The Wings lost a heartbreaker last night, never fully recovering from three bad first period goals by the Jackets and finishing with a 4-3 loss in spite of a concerted effort for two periods.
The Blue Jackets, though they did not play a bad game at all, owe a heck of a lot to Fredrik Norrena, who pretty much stood on his head to keep the Wings behind. He made 23 saves, many of which were of the highlight reel variety, especially in the third period, when the Wings really put the screws to him. The Versus crew was quick to point out that the three goals he did allow were somewhat bad, but he more than made up for that with some very tough saves. The Wings do have a frustrating knack for giving previously unspectacular goalies confidence by taking about a period’s worth of perimeter shots before making a mad push at the end. Kudos to Norrena to standing up to the onslaught.
Dominik Hasek, on the other hand, sucked it up for the 20 minutes he played. Not sure what was going on with him but, whatever it was, it wasn’t pretty. He looked awful on the first goal, which came after he coughed up the puck behind the net with a pitiful attempt at a backhand pass to a teammate that turned out to be Columbus’ Jason Chimera. Chimera took the puck out from behind the net, wheeled and sniped Hasek, who had fallen far too early, over his left shoulder. 1-0 Jackets, at 8:30, made worse by the fact that the goal was shorthanded.
Less than a minute and a half later, the Jackets’ top line of Sergei Fedorov, David Vyborny, and Rick Nash put on a passing clinic on their way into the Wings’ zone. Vyborny to Fedorov to Vyborny to Nash, who took it at Hasek’s right and cut across the net, beating Dominik to the opposite post. It was jut a great play and I’m not going to put the blame fully on Hasek, but I do think he was a bit out of position when Nash came across. Whatever. 2-0 Columbus, at 9:54.
The Jackets waited until near the end of the period to score again. This time, the Wings were trying to kill off a 5-on-3 penalty when an uncovered Sergei Fedorov ripped a shot between Dom’s legs to make it 3-0 at 18:28. Now, 5-hole goals should rarely, if ever, happen on a goalie of Dom’s caliber, especially in situations like that.
I was glad when the second period started and Osgood was in net. He was immediately strong as the Wings came out to start the second period a little flat, buying time for them to get their game together. The goal he did allow came on a 3-on-2, with Henrik Zetterberg and Nick Lidstrom apparently giving their attention to Vyborny and Nash only, and ignoring Fedorov on the right wing. A quick pass by Vyborny to the former Red Wings resulted in a rocket that blew by Osgood, who had no chance to stop it.
Robert Lang, who had a great game otherwise last night, needs to stop it with the penalties. He had two, both wholly avoidable, being hooking and tripping calls. He made up for it, though, with two goals, with one coming in the second period and the other late in the game. The first came seconds after a Jiri Hudler blast (redirected, but stopped) resulted in a line change.
Lang’s line came over the boards and Robert’s strange luck kicked in again. After taking a pass from Dan Cleary, Lang took a shot that was stopped, but the rebound came right back to him. He moved the puck around the Columbus defenseman and backhanded the puck easily into the net. He always makes it look so easy.
His second goal came at 18:28 of the third period and in similar fashion. Another pass from Cleary resulted in a quick shot by Lang, which was blocked by a defenseman this time. The puck bounced right back to Robert, who one-timed a snap shot past Norrena to bring the Wings within one again, just twenty seconds after Fedorov had given Columbus a two-goal lead.
Jiri Hudler is making good use of his time now that Tomas Kopecky is out. For two games in a row, he’s involved himself heavily in the offense, making good plays with the puck and showing good effort at both ends. It paid off last night when he scored the Wings’ second goal, at 12:42 of the third period. Kris Draper made a great play on Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, using his body to knock the defenseman off track in a race for the puck, before immediately centering it to Hudler. Jiri beat Norrena to his left and put the Wings within one.
Aside from the goal, Jiri’s line with Valtteri Filppula and Matt Ellis was a solid energy line. Ellis, who wore #8, played only 4:55, but had a couple hits and didn’t stand out in a bad way at all. A good debut. If Samuelsson returns Wednesday, we may only see Ellis again if someone else gets hurt since Hudler has been playing well enough to stay in the lineup.
Pavel Datsyuk looked pretty good again last night, but he and Henrik Zetterberg at times seemed a little lost as they carried the puck into three- or four-player-stong crowds only to lose it. I don’t think Tomas Holmstrom necessarily fits the bill as a replacement for Mikael Samuelsson on that line. It seemed obvious that those two needed a finisher, even with Pavel shooting more.
Other players that had good games: Mathieu Schneider, who played solid as usual; Niklas Kronwall, who played a physical game; Dan Cleary, who had two assists and is looking very strong on the puck; Johan Franzen, who was one of the few Wings capable of really standing up to the Jackets’ physical play.
I’m with IwoCPO in saying I wouldn’t object to Sergei Fedorov being in the Winged Wheel again, though that’s about as likely as Gordie Howe suiting up for another season. He looked good last night and, for his sake, I hope he continues to play like that. He’s faded into obscurity since leaving Detroit and it’s good to see he’s stepping back into his former shoes. No team should be as bad as the Jackets have been this year and I hope he can be instrumental in making them respectable. Just as long as they don’t get too good.
Not much to negative to say about the Versus broadcast, which I didn’t have on as loud as I would for an FSN game. Still, I heard “swagger” and the many variations thereof, about 500 times (I exagerrate, but only a little), and it got a little old. Every time any player would use even the slightest move on the opposition, it was, “swagger move,” or the player was, “swaggering,” or the opposition was, “swaggered.” What the heck? Since when is that a description of a deke or a move around a defender? Is it now the only NHL-approved description? You’d have thought so, based on how many times the announcer said it.
Anyway, after the first period, I was ready to ream the Wings for an awful game, but they looked great for the last 35 minutes or so of the game so I can’t really complain. Another game lost because of a hot goalie and because of a couple mistakes.
I’m not sure who I’d like to see in net on Wednesday. It might be good to give Osgood the start and let him pick up where he left off, but that may do more harm than good to Hasek’s ego. Maybe starting Hasek and giving him a chance to make up for last night’s pitiful performance would be best.
Whoever’s in net, the Wings need to win. No falling behind and having to fight to catch up. The Blue Jackets are a much improved team, but if the Wings want to go anywhere, they need to be able to handle them.
