On the Wings

The Wings put on a dominating performance in the second game of their home-home series with the Blue Jackets, winning 5-0 last night at the Joe. In the end, the Jackets owned the ice for a single period over two games while the Wings owned it for five.

Dominik Hasek, rather than Chris Osgood, started the game for the Wings and got the redemption he was looking for with a 27-save performance. Dom looked very sharp and driven as he turned aside every puck on the way to his 73rd career shutout.

Fredrik Norrena started for the Blue Jackets and did not impress in his second outing against the Wings.

The Wings began the game with Henrik Zetterberg centering Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom. Play was up and down for that first shift before the ice tilted toward the Columbus end, where most of the action took place for the next few minutes.

Brett Lebda, channeling Paul Coffey, according to Mickey Redmond, had a nice end-to-end rush down the right wing around 2:22. He got off a shot on Norrena but was stopped. About a minute later, Jiri Hudler and Valtteri Filppula hooked up for a nice scoring opportunity, with Hudler getting a good shot off that was stopped.

At 4:28, Alexander Svitov was called for trippinng and the Wings got their first power play opportunity. Right off the bat, Datsyuk took a pass up the center and split the defense on his way to the net only to be stopped by Norrena. The Wings had just gotten set up when the play was stopped and Nick Lidstrom was assessed an illegal stick penalty. A strange call, since the only thing wrong with Nick’s stick was that the knob had fallen off. Apparently, the concern is that the end of a composite stick is too sharp to play with unless the knob is on it, hence the penalty.

So, the teams skated four a side for 1:36. Columbus had a couple chances in the Wings’ zone, with David Vyborny and Fredrik Modin getting off shots, but the Wings took it the other way and soon scored to put themselves up 1-0. Mathieu Schneider started the play at the blueline by passing it to Robert Lang, who dished it to Daniel Cleary, who sent it back to Schneider and headed across the front of the net. Schneider took the shot and Cleary tipped it on as he passed in front of Norrena. Great play by Schneider, Lang, and Cleary. The goal came at 5:46.

Just as the Columbus power play began, Rick Nash had a great rush into the Wings’ zone and only a nice defensive play by Brett Lebda prevented a chance on net. The rest of the power play was uneventful as Detroit killed it off easily.

With both teams taking the puck on good rushes, Sergei Fedorov took advantage of the game’s easy flow and carried the puck on one of his trademark end-to-end cruises before dishing it off the Rick Nash on entering the Wings’ zone. Nash’s quick shot was snapped up by Hasek’s glove hand for one of his better saves of the night, at 8:36.

At 9:16, Svitov took another penalty (hooking, this time) and the Wings went on the power play again. The first power play unit, composed of Jiri Hudler, Robert Lang, Daniel Cleary, Nick Lidstrom and Mathieu Schneider, cycled the puck well and scored a minute later. Lang took the initial shot on net, resulting in a scramble apparently ended when Jason Chimera golfed the puck out of the area. It was intercepted on its way out of the zone by Lidstrom, however, and he wasted little time ripping off a shot that Cleary redirected into the net for his second goal of the night. 2-0 Wings at 10:18.

There was a delay following the goal, which at first caused the FSN crew to think there was some kind of review pending. After pointing out that they could see nothing questionable about the goal, Daniels and Redmond noticed Norrena standing by the Columbus bench, passing his stick over the boards. They said then that he must have just been getting a new stick.

They went back to it later in the game and informed us that Norrena had been told by the official he needed to have white tape on the knob-end of his stick so they could differentiate between his stick and a dark color in case of a questionable goal. Another odd stick-related thing slowing down the game.

At 11:45, the Wings went back on the power play when Rostislav Klesla went off for high-sticking. The Wings’ set up was immediately cleared, with former Red Wings Anders Erikkson making a great pass to Rick Nash through center. Nash had hardly gotten the puck under control when Hasek came out of nowhere and slide-tackled it away from him at the top of the circles.

As the FSN crew pointed out on the replay, Dom made the decision to come out practically as Erikkson was making the pass. Spectacular play by Dom, but it was a heck of a gamble. Remember, the Wings were only ahead by two goals at that point and if Hasek had missed on that play, Nash would have buried it and the Jackets would have been back in it.

The Wings had a couple chances before the end of the power play, with Datsyuk getting off a shot and a few seconds later, getting behind the Columbus defense only to center the puck to a non-existent teammate. One disturbing thing about this power play: Jason Williams appeared to be playing on the point. I don’t now if it was just because the real defensemen had cycled low (I was too shocked at the sight of Williams loosing a weak blue line “blast” to notice) or what, but I hope I don’t see that again.

At 15:02, Jiri Hudler took a hooking penalty and the Jackets got their first real power play. They generated some good pressure, but a combination of good shifts by Chris Chelios and Cleary prevented a Columbus goal.

Dominik Hasek had a good poke check on a dangerous play toward the end of the period. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the Columbus players’ jersey number nor the time of the play.

At 18:12, Pavel Datsyuk was knocked into the back of the Columbus net and then a Jacket player fell onto it as well, knocking it over 90 degrees onto its face, with Norrena huddled underneath. Don’t see that very often.

