Archive for November, 2006

GameDay: @ Nashville (14-5-2, 30 Pts) 8:00 ET

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Tonight is the second of eight games between these two Central Division teams this season. The Wings won the first meeting 3-0 at home on the 10th.

Since losing to the Wings, the Predators have gone 5-1-1, though three of those wins came against the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets. Their only regulation loss came against the Stars in Dallas on Wednesday night, a 1-0 decision. They rebounded the next night, though, rolling over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday by a score of 6-0.

It was a costly win for the Preds, however, as they lost star goalie Tomas Vokoun to a torn thumb ligament. He’ll be out 4-6 weeks after he has surgery on Monday. Backup Chris Mason will start in his absence.

As bad as the Wings’ injury situation as seemed lately, Nashville has probably had it worse. Aside from Vokoun, they will be without centers Jason Arnot (3-6 weeks, knee) and Josef Vasicek (back), right wing Scotty Upshall, and defenseman Mikko Lehtonen (concussion).

The Wings have gone 1-1-3 since beating the Predators, with their only win coming against the Canucks on the 14th. They are coming off a 3-2 shootout loss at home to the Blues last night. It was Manny Legace’s first game in Detroit since he signed with St. Louis over the summer after being let go by Detroit. The loss continued a four-game streak in which the Wings have earned a point in three straight overtime or shootout losses.

Dominik Hasek played last night and so will not start tonight unless the Wings go against everything they’ve been saying about not playing him consecutive nights until the second half of the season. So, Joey MacDonald should be in net.

Niklas Kronwall made his return to the lineup last night, bringing an end to all the contradictory media reports about the timing of it. So, only Johan Franzen (concussion, knee) and Chris Osgood (wrist) are on the Wings’ injury list.

I only caught a little of the first period of the game last night but I wasn’t too impressed with what I saw. I hope the Wings can put on a better performance tonight, especially considering a nemesis of theirs, Tomas Vokoun, will not be playing. The Preds are a weakened team and though they’ll still be dangerous, the Wings need to take advantage of it.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to watch the game tonight and so there will be no game summary from me. While I’m at it, I might as well say that I’m at the point in the semester where school is becoming very demanding as we get closer to finals. So, game summaries, which are very time-consuming, may be a little sporadic over the next three weeks. The games bookend this coming week so I’ll probably be able to watch and report on them, but they’re too close together the following two weeks. We’ll just have to see how it goes.

More on Franzen

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Looks like Johan may not just have a concussion, according to Ansar Khan.

He reports that an examination of Johan’s left knee contradicts the result of the MRI taken Wednesday night, which means there is damage after all. The MRI will be re-done to determine the extent of it, but, seeing how much his knee twisted when he fell, I wouldn’t bet on this being a minor deal.

Khan also says Holland has talked to the NHL about a suspension for Willie Mitchell but was told no. He believes late hits (note: not hits to the head) will be a “hot topic” at the next GM’s meeting. I would hope so, Kenny. It’d be a good place to start, that’s for sure.

GameDay: vs. St. Louis (6-11-3, 15 Pts) 7:30 ET

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Tonight is the second of eight meetings between these to Central Division “rivals” this season. The Wings won the first meeting 3-2 on October 28th in St. Louis.

Since losing to the Detroit, the Blues have gone a pitiful 3-7-1. Their three wins came against the Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers at home earlier this month, and the Columbus Blue Jackets on the road Wednesday night. The win over the jackets ended a three-game losing streak that started with a loss to the Flames to kick off a five-game road trip that will end tonight in Detroit. Their road record is second-worst in the league at 2-7-1.

Manny Legace should be in net for the Blues tonight. It will be just the second time in his career he has played against the Wings, after six seasons with them.

The Wings have fared better since they last saw the Blues, posting a 6-1-2 record. They are on a three-game losing streak, however, with one regulation loss (Calgary), a shootout loss (Edmonton, 3-4 SO), and an overtime loss (Vancouver, 3-4 OT) sending them on a slide for the first time since mid-October when they also dropped three in a row. The most recent game, Wednesday’s loss to Vancouver, came after they blew a 3-1 lead in the third period, eventually giving up a breakaway goal on a line-change in overtime.

The team has been having some injury troubles and matters were not helped Wednesday night when Johan Franzen went down with a concussion and a possible knee injury after a late hit by Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell. Franzen is expected to be out for at least a week. The Wings apparently have no plans to bring anyone up since they already have enough healthy guys.

Niklas Kronwall skated yesterday but we won’t know if he’ll be playing until after the morning skate.

