The Wings threw away two one-goal leads on the way to a 2-2 tie with the Stars last night in Dallas. Manny Legace made the start for the Wings.

The Wings opened up the game fairly strong, as did the Stats. They had some pretty good scoring chances and both teams skated well. Pavel Datsyuk opened the scoring at 7:32 with his 24th goal of the season and 50th point. He beat Turco cleanly from the top of the left circle while skating in by himself. Turco probably should have had that one since it wasn’t quite on the same level as The Goal of earlier this year. The Wings then went on to blow two full minutes of a double-minor power play before finally getting some half-decent chances in the second half. That power play was indicative of the others for the rest of the night. The Wings got very little done on the power plays because they could get almost no set-up. The Stars tied it up at 18:34 on the power play when David Oliver scored. Manny Legace had no chance on the goal because it was deflected a couple times before reaching him. The Wings had a slighly more productive power play at the end of the period but nothing too exciting.

The Wings started the second finishing up that last power play but again, got nothing done. This is when the Stars really started to play better than the Wings. They had a very good forecheck going that had the Wings hard pressed to get out of their own zone. This lead to some good scoring chances on the part of the Stars, especially one where Brett Hull turned the puck over at the blue line, thinking Pavel Datsyuk was trailing. Fortunately, Manny was able to make the saves for the entire period and the Wings’ defense was able to hang on if only just barely.

Tomas Holmstrom scored the go-ahead goal at 3:11 of the third period but the Stars came back to score the final goal at 13:48. This goal was deflected as well but was more the result of some mistakes comitted by the Wings. I was not able to watch much of the third period so I can’t explain exactly why it happened but the Wings put themselves in the position to give up a goal. Unfortunately, Dave Lewis put Datsyuk, who was awful on faceoffs all night (3-for-17) in at center for the defensive zone faceoff. Of course, Pavel lost it and Teppo Numinen scored the goal. Datsyuk had a rough night especially against the much bigger Jason Arnott. His biggest problem is his lack of size and while it may not come in to play in the open ice, it does have a very negative effect on his faceoff abilites. Lewis should know better than to have him out there in such important situations. The Captain and Kris Draper should be the ones taking those types of faceoffs. Come on, Dave.

Next up: New Jersey, Thursday, 7:30 EST

Freep | News | ESPN | Box Score

Lines-
Zetterberg-Draper-Whitney
Shanahan-Yzerman-Maltby
Thomas-Datsyuk-Hull
Holmstrom-Mowers-Dandenault

Fischer-Chelios
Lidstrom-Schneider
Rivers-Woolley

“pp”-
Shanahan-Datysuk-Hull
Holmstrom-Yzerman-Whitney

Lidstrom-Zetterberg
Woolley-Schneider
Fischer-Chelios
Lidstrom-Woolley

PK-
Draper-Maltby
Zetterberg-Whitney
Shanahan-Yzerman

Lidstrom-Chelios
Fischer-Schneider

OT-
Shanahan-Yzerman
Datsyuk-Hull
Zetterberg-Whitney

Fischer-Chelios
Lidstrom-Schneider
Fischer-Woolley
LIdstrom-Woolley

Net-
Manny Legace

Tonight is the third of four games these two teams will play this season. The Wings dominated the first two and have out scored the Stars 10-2 this year. They shut the Stars out 4-0 in the first game on October 24 and Pavel Datsyuk scored that famous goal that everyone remembers on Marty Turco in their 6-2 win on November 12.

