On the Wings

Update (17. Dec, 12:31 AM): Dave of Gorilla Crouch has his own comments on the game here. - Matt

The Wings earned their first win in New Jersey since November 20th, 1993 today, scoring two third period goals in just over two minutes and then holding out despite a 6-to-3 manpower advantage for the Devils late in the game.

Dominik Hasek got the start today for the Wings and looked very strong, making 21 saves, including a few great ones on some good Devils chances. The one Devils goal was a result of a deflection out front and the blame was not Dom’s. Martin Brodeur, who was in net for the Devils, looked to be unbeatable for much of the game, but was caught out of position on the Wings’ two goals.

Pavel Datsyuk and Mikael Samuelsson started on Henrik Zetterberg’s left and right side, respectively, with Nick Lidstrom and Niklas Kronwall patrolling the blueline. The first shift was highlighted by a blast by Datsyuk from the left wing, a shot which Brodeur stopped easily with his shoulder.

35 seconds into the game, Brett Lebda was called for hooking. Lidstrom had a shorthanded chance before heading off after a long shift - 1:30 of ice time interrupted only by the play stoppage for the penalty. The Devils didn’t do much on this power play, looking sloppy as they iced the puck and allowed the Wings to have more possession. Not a tough kill at all.

Immediately following the Devils power play, the Wings got one of their own, when Jim Dowd went off for hooking. The Wings looked pretty good on this one, with a number of great scoring chances including a Lang to Schneider to Lidstrom hook-up resulted in the puck being sent through the crease behind Brodeur, a couple good shots by Pavel Datsyuk, and a just-failed hookup with Niklas Kronwall down low.

Jamie Langenbrunner made things a bit exciting at the end of the power play with a shorthanded chance down low. Henrik Zetterberg, coming back, stole the puck away, however, before Langenbrunner could do anything with it.

Following the two power plays, the teams hit their stride and the game picked up the pace for a while. During this stretch, the Wings had some trouble holding onto the puck as the Devils kept forcing turnovers. One takeaway in the Detroit zone by Brian Gionta led to further pressure by the Devils, and another at center resulted in a bona fide breakaway for Travis Zajac, who was stoned by Hasek at the side of the net at 6:20.

Valtteri Filppula stood out a lot in this game but the first instance was in the first period when he and Hudler wrecked havoc in the Devils zone, resulting in a good scoring chance around the 7:00 mark. Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Samuelsson followed up that shift with a great one of their own, resulting in a big scoring chance off a Datsyuk backhander out front forty seconds later.

At 8:15, Hasek was forced to make a good stop on Jay Pandolfo from 32 feet out. It was a one timer that seemed to come suddenly out of a quiet play, and the Wings skaters are lucky Dom wasn’t sleeping like they were.

The pace of the game was broken by a stoppage in play and a subsequent TV break around the 9:00 mark. Things just seemed to slow down after that.

At 9:44, Sergei Brylin was called for hooking Henrik Zetterberg after the latter gained the zone following a nice feed from Datsyuk at center. The Wings’ power play was a bit less exciting this time around, with no one sticking out as having a great scoring chance. Pretty easy kill for New Jersey.

About a minute after their penalty expired, the Devils had a good scoring chance, but it came to nothing as Scott Gomez managed only to tip the puck wide of the net on the pass. After some pressure following the play, the puck was cleared and the Wings were facing the famous New Jersey trap. They were pretty successful in getting through, however, as they managed by the end of the period to get 13 shots on Brodeur.

Robert Lang took the first of two penalties for the game at 14:58, a tripping call. The Wings began the penalty kill with a nice shorthanded rush which was halted by Kris Draper being offsides at the line with Zetterberg carrying. The Devils got it back into the Detroit zone after the faceoff, but it was cleared after a couple shot attempts went wide.

Henrik Zetterberg then took it upon himself to kill off the penalty in the Devils zone after he stole the puck at the Detroit blueline and got it down low in the New Jersey end. He harried the Devils puck carriers as they tried to leave the zone and eventually drew a penalty at 16:37. Zach Parise was called for tripping on the play as he used his knee to prevent Zetteberg from skating up ice. A bit of a dangerous play but not necessarily malicious.

