Monthly Archive for December, 2006Page 2 of 4

Wings 3, Blue Jackets 4

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.

GameDay: @ Columbus (11-17-3, 25 Pts) 7:00 ET

Update (6:45 PM): More from Khan, who took the Ellis-related bits out of his earlier blog post and made a new one with some added info: namely, Matt Ellis will play tonight in place of Mikael Samuelsson, who will sit out with a groin injury.

That sucks for Sammy, who’s just gotten rolling, but great news for Ellis, who will be making his NHL debut sooner than expected. I highly doubt he would have played had Samuelsson not been hurt. So, no, Jiri Hudler will not be sitting, if you were wondering. - Matt

Update (4:30 PM): Ansar Khan reports that Dominik Hasek will be in net tonight, with Chris Osgood backing him up.

He also says the Wings called up Matt Ellis from Grand Rapids just in case they need someone to fill a hole in the lineup during the NHL’s holiday roster freeze from December 19th to the 27th. - Matt

Tonight is the second of eight meetings between these two teams this season. The Wings won the first meeting, 4-1 on November 4th off goals from Dan Cleary (2), Mikael Samuelsson, and Henrik Zetterberg. Dominik Hasek got credit for the win. Tonight’s meeting kicks off a home-home series, with the second game taking place Wednesday night in Detroit.

Immediately following their loss to the Wings on the fourth, the Jackets went into a tailspin, prompting the firing of Gerard Gallant on November 13 at the start of what would become a 1-6-1 slide. They have had a decent run of success since hiring Ken Hitchcock on the 24th, however.

Hitchcock has a more promising 6-41 record thus far, including a five-game winning streak that was halted with a 5-4 shutout loss in Phoenix. They followed that loss up with another, a 6-4 disappointment at home on Saturday against the Blackhawks. Things aren’t all positive in Columbus.

Former Red Wing Sergei Fedorov has had a bit of a resurgence of late, scoring five goals and notching seven assists in the eleven games since Hitchcock took over head coaching duties. Rick Nash, another slumping player before the coaching switch, has nine points in five games.

The Wings have won their last two games, one over the Blackhawks (3-2) on Thursday and the other over the Devils (2-1) on Saturday. According to the AP, the Wings have won seven straight in Columbus.

Chris Osgood may get the start tonight, as he is apparently finally ready to come back from his wrist injury, but Mike Babcock won’t tip his hand.

Even though they’re having a bit of a turnaround, the Blue Jackets should still be little cause for concern. As long as the Wings stay focused and play like their capable, it shouldn’t be too difficult to come out with a win.

12/17 Notes

Ansar Khan reported last night that Chris Osgood is likely to be the starter on Monday against the Blue Jackets. Osgood has been out since November 13th with a broken hand, which was diagnosed on the 21st. He had a setback on December 4th when his wrist did not heal as quickly as expected, and then again a week later, when a rash following the removal of his cast kept him from playing immediately.

It will be good to have Osgood back since it will take some pressure of Hasek and allow the Wings to rest him more often.

… There’s an interesting quote from Mike Babcock in the Detroit News today. Referring to Dominik Hasek’s tirade following being assessed a delay-of-game penalty yesterday, Babcock said,

“He snapped. He just wanted to get face a few shots and get his save percentage up. He wasn’t happy and didn’t react the right way. But I told the guys after the second period Dom will shut the door and to keep plugging away.”

Wait a second. Is Babcock implying that Dom is unhappy with how few shots he’s facing? Wow.

Most people are saying it was a bad call, but the immediate reaction of the FSN crew was that it was a good one, since Dom did have contact with the puck behind the line and outside the trapezoid, despite having legally initiated contact outside that area. What mattered there is where the puck left his stick and it did so outside the trapezoid and behind the goalline.

Wings 2, Devils 1

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.

Continue reading ‘Wings 2, Devils 1′

GameDay: @ New Jersey (17-11-2, 36 Pts) 1:00 ET

This afternoon, the Wings will face the Devils for the first and only time this season. Detroit won the last meeting between these two teams, 5-2 on December 6th, 2005, in the 1,000th game at Joe Louis Arena. To cap off the win, Steve Yzerman scored a highlight reel goal in the third period on backup goalie Scott Clemmensen after Dan Cleary sprung him into the Devils zone all alone.

The Devils remain competitive this season, sitting just four points behind the Rangers for the lead in the Atlantic Division. After some troubles at the end of November - earning just one point on a four-game Pacific Division road trip - New Jersey kicked off December with five wins in a row.

That streak was halted when they hosted the Sabres on Tuesday and lost 3-2. The loss was a rarity for the team, which has an Eastern Conference-best 11-2-1 home record. They traveled up the Eastern seaboard on Thursday to face the Bruins hoping to get back on the right track, but they were unsuccessful, losing 5-3.