The Wings will be playing their fifth and final game in what has been a disastrous out-West trip for them where they have gone 1-2-1 and earned just three of a possible eight points. They are just 10-11-4-2 on the road this year. Compare that to their 18-4-2-0 record at home and you get a picture of the Wings’ road troubles this season. The Wings are a mere 3-for-38 (7.9%) on the power play over their past eight games and are just 5-for-10 on the penalty kill over their previous two games after going 31-for-32 in ten. On Saturday night, they gave up three power play goals and two shorthanded (one empty netter) to the Coyotes, not a team known for special teams prowess, in a game they otherwise dominated, though they lost 5-2. Nick Lidstrom had this to say: “We’ve had some good puck movement on the power play. I think we can take more shots and create scoring chances that way, instead of maybe making that extra pass. I think we’ve been somewhat fancy sometimes. On the (penalty kill), we have been playing well. But the last couple games, we haven’t been as strong. I think we’ve missed assignments and they’ve been taking the puck to the net easy on us. That’s something we can do a better job at.”

The Stars aren’t any better on the road (10-14-4-2) but have been good at home (13-6-4-0) despite having an iffy year overall. They have been coming on lately and will be looking for a third straight win and fifth in six games tonight. They beat the Blues 3-2 on Saturday after shutting them out the night before 2-0. Dallas is 10-4-4 in their previous 18 games but are just 3-2-2 in their past seven home games with only eleven goals during that stretch. They have three “All Stars” on their team (ha!): their captain Modano, Guerin and Turco but Modano has been the least All Star-like of the three with just eight goals, 28 points and a -18 plus-minus rating. All three players, by the way, were voted in by fans who most likely just saw a name and had no idea how they were performing this season.

There’s a good chance that Curtis Joseph will start tonight though the Wings might try to shake things up by starting Manny Legace instead. In the six games since Joseph was told he might not be traded after all, he has gone 1-4-1 with a 3.11 GAA and a .882 save percentage. I’m not saying those losses were all his fault but he has not been as strong as he was after returning from the minors on December 9. He went 8-2-1 with a 1.79 GAA and a .926 in the eleven games before this current stretch. After giving up four goals on eight shots during Saturday’s game with the Coyotes, Joseph said “It wasn’t my best game, for sure. You know what? It’s not going my way. As a goalie, you want to be your team’s best player and best penalty-killer, and tonight I wasn’t, so it didn’t work out. I’ll be back.”

Jiri Fischer will return to the ice after serving his one game suspension for head butting Ian Laperriere Thursday night in LA.

Darren McCarty had his best skate since injuring his back on November 8th. Head coach Dave Lewis said “That’s a real positive sign. The arrow’s pointing in the right direction. We’ll see how he is tomorrow.”

The Wings need to win this game if they want to save any kind of face and come home with any kind of feeling of accomplishment after having a fairly awful trip. They can’t finish the trip better than .500 but they can at least make a statement in preparation for some big games coming up this week and the next couple following. They will play New Jersey and Carolina at home before going on the road to play Nashville and Colorado. After that they will face San Jose and Colorado at home. That’s not going to be an easy stretch of games and they’ll need to get a jump start by at the very least playing an exceptional game tonight. Or things could get ugly. They should have enough frustration built up to play hard tonight and pull off a win.

Freep
News
ESPN

The paper says today that the Wings are “frustrated with late breakdowns.” Today’s edition was put to press before last night’s game was decided but if it had been published after the game, that headline could easily have been “Wings are frustrated with late breakdowns and poor special teams play.” The Wings allowed four special teams goals last night, three shorthanded and one when they were on a power play of their own. Even the Coyotes’ fifth goal wasn’t scored even strength, it was an empty net goal scored during the Wings’ vain attempt at a comeback. The Wings were 50% on the penalty kill last night (3-for-6) and 0% on the powerplay (0-for-6). That concerns me greatly, especially since the Coyotes have fairly awful special teams (their penalty kill is last in the league at home). Brian Boucher was amazing, especially on that long 5-on-3 where he made eight saves but the Wings mostly did their usual thing of making the opposing goalie look better than he really is.

Jiri Fischer served his one-game suspension for head-butting the Kings’ Ian Laperriere during a fight in the first period of Thursday’s game.

I was disappointed in Joseph’s performance, four goals on eight shots but everyone has their off-nights, I guess. It wasn’t the best night for one of those, that’s for sure, since the Wings were inept on defense and offense the entire game.

