Game Day Open Thread: vs. Atlanta

Published
by
Matt Saler
on November 25, 2009
in 2009-2010, GameDay and Thrashers
. 1 Comment

So, the Thrashers are an even 10-7-3 so far this season and 0-1-2 in their last three. The Wings are 11-7-4 and 1-1-1 in their last three. We’re not exactly talking a hot matchup here. Which may be what both teams need: a kind of blank slate meeting with another team that’s hit a rough patch.

Could be interesting. Could suck. Which will it be? You can find out tonight at 7:30. If you have FSD+.

Three more thoughts:

Eaves got shafted.

Babcock’s defense rotation will be interesting.

Ilya Kovalchuk’s shot vs. Jimmy Howard. Scary.

Wings 1, Predators 3

Published
by
Matt Saler
on November 24, 2009
in 2009-2010, Game Reports and Predators
. 6 Comments

First period: My thoughts after 20:

First period now over. Not impressive on Wings’ part. NSH looks like a team on a win streak. Wings look disoriented.

Not deep analysis on the Preds side, but you know what I mean. Nashville looked like a hot team: they had all the confidence and energy of a team firing on all cylinders. Meanwhile, the Wings looked like they were in trouble.

They managed to escape the first down by only one goal, but only because of one man.

Osgood: He came to play last night. He looked very strong and was the only reason the game didn’t get out of hand. I want to see more nights like that, Oz.

Penalty killing: Two of three goals allowed last night came while the Wings were on the PK. One of them looked like the photo Ellen posted today. As Drew wrote this morning, “… you could throw a blanket over all four of the Wings…”. And one of them is interfering with his own goalie.

PKing has been better this year, but it still needs a lot of improvement. The Predators have their threats, but never should the Wings allow two PPGs to them.

Bertuzzi: Even typing his name is a waste of pixels. He has singlehandedly ruined Pavel Datsyuk’s season. Worthless.

Miller: Best game as a Wing. Doubtful we’ll see many more drives to the net like that from him again given that he’s not that kind of player, but it’s good to see his confidence level growing. He’s in the right place to have success.

Erat: Since when does he have that kind of a rocket as a shot? I’m a little annoyed he scored from Brett Hull’s office twice on Osgood, but they were such good shots it’s hard to fault Oz on them. Defense should have had him covered.

Versus: Just when you think a Versus broadcast can’t get more painful and offensive to the ear? They break out even crappier announcers. Ugh. They sucked.

To be fair, I did notice a higher number of informative replays from Versus. By that I mean one or two. Finally getting it, if slowly…

Mac: The one upside of the Versus broadcast was Darren McCarty, who looked hilariously awkward in his suit and on a TV set. He managed to make a factual error on Osgood (claimed he was making his return from illness last night…when in fact he did on Friday) in his first three spoken sentences, but otherwise he did a good job. Hope to see more of him when we’re subjected to Versus again.

Nashville fans: Please note, you’re at an NHL game, not an Ice Vols one. College-level coordinated chants don’t really apply. They’re funny coming from a student section. They’re classless coming from adults and pro fans.

Also, a hat trick is three goals by one player. Not three goals by your team.

Credit: To the Predators. For playing a very strong, high-energy game. They really wanted it and showed it by playing tight defense and dangerous offense. Too many Wings passes were intercepted by the Preds for my taste, but that takes hard work. Same with all the offensive opportunities generated.

The Wings managed 16 shots in the third, but because of the Preds earlier effort as well as a last-stand mentality in the third, it didn’t matter.

Starts and Finishes: The Wings need to find a way to consistently excel at both because right now they’re doing one or the other (if either) more often than not. Last night was a major case of failing to start well and it killed them.

They’ll have a chance to work on that tomorrow night at home against Atlanta.

Laraque Gets Five Games

Published
by
Matt Saler
on November 23, 2009
in Links, NHL, Niklas Kronwall and Suspensions
. 1 Comment

Bob McKenzie had it first.

Five game suspension for Georges Laraque.