Dominik Hasek will start tonight, meaning either Joey MacDonald will start against the Central Division-leading Predators or the Wings will start Hasek two nights in a row, therefore going against all their rhetoric about not overplaying him early in the season. I don’t see why Babcock wouldn’t just start MacDonald tonight instead of wasting Dom on one of the worst teams in the league. The idea of a tired Hasek, or an inexperienced MacDonald, for that matter, starting against the speedy Preds is a little scary.

It may not matter quite as much since the Preds’ excellent starter, Tomas Vokoun, may not play tomorrow night due to injury.

Tonight’s a good night to end the losing streak, that’s for sure. Having periodic games against teams like the Blues is one of the benefits of the NHL’s new scheduling format because the team gets a break between games against stronger opponents and has the possibility of a confidence-building win. Hopefully, they’ll take advantage of it, with tomorrow night’s game being against a much tougher Nashville team.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to watch the game so there will be no first-hand reaction from me.

Kronwall gets 5-year extension

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Well, the Wings may not be getting any closer to an agreement with Pavel Datsyuk, but they just locked up one of their many potential free agents. TSN reports that Niklas Kronwall has agreed to a 5-year, $15 million dollar contract extension. He would have been a restricted free agent this summer.

Kronwall, who has played just 63 games in the National Hockey League, will make $1.5 million in 07-08, $3 million in 08-09, $3.25 million in 09-10, $3.5 million in 2010-2011, and $3.75 million in 2011-2012, for a salary cap average of $3 million and a free agency value of closer to $3.5 million. Unquestionably, it’s a gamble for both the player and the team based on the length of the term.

Yes, a bit of a gamble given his injury history, however I think it will prove to be a good investment. He hasn’t exactly been astounding offensively this year, but who has on this team? He’s pretty sound defensively, won’t shy away from a hit and he’s only going to get better. With Lang, Datsyuk, Schneider, Markov, Maltby and Holmstrom (to name a few…) all up for free agency this summer, it’s nice to have one less guy to worry about. Now if we could just get him back in the lineup…

Wings 3, Canucks 4 (OT)

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Update (2:33 PM): Ansar Khan reports that Franzen will be out at least a week with a concussion and left knee injury. That means he should be back for the December 1st game against Minnesota.

Khan also mentions Chris Chelios thinks Mitchell should be suspended for the hit. You wish, Cheli.

Unrelated: apparently, Hasek will start on Friday against the Blues. This stands in contrast to other reports that Joey MacDonald would start, with Dom backing him up. With the Wings in Nashville the next night, it’s an interesting decision to start Dom against one of the league’s worst teams. Maybe they’ll start him two nights in a row, after all. - Matt

The Wings blew a two-goal third period lead and lost in overtime last night to the Canucks in their first game back from a three-game road trip. It was an uncharacteristic game for this team as the defense allowed 30 shots as well as a comeback by Vancouver

Dominik Hasek was in net for the Wings and didn’t look bad on most of the 30 shots he faced, though a couple of the goals he allowed were stinkers (more because of bad luck than anything else, though).

The first goal, which came at :18 of the first period, was off a major deflection at the top of the circle and he didn’t have much of a chance to stop it.

On the second goal (4:50 of the third), he came out to challenge Henrik Sedin and made the save. The rebound, however, went right to Markus Naslund and he put it right into the net which had been vacated by Dom for the initial save.

Dom just fell down on the third goal (7:23, third), having stepped in a rut or something, making it easy for Brendan Morrison to put in the net.

The game winnner in overtime was due to a bad turnover at the Vancouver blueline during a line change, giving Morrisson an easy breakaway. He beat Dom with a quick shot to the 5-hole to put it away.

There were a few instances where Hasek was slow to get up after making a save. Hopefully that was more him being cautious than actually experiencing pain.

The Wings’ first goal, at 9:24 of the first, came off a nice play by Robert Lang in the corner. With Willie Mitchell handling it, Lang came up and poked it away before stepping around him and picking it up. He centered it to Mathieu Schneider, who got a backhand shot on net that was stopped by Roberto Luongo. The puck went up in the air, however, and Schneider got his stick on it to knock it into the net. The play was reviewed briefly but the goal stood.

Their second goal, which came at 12:05 of the first, was a bit of a lucky bounce, though it may have gone in anyway because Henrik Zetterberg was right there. With the Wings on the power play, Nick Lidstrom took a shot from the left wing, aiming at Luongo’s far side. Luongo got a piece of it but it ended up bouncing off Matthias Ohlund’s leg and into the net.