So, the teams skated four a side for 22 seconds. The only notable thing that happened in that span was a turnover at the Devils blueline by Mathieu Schneider. He and Niklas Kronwall had to hustle back to cover on the play, but it was enough to force the eventual pass to miss hooking up.

On the power play following the expiration of Lang’s penalty, the Wings had one good scoring chance. A Datsyuk shot resulted in a flurry around the net, with Holmstrom knocking the puck to Zetterberg to Brodeur’s left as the latter was flat on his stomach. Hank just couldn’t get it high enough to put it in at the bad angle, and the penalty was killed off.

Late in the period, Kronwall, in his first game back, was pressured by Gionta as he tried to carry the puck out of the zone. He coughed it up and Hasek would have been hung out to dry had Brett Lebda not covered for his defensive partner.

Another turnover by Chelios behind the net with 15 seconds left in the period resulted in Langenbrunner hooking up with Pandolfo, who nearly scored on a flurry out front. The period ended soon after that.

To start the first intermission, FSN had a short interview with Niklas Kronwall, who answered the question, “How do you feel?” with a shrug and a lame, “Not bad.” I don’t know, maybe I was hoping for a “Great,” or something.

1:30 into the second period, Kris Draper rang a shot off the post after beating Brodeur gloveside. It was a bit of a fitting start for what would seem like a period of futility for the Wings.

The Wings came close to scoring just over a minute later when Tomas Holmstrom redirected a Lebda shot, but Brodeur made the save and froze the puck.

Going the other way after the faceoff, the Devils had a 2-on-1 with Filppula racing to catch up. Hasek stoned Michael Rupp on the play and a few seconds later, stopped a Erik Rasmussen blast to keep things 0-0. Rasumussen was called for interference in the same sequence, sending the Wings to the power play again at 3:31. This one was very anemic, with little or nothing to report.

Although the score remained tied at zero and the Wings were still getting chances, the Devils seemed a lot more dangerous this period than they did in the first, with the Wings having to be extra careful to prevent the play going the other way at the drop of a hat.

Filppula had another great shift around the 7:00 mark, driving to the net and drawing a penalty at 7:13. The Wings’ power play was short-lived, however, as Tomas Holmstrom was called for goaltender interference just nine seconds later, following a Lidstrom blast from the point.

With the teams skating four a side, Niklas Kronwall laid the check of the game on John Madden at the New Jersey blueline. With Madden skating along the left wing boards, Kronwall pinched and laid his upper body into the Devil, with his upper arm making contact with the latter’s face. Madden seemed shaken, but continued to play.

Not long after that, Henrik Zetterberg and Mikael Samuelsson had a good shift down ltevils’ zone, resulting in a nice scoring chance. Another Devil was hurt on the play, as Brian Rafalski went after Samuelsson’s rib cage with his face. Rafalski had to be helped off by the training crew, but returned to finish the game.

The Wings killed off the nine second Devils power play, but immediately took another penalty at 9:27. This time, it was Dominik Hasek, who was called for delay of game after playing the puck behind the goalline outside of the trapezoid. Hasek was incensed and broke his stick while yelling at the ref, resulting in a tacked-on unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Replays showed that Dom was in the wrong, since he had in fact been touching the puck behind the goalline despite having initiated contact before it crossed.

The Devils got a four minute power play and took advantage of it. After Hasek made a couple of nice stops following a strong effort by Scott Gomez, the latter scored by deflecting Brian Gionta’s shot from the point. Dom had little chance on the play, with Lidstrom out front covering Gomez. 1-0 Devils at 10:57.

Because the goal came in the first two minutes of the four-minute power play, the Devils kept the man-advantage. Patrick Elias put on a clinic at the blueline, spinning around Dan Cleary before sending the puck to a teammate for a scoring chance. After that, the penalty kill was an easy one for the Wings.

For the next few minutes, there wasn’t a lot of action, though an offensive chance never seemed far away with the Devils keeping the Wings on their toes.

I forgot to write down the time but sometime later in the period, Parise nearly broke free for a full breakaway, but a combination of Hasek’s coming out to challenge and good stickwork by Lebda resulted in a negated scoring chance.

