit Red Wings in a 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

But maybe, and hopefully, for the Red Wings it won’t be forgettable.

That’s been one of the problems for Detroit over the past couple seasons. Difficult performances, letdowns or no-shows were simply explained as a blip on the radar, something that they’d figure out, no big deal, right?

Well, a nine-year playoff drought, begs to differ, and part of Todd McLellan’s ongoing challenge in Detroit, which started in the middle of last season, has been helping eradicate that overly patient mentality within the Red Wings locker room.

McLellan preached that throughout training camp, it’s why veterans like Justin Holl and Erik Gustafsson were surpassed on the depth chart by rookies. But no matter what teams say about training cap — best shape of your life season, right? — there’s nothing more sobering than watching the Montreal Canadiens simply slice-and-dice your defense for numbers odd-man rushes on opening night and then bear the brunt of boos from the home fans.

In his public comments McLellan ignored the silver linings, Dylan Larkin did the same. Instead of finding positives, both found additional negatives, even finding ways to ignore positive probing questions about how the three rookies played.

And that’s what Detroit, frankly, needs this season. For a team that’s been vocal about finding a new standard, this loss was the first key opportunity to prove they actually care about living up to those statements.

Larkin, multiple times, said he wasn’t panicking, but his eyes and demeanor in the media availability told a more important story. There was slight fear and frustration, dealing with the reality that after all the positive talk about the turnaround he, once again, was facing questions on opening night about a laugher in the wrong direction.

The reality here is this — the Red Wings haven’t earned the benefit of the doubt, even from themselves — that they’ll figure this out. And for the players and the coaches, falling flat like they did in Montreal has to become an opportunity, a Game 1 wake-up call that if this whole re-build is going to work, they are going to have to find a way to hold themselves accountable.