Darren McCarty took part in the Saturday morning skate. Though he had one of his best days, there is, of course, no timetable for his return.

Ted Kulfan makes some good points today in talking about the shafting Mathieu Schneider and Canucks defensman Mathias Ohlund got when the final All Star roster was announced on Thursday. Both players have had very strong years, and, in the case of Schneider, Norris Trophy candidate level years. And yet, neither of them was named to the Western Conference roster. Instead, a Minnesota Wild player by the name of Filip Kuba was named. Kuba is ranked 15th among NHL defensemen in ice time, 33rd in points with 17, 43rd in assists with 12 and 22nd in goals with five. He is a minus-9 (ranked 216th). His own general manager has even said “We have hung in there on its ability to play defense and not give up much. We’ve done that with four players, Marian, Kuba, Zholtok and Pascal not having great starts.” That isn’t exactly a vote of confidence. He also said that Kuba has not been “as good as he was last year.” Apparently, there are some that believe that since the game is in Minnesota, the League felt it necessary to have two players on the roster from the Wild. That’s pretty lame if you ask me, though it does make a kind of twisted sense. I still say, however, that if there is a player who is clearly deserving to be on the All Star team, that player should be added to the roster. It’s ridiculous how people are voted in purely on their former reputations when they have no business being in the game. It’s good that the fans have a part in the process but ignorant fans ruin it for us all by voting for a name, not for how the player is performing in a given year. The League usually does a fairly good job of making up for that but there’s always someone who gets screwed. This year it was Schneider, for sure.

Jaromir Jagr’s debut with the Rangers did not turn out as he and his new team had hoped. In one of the more lopsided games I remember hearing about, the Senators wrecked New York 9-1 in Ottawa. Let’s all hope things continue to go that way for that joke of a franchise. Serves ‘em right.

Here are the relevant links for last night’s game:
Brian’s game summary
Detroit News
ESPN
Box Score

We all remember Pavel Datsyuk embarrass Dallas Stars� goalie, Marty Turco, with a quick deke resulting in a gorgeous goal. While Pavel had a very strong rookie season, this season seems to be his breakout season- the season where everyone around the league stops and takes notice of his talents. �Pavel has taken over the team. He has taken the responsibility and run with it. Every time he�s on the ice, he�s dangerous,� head coach Dave Lewis said.

In 1998, Datsyuk was selected as the Red Wings� eighth choice in the sixth round of the draft, making him the 171st overall pick. Hakan Andersson, the Wings European scout was the first person to spot Pavel and the Wings assistant general manager, Jim Nill, drafted Datsyuk. �Pavel had very good skills, but was very small and weak. When we drafted him he was 5’8″ and about 145 pounds soaking wet. We liked his skills, but did not know if he would every grow enough and/or get strong enough to play in the NHL. As we can all see now he did develop,� Nill said.

After signing with the Red Wings organization, Datsyuk became only the third Red Wing to wear the No. 13. As a rookie, Datsyuk played 70 games with 35 points, including one game winner goal. His first NHL season ended with a Stanley Cup win, not too bad for a rookie. Pavel traveled with the Stanley Cup to Yekaterinburg, Russia taking it the greatest distance ever traveled by the Cup with any player.

The next season, Datsyuk only played 64 games due to a knee injury and finished the season with 51 points. He later represented the Russian National Team during the 2003 World Championships in Finland. When Sergei Federov decided to leave Detroit for the warmer climate in Anaheim, Datsyuk took advantage of the extra ice time available to him. �Sergei�s not here anymore. Now you�re the man,� Brett Hull said. As his stats prove thus far this year, Pavel hasn�t let his teammate, Brett Hull, down.