The rest of the period was pretty uneventful.

50 seconds into the second period, the Wings went back on the power play when Rick Nash made a dangerous play on Niklas Kronwall along the boards. It wasn’t quite knee-on-knee but it wasn’t very smart of Nash, who was handed a tripping penalty. This power play was completely uneventful.

For the next few minutes, my notes just say: “39 looking good” and “13: shoot!!!”

At 6:15, Kirk Maltby scored his first goal of the year. It was unassisted, but Mathieu Schneider deserves a point on the play because it was his dump-in that resulted in the goal. The Columbus defenseman intercepted the dump in and had not had a chance to get it under control before Maltby stole it and headed toward the net with the puck bouncing at his feet. He somehow got it under enough control to snipe the top right corner from 11 feet out. 3-0 Wings.

Just before Holmstrom went off for interference at 7:11, the Jackets had a 2-on-1 rush that ended with Nash barreling into Hasek, with Zetterberg all over him. Not very impressive.

With Holmstrom in the box, Columbus appeared to have scored at 8:52 when the puck went into the net off the skate of Svitov. The play was reviewed, however, and ruled no goal, as there was a clear kicking motion. The Wings killed off the rest of the penalty.

At 9:56, the Wings were back on the power play, after Nikolai Zherdev hounded Chelios behind the Detroit net, earning a hooking penalty. Hudler started again on this power play, with Lang, Cleary, Kronwall and Schneider. It wasn’t until the second unit, however, that the Wings would score again. It was as simple as a blast from the point by Nick Lidstrom with Holmstrom in place out front for the screen. Norrena never saw it. 4-0 Wings at 11:02.

Around the 13:00 mark, Valtteri Filppula showed nice speed through center, into the Columbus zone and around the back of the net. His centering pass to Schneider resulted in a nice scoring chance, but the puck was sent wide of the net. Not long after that, Valtteri was called for tripping and the Jackets went back on the power play.

After a couple Columbus shots went wide of the net, the Wings took the puck the other way. Henrik Zetterberg sprung Kris Draper behind the Jackets’ defense but Drapes couldn’t put it in the net as Norrena stopped him. The Wings killed off the rest of the penalty.

As the period started to wind down, Columbus began pressuring, but the Wings were patient and didn’t let things get out of control. Detroit got one more power play before the period ended but didn’t do much with it.

In the first minute of the third period, Kronwall whiffed on an easy outlet pass and the Jackets pounced on it with a 2-on-1 only to blow it.

At 2:03, Hasek was called for tripping behind the net. It was a good call, in my opinion, but Dom was shocked. The FSN camera crew did a great job of capturing Hasek’s face as he tried to argue his case. Jiri Hudler got to serve the penalty. The Jackets had a couple chances, but the most memorable moment of the power play was when Niklas Kronwall laid out Anson Carter along the boards at 3:20 or so.

Just 35 seconds after the Hasek penalty expired, Jason Williams scored on a breakaway, shifting from forehand to backhand and beating Norrena 5-hole. Just after the puck went in the net, Filppula bowled the Columbus goalie over with a Jackets defenseman. Norrena was pulled after the goal, in favor of Ty Conklin. Norrena went to the bench apparently livid and appeared ready to go after Hitchcock, but the latter came over and said something that calmed the goalie down. Apparently, it was just, “It’s not you.”

Conklin had to face a couple tough shots pretty soon after taking the net, first from Pavel Datsyuk and then Tomas Holmstrom. He was equal to the task, however.

At 6:03, Brett Lebda went off for cross-checking and Alexander Svitov went off for slashing. With the teams playing four a side, Henrik Zetterberg had a great scoring chance but sent it over the net. Other than that, this stretch was uneventful.

At 8:16, Chelios turned the puck over in his own zone and Dan Fritsche pounced on it only to send it wide.

Andreas Lilja was handed a lame hooking penalty at 9:43 and Columbus went back on the power play. They cycled the puck well and had some good pressure, but the Wings penalty kill was strong and kept the puck out of the net.

The rest of the game consisted of the Wings holding back and absorbing Columus attempts at a comeback. 5-0 Wings, final.

… Adam Foote did play last night, after all. … Apparently, Mikael Samuelsson is out until after Christmas, which means Matt Ellis will get at least two more games in the Winged Wheel. Ellis, by the way, played 5:17 last night, an increase of only 12 seconds from Monday’s game. He continues to impress by not sticking out in a bad way. One more thing about Ellis: on Tuesday, he and Dominik Hasek were the only two Wings that practiced. Apparently, Dom called him in the morning and asked if he’d be interested in taking some shots. Given the result of last night’s game, I guess it was all the practice Hasek needed. … Mathieu Schneider has an 11-game point steak going. He has two goals and twelve assists in that span. It’s his longest point streak and the second-longest in team history, according to the Freep. … Blogger reactions: Gorilla Crouch, No Pun Intended, Army of the Ohio, The Jacket Times, End of the Bench. …

A good game by the Wings, who restored proper balance to the universe with the win.

Next up: vs. Minnesota on Friday at 7:30 PM ET.