The Wings scored a goal just before the 19:00 mark of the second period when Pavel Datsyuk made a nice play to Mikael Samuelsson, who one-timed the puck into the net. The goal was waived off due to “incidental contact,” however, because Tomas Holmstrom had been pushed by Ohlund into Roberto Luongo. Okay, that’s fair. But why wasn’t Holmstrom called for goaltender interference? Isn’t it an either/or situation? Either it’s a goal or it’s a penalty. Doesn’t make any sense. Was it because Ohlund pushed Homer into the net? Then why wasn’t Ohlund given a penalty? Very strange call (or non-call).

The Wings’ actual third goal came at 19:00, just seconds after Samuelsson’s was disallowed. Kris Draper and Dan Cleary broke free on a 2-on-1, with Draper carrying. He made a great pass over a sprawling Willie Mitchell and Cleary redirected it on net. Luongo made the save but the puck trickled out to his right as he fell. Cleary, demonstrating great hands and patience, picked it up, shifted forehand to backhand and roofed it to make it 3-1. Great goal.

Okay, now that I’m done talking about the goals, I can move on to The Hit.

With Mathieu Schneider in the box for interference, the Wings were on the penalty kill. The Canucks weren’t doing a very good job setting up and generating pressure so when the Wings gained control after a failed attempt by Vancouver, they decided to carry it out of the zone rather than just shoot it.

Johan Franzen took the puck up the left wing and met the Vancouver defense at their blueline. The puck got knocked back to Franzen’s wing man, Pavel Datsyuk, and Johan turned his head left to follow the puck. Just as he got his head forward again, Willie Mitchell came across and decked him, laying his shoulder directly into the side of Franzen’s face. Johan took the brunt of the hit on the jaw and was knocked silly. He dropped his stick, his gloves flew off, and his legs went sprawling (bending his left knee at a bad angle) as he turned and fell backwards onto the ice.

The play was quickly whistled dead and Franzen was immediately attended to by the trainer. While this was going on, FSN’s color man, Mickey Redmond, began talking about how players today need to learn to let up on a play like that rather than follow through on their hit when someone’s head is open like that. I couldn’t agree more. The play may be currently legal but with hits like this coming with more frequency, it may be time to change the rule. It doesn’t make any sense that players can be called for the most insignificant contact with their sticks while they can get away with giving someone a concussion like that.

My views on the subject are already known so I won’t say much more, except that the Wings need to stop being so tolerant of these hits on their teammates. Reading some of the quotes from the guys today seems to indicate they aren’t happy with what happened:

“I thought it was a cheap hit. Frankie’s a big guy, went down hard. Willie Mitchell’s coming off a concussion and going out there head-hunting, that stuff comes back to haunt you at the end of the day. The only way to get back at them is to lay a hit on their good players, or Willie Mitchell. It just seems Willie never goes in the corner.’’ – Dan Cleary

Ken Holland, it’s time to call up someone that will defend his teammates. Chris Chelios, Pavel Datsyuk, and Jason Williams approached Mitchell after the play but they can’t do anything but yell at him. It’s time for the team to send a message that they aren’t going to tolerate hits like that.

What’s sad is Mitchell did get a penalty on the play but only because the puck was gone. It was an interference call, not roughing. Had Johan still been carrying the puck, Mitchell would have gotten away with it completely. Disgusting.

Going back to the comment about insignificant contact with sticks, two Wings penalties in the third period look particularly ridiculous in light of the Franzen hit. Both Lidstrom and Holmstrom were called for hooking, two seconds apart, giving Vancouver a 5-on-3 power play on which they would eventually score. The call on Lidstrom would have been bad enough, because the contact there was so slight I don’t know how the ref could justify calling it, but the call on Holmstrom was incredibly bad. He literally did not touch the Vancouver player.

Horrible officiating and an unbelievable hyopcrisy, where Franzen gets a concussion and an injured knee on a hit that resulted in an interference penalty but Homer and Nick get called for hooking when only one of them made contact.

Anyway, it was overall a very unsatisfying game. Hopefully Friday’s match against the Blues will be better.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Johan Franzen has a concussion

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The Wings’ injury troubles are mounting as one of the team’s most consistent players, Johan Franzen, has a concussion after being hit by Willie Mitchell during the first period of tonight’s 4-3 OT loss to Vancouver. As Ansar Khan reports, we don’t know how long he’ll be out. You have to think he won’t be back this weekend, though.

Like Khan, I’m beginning to become concerned that this team, though more physical than any Red Wings team since ’97, doesn’t have the toughness to really stand up to the opposition. Maybe keeping Valtteri Filppula over Brad Norton wasn’t such a good idea after all.

I have not seen the game yet – having gone to see Casino Royale instead – so I haven’t seen the hit and therefore can’t comment on it. I have it on tape, though, and will be watching it either tonight or tomorrow morning, so expect a full reaction from me in the afternoon.