The Detroit Red Wings can learn a lot from playoff teams.
While they're still a few pieces away from contending for a spot, there's plenty they can take away from other games. The Ottawa Senators' embarrassing humiliation in their opening series shows that good goaltending is meaningless without grit. The Tampa Bay Lightning, on the other hand, show just what championship culture looks like.
During Game 4 of their series against the Montreal Canadiens, the Lightning struggled to score early on. At the midway mark, they were down 2-0 and, by all accounts, looked lifeless. Fans called for the firing of head coach Jon Cooper and demanded trades to make the Lightning better next season.
Then the first goal came. The second soon followed.
Before they knew it, the Lightning overcame a 2-0 goal deficit to win the game 3-2, evening the playoff series. Rather than let the adversity define them, the Lightning chose to let it motivate them, surging ahead to even up their series.
The Red Wings need to build their culture in a similar way.
How the Red Wings can mirror the Lightning
Now, to be completely fair, the Red Wings don't remotely possess the same talent level the Lightning do. Few NHL teams come close to a team with the likes of Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Andrei Vasilievskiy. That said, this doesn't mean they're incapable of learning from a contending team.
Take a look at the Florida Panthers, who absolutely brutalized the Red Wings in the season finale. Yes, they're back-to-back Cup champions. Yes, the game's outcome was meaningless. That said, 15 of their 24 starters were injured during that game. The game was meaningless but they still showed up. Their depth contributed. They didn't take a single shift off. They were outmatched in terms of talent by the Red Wings but they still managed to absolutely manhandle the roster.
There's something to be learned from this kind of relentlessness.
One of the biggest problems of the Red Wings is the passive play. When they're down a few goals half the roster collapses in on itself. They go on autopilot. The hunger and desire to make an impact evaporates. Blaming a lack of talent on this kind of attitude isn't conducive to building a winning culture. Even if they're outmatched and the game appears hopeless, they still need to show that they care.
The Lightning show they care. The Panthers show it. The Red Wings need to get better at it if they're to be taken seriously at any level.
The first thing the Red Wings should focus on is their focus on dealing with adversity. The Detroit Lions welcome it. They made facing improbable odds their identity. Now, they're one of the top franchises in the NFL (don't look at how last season went). The Red Wings need an identity beyond letting Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat handle the offense.
They need to be more like the Tampa Bay Lightning.
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