With three and a half minutes left in the period, Zetterberg and Datsyuk had a nice shift, cycling the puck well but not getting a goal to show for it. It did seem to spark the Wings into coming on a bit, at least for a couple minutes, before New Jersey slowed things down again to end the period.

The third period began slowly, with the Devils camping out at center, and only a concerted effort by Draper to split the defense generated any excitement in the first minutes.

David Hale took a holding penalty for the Devils at 2:16, resulting in a Red Wings power play. Dan Cleary had a great chance from the slot in which he sent the puck off the post in what looked like a goal live. The Devils cleared the puck immediately following the play and were nearly called for delay of game as it left the rink. The rest of the power play was uneventful.

Flippula, taking advantage of one of his three third period shifts, had a nice scoring chance at 5:44 but was stoned by Brodeur on the play.

At 8:05, Jamie Langenbrunner was called for holding, handing the Wings a power play which would finally result in a goal 22 seconds later. After a flurry around the net involving Zetterberg, the puck ended up on Lidstrom’s stick at the point. He sent it across to Schneider, who released a shot wide in order to avoid the crowd of Devils players out front. The puck went off the back boards in a V-bounce directly to Pavel Datsyuk, who one-timed it into the open net as Brodeur dove in an attempt to stop it. 1-1 tie, at 8:27.

After that, the game opened up a bit as the Wings were rejuvenated with the goal. They took the lead just 2:16 later, at 10:43, with a goal from Brett Lebda. The play began with a nice no-look pass at the blueline by Kronwall to Lang, who then sent it to Jason Williams down the right wing. Williams sent it across to a streaking Lebda, who blasted a shot from the left wing and got it just inside the post before Brodeur could close the gap. 2-1 Wings.

The Wings looked even better following that goal, putting enough pressure on the Devils to force the normally cautions team to ice the puck at 12:41.

Jiri Hudler showed why he remains on the roster, over the objections of some, at 14:37 with a nice play around the New Jersey defenseman, only to be stoned by Brodeur. Just keep doing that, Jiri, and you can be like other small men in the NHL and quiet the critics.

As the period wound down, the Wings assumed a defensive posture, trying to force the Devils to put in the effort to come back. New Jersey continued to trap, however, but their patience nearly paid off as Robert Lang took his second penalty at 17:49.

The resulting New Jersey power play started pretty slowly, with a play stoppage and a timeout cutting it up, but after they pulled Brodeur at 1:05, the Devils stepped it up, putting on some strong pressure. With 31 seconds left, Chris Chelios made the bonehead play of the day by pushing Gomez over onto Hasek, who fell with his knee in a very awkward position. Hasek laid there long enough for Piet Van Zant to come out, but seemed none the worse for wear before too long.

Chelios was called for interference on the play, effectively handing the Devils a 6-on-3 power play for 31 seconds. Fortunately for the Wings, New Jersey squandered the opportunity and a handpass with 5.9 seconds left resulted in a game-ending center ice faceoff. 2-1 Wings, final.

… Tonight is the annual rookies’ dinner, which will take place in New York City this year. Jiri Hudler and Valtteri Filppula will foot the bill for the whole team as they go out to eat in the Big Apple. … Pavel Datsyuk’s point streak now stands at six games. He’s notched four goals and five assists in that span. … Dan Cleary had another point streak ended at seven games today. … Nice to see Brett Lebda playing so well, as is seeing Pavel Datsyuk shooting the puck. … Niklas Kronwall was not overly impressive, though that’s pretty understandable. …Johan Franzen seemed relatively invisible, for whatever reason. …Someone needs to make sure Dominik knows the intricacies of that stupid trapezoid rule (which, by the way, has to be my least favorite aspect of the “new” NHL). …

Not a bad game by the Wings, though a couple Devils gave them fits. For a while, I was concerned that the Wings would be unable to beat Brodeur and that their streak of not being shutout would end. I believe the streak stands now at 151 games (I should know for sure, since Ken Daniels crams it down our throat every game, but I didn’t write it down this time).

Next up: @ Columbus, 7:00 ET on Monday.