Good to see him punished, but @marl0nbrand0’s got it:

Five games for a fourth liner still doesn’t soften the blow of losing a top 4 defenceman for potentially 2 months.

Game Day Notes: @ Nashville

Published
by
Matt Saler
on November 23, 2009
in 2009-2010, GameDay and Predators
. 2 Comments

… The Wings’ll play their third game in four days tonight in Nashville. The Predators will be in their third in five.

… The Preds are currently riding a five-game winning steak and have won six of seven. Since a six-game losing steak in October, they’re 9-3-0, so this is a team on the rise.

… They played on Saturday and beat the Jackets 3-4 in OT. Their last loss was on the 10th to San Jose (4-3).

… They’re just one point behind the Wings with 25, so they’ll be motivated tonight.

… The Tennessean is characterizing this as a “battle of Swedes” because of the Preds’ Patric Hornqvist and his playing a style similar to Tomas Holmstrom’s.

… Colin Wilson (groin) is on the IR and Wade Belak (lower body) is day-to-day.

… Shea Weber (Damager of Brains) has five goals already this season, which is three more than the highest-scoring healthy Red Wings defenseman, Brian Rafalski, has put up. Three of them came on the power play, so here’s hoping the Wings’ penalty killing is ready to go tonight.

… It looks like Pekka Rinne will start tonight. He’s 9-4-0 with a 2.38 GAA and .914 save percentage. Another good young goalie for Nashville.

… The Wings are coming off a tough win in Montreal Saturday night. They played most of the game with only five defensemen due to Niklas Kronwall’s knee injury, but managed to pull out a win in a shootout.

… With Kronwall out for 4-8 weeks, Derek Meech will get some regular playing time. It looks like he and Lebda will be paired together, while Ericsson will move up to play with Stuart.

… I haven’t seen anything official on any other lineup changes, but it’s possible Babcock will insert May back in at Maltby’s expense.

… Osgood should get the start tonight.

… This’ll be a good test of the Wings’ latest version of the roster. Losing Kronwall was a major blow to team defense and the hot Predators won’t be easy to handle (even if they’re not exactly high-scoring).

… Darren McCarty will be the color guy guest studio analyst tonight on Versus. Should be interesting.

Kronwall Update: Severe Knee Sprain, 4-8 Weeks

Published
by
Matt Saler
on November 22, 2009
in Injuries and Niklas Kronwall
. 1 Comment

You’ve probably already seen this (been at in-law’s all day), but I’ll relay it anyway: The latest on Nik is that he’s got a severe knee sprain and is out 4-8 weeks. It sucks to lose him for any length of time, but that sure beats 4-6 months.

In the meantime, it looks like the Wings will give Meech a try on the third pairing. Ericsson will see time with Stuart, which should lead to a better improvement curve for him.

If Meech isn’t panning out, who knows what they’ll do? Calling someone up wouldn’t automatically be an improvement over Meech, but Kronwall’s not really out long enough to make bringing in outside help worth it.

Wings 3, Canadiens 2 (SO)

Published
by
Matt Saler
on November 22, 2009
in 2009-2010, Canadiens and Game Reports
. 1 Comment

Update (6:20 PM): Zetterberg quote fixed below. Brain cramps are debilitating… - Matt

First off, a Kronwall update: The latest today is that it’s a grade-2 or -3 sprain and that he’ll be out 2-3 weeks. However, that’s a preliminary diagnosis (possibly handed down by the training staff) and isn’t the final one. He has to go through more tests today.

Second, a Laraque response: The AP quotes him as saying,

“There were four refs [sic] on the ice and they didn’t call anything. If they called a match penalty it would be different. There was no intent. There was no reason why I would try to go and hurt him. It was a pure accident, that’s why they called it tripping, so I’m not worried at all.”

Sorry, Georges, but you may have something to worry about. My wife pointed out that the NHL seems more likely to hand out suspensions when the refs don’t call the play to the full extent. Had he gotten a match penalty that early in the game, there’s a decent chance the NHL would have considered that to be enough of a punishment. As it stands now, however, he could be facing a game or two.