Last season, Igor Larionov helped young Pavel adjust to the life of a professional hockey player and life in North America. �He listens and learns. He wants to be a good player, and he wants to learn how to become a player like that. He�s willing to wait for his chance and he�s patient. He�s going to be a good player for many years,� Larionov said. Since Larionov left for the New Jersey Devils, Hull has taken over as the mentor figure to Datsyuk. �But Brett�s a shooter and wants the puck, and Pavel�s a playmaker, so you put two and two together … sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn�t. But this works, it really works,� Lewis said. Hull encourages Pavel to keep up the great effort and performance, but not to be content with that. �I keep telling him, �Don�t get satisfied. Keep working. You could lead this league in scoring,� Hull said.

Leading the team with 23 goals, Datsyuk has dazzled fans and teammates alike with a 23.9 shooting percentage, second in the NHL. In the month of December, he was named the NHL Offensive Player of the Month and on January 22 he was invited to participate in the All-Star game this season in Minnesota. Even opposing teams sing their praises about Pavel: �Those aren’t normal skills. Not when he makes you shake your head in amazement time after time with the moves he makes. He is clearly a very special player,� St. Louis Blues center Doug Weight.

Datsyuk isn�t the only young Red Wing player having a breakout season this year. Henrik Zetterberg, one of Datsyuk�s closest friends on the team, has been named the next Steve Yzerman. Both individuals are more of a quiet type with a deep passion for hockey. �We are good friends. We�re kind of the same age (Zetterberg is two years older than Datsyuk), and we are sort of the same kind of people. On the road, we were roommates early in the season. We spent a lot of time together doing things, all sort of things, mostly movies. We go to the movies a lot, just hang around,� Zetterberg said.

But the Wings organization isn�t complaining about the success of their young stars. �Pavel has exceeded our expectations, when we brought him over to play 2 years ago we knew he could play in the NHL, but we did not expect him to reach this level of stardom so quickly,� Nill said. The coaches have been pleased with the performance of their talented young players. “We’ve had Datsyuk and Zetterberg come right in here and make our team without spending a day in the minors – and that’s with a lineup that experts say has eight or ten future Hall of Famers. You know something, I’d take another two or three kids like that,� Lewis said.

Along with his improvement on the ice, Datsyuk�s English is seeing better days. In previous seasons, former Wings defenseman Maxim Kuznetsov filled in as an interpreter for Pavel when reporters interviewed him. Now he feels much more confident with interviews, even television ones, after taking an English class. �Datsyuk took an English class, but simply being around the locker room and watching television has helped him pick up the language better,� Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News said.

Sources:
The Detroit News
Sports Illustrated
NHL.com
The Oakland Press
My Interview w/ Mr. Jim Nill

Facing hot Brian Boucher, the Wings were in for a tough game tonight. And they sure got it. It was the Brian Boucher Show tonight, with the 5-consecutive shutout king making 44 saves on 46 shots to hold the Coyotes, who got only 14 shots, in the game and in position to win. Cujo got the start.

In the first period, Ray Whitney was called for hooking 40 seconds into the game, and the Coyotes capitalized on the powerplay on a goal from Daymond Langkow at 0:47. 1-0 Coyotes. But Pavel Datsyuk tied it up at 6:45 with his 23rd goal, assisted by Steve Thomas and Brett Hull. On the play, Pavel took a Thomas pass and got off a quick wrist shot. 1-1 tie. At 10:38, Pavel Datsyuk got called for high-sticking, and the Coyotes again got a powerplay goal with 4 seconds left with the man advantage from Radoslav Suchy. 2-1 Coyotes. Shots in the period were 14-6 in Detroit’s favor.

In the second period, Kirk Maltby got called for roughing, and the Coyotes scored 14 seconds into the powerplay from Jan Hrdina at 3:44. 3-1 Coyotes. At 8:46, Mathieu Schneider got the Wings back in the game by picking up a loose puck between the circles and blasting it into the net for his fourth goal in three decisions. Ray Whitney and Brendan Shanahan got the assists on the play. 3-2 Coyotes. At 18:53, Daniel Cleary got a shorthanded goal for the Coyotes as Nicklas Lidstrom couldn’t catch the breaking Cleary. I thought that Lidstrom could’ve done a little bit more on the play. It seemed like he decided that Cleary was too far ahead of him as Cleary got within 6 feet of Cujo, but I thought a long reach might’ve been the answer to kill the scoring chance. 4-2 Coyotes. Shots were 9-2 in favor of the Wings.