Third, the Wings’ response: To the hit that is, and I don’t mean to the media (predictably condemning). On the ice, the Wings didn’t respond in spectacular fashion—in fact, aside from the immediate aftermath through the power plays, much of the rest of the game was frustratingly flat on their part—but they managed to battle through the loss of their #3 defenseman and pull a win out of the fire in a very unfriendly environment. That counts for something.

Now for the negative: Was it just me or did Nick have a weak game? His pass around the boards that led to the tying goal was very uncharacteristic and the main reason that goal happened. I know some of you want to blame Lebda on that play, but Nick’s pass was so weak, there’s no way Lebda could have gotten to it before the Montreal forward.

Zetterberg let the team down with a weak defensive play on Cammalleri at the actual point of scoring the goal, but the trigger to the whole thing was Nick’s pass around the boards. He also had some moments at the offensive blueline that were unsettling. He’s allowed the occasional off night, but it’s still disconcerting.

Bertuzzi: I’m completely out of patience for the guy. He’s dragging Datsyuk down to average player level with his black hole of suck. That is the real tragedy of the Filpulla and Franzen injuries and even the Williams injury. If any one of those guys were healthy, we could be watching Datsyuk thrive with one of them as a winger rather than Todd “Dead Weight” Bertuzzi.

How horrifying was it to see him quarterbacking the second power play unit in the first period? Ugh.

Zetterberg: Quote of the night:

“The puck was nightnot my friend all the way in.”

Referencing his battling a bouncing puck all the way in on his shootout chance. I guess he and the puck worked out their differences as he won the game on that shot.

Next up: The Wings’ll be in Nashville on Monday. The game will be aired on the Darren McCarty Television Network.

Laraque Takes Out Kronwall With Knee-on-Knee

Published
by
Matt Saler
on November 21, 2009
in Injuries and Niklas Kronwall
. 8 Comments

Update (10:13 PM): Babcock just told Ken Daniels that Kronwall hasn’t been seen by the team doctors yet (must not have traveled with team). That would explain the lack of an official update during the game.

Daniels asked him if he thought it might be some months and Babcock didn’t know (only has trainers diagnosis), but was able to say “It ain’t pretty, I can tell you that.” Great. I think a sprain is out. We’re looking at another major, long-term injury.

He also characterized the Laraque play as “unacceptable.”

I’m not sure Kindl, Janik, Meech or another similar option’s going to cut it here. Give Chelios a look, Kenny. - Matt

Update (8:51 PM): George thinks it could just be a “couple weeks” sprain based on the fact that Nick could put some weight on it as he went off. I hope so. - Matt

Update (8:19 PM): Video:

Via Kukla. By the way, the Wings scored 2 goals on the power play fest that Laraque triggered. - Matt

Horrible news from Montreal: Nik Kronwall left the Wings/Habs game tonight with an apparent left knee injury.

He suffered the injury on a delayed penalty play involving George Laraque, who was already headed to the box for high-sticking Darren Helm. Laraque stuck his knee out and caught Kronwall’s left knee, tripping him up and taking another penalty.

Nik was helped to the lockerroom and will not return. No word yet on the severity of the injury, but it does not look good. He’ll received X-rays tonight. It’s not pessimistic to think it’s likely to be serious.

If that’s correct, we could see Jakub Kindl get the call-up. He’s still very green, but has improved and, while he’s not as ripe as the Wings like their prospects to be, he may be able to make due in the NHL. Doug Janik is another option. There’s also Derek Meech, obviously, but don’t count on an increased role for him.

But maybe it’s time for the Wings to reconsider their stance on outside help and their decision to part ways with Chris Chelios. Cheli could be signed out of the AHL at a middling rate and could be a definite help. With Andreas Lilja still out indefinitely, the possibility of bringing in a veteran rather than relying on an unproven young player seems to me to be the more attractive option.

All of this is assuming Kronwall’s out for a while, but given the nature of the play, I don’t think that’s an unreasonable assumption.

Laraque, by the way, should be suspended given his history. It wasn’t as egregious as a Marcment knee-on-knee, but it was reckless and dirty.