In the third period, Cujo was replaced by Manny Legace at the beginning of the period, as Cujo had allowed 4 goals on 8 shots. But it wasn’t the Wings’ night, as we got plenty of chances, but the bounces didn’t go our way as they did for the Coyotes a few times. Branko Radivojevic scored a shorthanded and empty net goal at 19:21 to make it 5-2. Shots in the period were 23-6 in favor of the Wings, so fans can’t fault the Wings in not trying. It just was a case of Boucher beating Cujo, essentially, as well as the Coyotes playing extremely well on special teams. They went 3 of 6 on the powerplay and got two shorthanded goals. The Wings went 0 of 6 on their powerplay opportunities. The fact that the Wings are hard pressed to get even one powerplay goal per game means that they have to click on even strength, which is not as much time as one would think, with 14 penalties called tonight and 12 powerplays between the teams.

It certainly was a disappointing trip for the Wings, with 3 of 8 possible points on this West coast trip (The West coast trip is technically over, with the Wings going to Dallas next). The Wings have definitely been weak away from the Joe this season, but we’re not exactly playing the highest calibur of teams in Phoenix tonight and Dallas Monday. I expected at least 5 points by now on the trip. It was an off-game for Cujo, which could move his band-wagon fans to call for his head again. I still have confidence in Cujo, it was just an off-game for the Wings to give up 5 special teams goals as well. They just need to capitalize on their shots, as 46 shots versus anyone means you should at least get a tie. Next game is Monday at Dallas, an 8:00 PM EST start.

Tonight is the second of four meetings between these two teams this season. The teams skated to a 3-3 tie in the first game on January 16 in Detroit.

The Wings will be trying to win their second consecutive road game tonight, something they haven’t done since mid-November. They beat the LA Kings 5-4 on Thursday night and improved to 1-1-1 so far on their five-game road trip. They are 10-10-4-2 and 2-2-2-2 in their last eight games, a stretch where they have just scored 16 goals.

The Coyotes are beginning a stretch where they will play six consecutive games at home. They are 1-3-2 in their previous five games, with that one win coming on Thursday, a 2-1 decision with the Sharks in San Jose. They are 7-8-3-1 at home this year.

Curtis Joseph should make the start.

I see this as a good chance for the Wings to get another win. They need to pull above .500 on this road trip and tonight is the last chance they have to do that. Hopefully, they’ll show greater focus on defense than they did Thursday night and not led any lead slip away. It would be good for Brett Hull to score another goal tonight so he can get on a roll again after breaking his hugely long goal drought. The Wings will need Jamie Rivers to step it up like he did Thursday night in the absence of Niklas Kronwall. I expect a good game out of the Wings, who should have at least a small level of frustration for almost blowing the Kings game on Thursday.

ESPN

Jaromir Jagr has been traded to the New York Rangers in exchange for Anson Carter. I find this deal very typical of the Rangers, a team that has amassed some of the biggest egos in the league. Jagr basically acted as the head coach in Washington, deciding his linemates and getting mock “head” coach Bruce Cassidy fired earlier in the season because the two had a personal squabble. And he carries a hefty salary, although the Caps have agreed to pick up $20 million of the remaining $44 million on his 4 year contract (a club option on the fifth). Jagr will make $10 million a year for the remainder of his contract, agreeing to deferr $1 million / year with interest. The Caps will be paying half of the $10 million / year over the four years, to account for the $20 million they agreed to pick up. Jagr has averaged a point per game in his stay in Washington, but slumps and the Caps missing the playoffs left Washington managment unsatisfied with his performace. The Rangers now have the highest payroll in the NHL at over $78 million this season, surpassing the Detroit Red Wings.