Martin Brodeur did not play Thursday night, but will be in net today, no doubt. He is 7-6-1-0 against the Wings in his career (regular season), with a 2.06 GAA.

The Wings had a three-game winning streak halted by a loss to the Senators on Tuesday. They dominated for much of the game, but handed the Sens three goals on a platter (albeit one was on a power play after a lame penalty) and couldn’t make up for it in the face of Ray Emery’s stellar play in net.

They had the tables turned on them, in a way, on Thursday, when the Hawks fairly dominated them, but couldn’t win because of Dominik Hasek’s own great play. Three great Wings goals later and the Hawks were in the same position the Wings were in against the Sens: trying to come back in a game they would have won without such a strong game by the opposing goalie and without a couple defensive gaffes.

Now, the Wings will head into the Devils’ home turf, a place in which they have not won since 1993, according to the AP. The game seems to be a bit of a schedule oddity, as it is the middle game of a three-stop road trip for the Wings, who had to travel a third of the way across the country to get to New Jersey after playing in Chicago. Following the game today, they will have to turn around and head to Columbus for Monday’s game, to wrap up the trip. Have to love the zig-zagging across half the country.

Dominik Hasek should get the nod today.

The Wings’ injury list now stands at Danny Markov (hand) and Tomas Kopecky (collarbone). The latter’s injury came at the start of the third period of Thursday’s game and required surgery Friday to repair. Kopecky will be out 10-12 weeks, apparently.

Niklas Kronwall is apparently going to return today after missing far too many six games with a groin injury.

The Wings need to watch out for the Devils, who would love to make up for their home loss on Tuesday with a win over their old rivals. They’ll need to play a more controlled defensive game than they did against the Hawks, but demonstrate the same offensive creativity that forced Emery to be so good Tuesday and resulted in three great goals on Thursday. Brodeur is a hard nut to crack but they’ve done it before and need to do it again.

12/15 Notes

Real quick:

… Dominik Hasek stole one for the Wings last night: 29 saves, many of which were big time stops.

… Pavel Datsyuk’s pass to Henrik Zetterberg for the first goal was amazing. I had just started yelling at Mikael Samuelsson for turning over the puck at center when Pavel stole it right back and beat two defensemen as he made that behind the back pass to a wide open Zetterberg. I forgot all about the turnover.

Samuelsson’s goal later in the game was a sniper’s goal. Keep that up and you can be our canon, Sammy.

… Tomas Kopecky has a broken collar bone after going into the boards shoulder first on a rush in the third period. I only saw the replay once but it looked bad enough. He’ll be out for 10-12 weeks. Since the Wings can just insert Jiri Hudler into the lineup, they don’t need to call anyone up, though they might anyway, just in case.

… Derek Meech has been sent back to GR since Niklas Kronwall has finally been cleared to play.

GameDay: @ Chicago (12-12-5, 29 Pts) 8:30 ET

Update (4:17 PM): Looks like Kronwall won’t be in the lineup tonight, though Babs continues to tease us (via the Freep):

“I think he’ll play the next game,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said after the morning skate at United Center in Chicago. “They’re just giving him one more day.”

Let’s hope that’s true cause I’d really like to see him back in the lineup and I don’t think I can handle hearing any more about how he’s so very close to being able to play… -Sarah

Tonight is the second of eight games between these two teams this season. The Wings won the first meeting 2-1 on November 2nd, off goals from Robert Lang and Henrik Zetterberg.

The Hawks have gone 8-3-5 since they lost to the Wings and have earned at least a point in every game back to their 2-1 win over the Stars on November 29th. This run of success started when they switched coaches from Trent Yawney to Denis Savard on the 27th. They have won their last two, including a 3-2 win over the Blues in their latest game.

On Sunday, the Hawks signed free agent forward Peter Bondra in a bid to increase their offense. They already have a great goalscorer in Martin Havlat and when Michael Handzus returns, they’ll be a bit of an offensive force to be reckoned with.

The new coach, Savard, was an old teammate of Chris Chelios’ and Cheli had this to say about him in the News today:

“Denis was a gambler as a player, and knowing him, he’s letting the forwards over there take some chances and letting them use their skill. They’re winning games and playing good hockey.”

Honestly, that’s good to hear. I’m no fan of the Hawks, but they’ve been too bad for too long, and I’m willing to accept a change in fortunes for them.

The Wings had a three-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday with an underwhelming performance at home versus the Ottawa Senators. After a dominating first period, the Wings fell apart and the Sens were able to steal a win.

Tonight’s game kicks off a three-game road trip for the Wings, who will travel to New Jersey (Saturday) and Columbus (Monday) before returning home for another game against the Blue Jackets on the 20th.

Johan Franzen is slated to return to the ice tonight after sitting out nine games with a concussion and knee sprain. It will definitely be good to have him back.

Niklas Kronwall may or may not be back in the lineup tonight, the papers say. I’m guessing not. That means Derek Meech will get another game’s worth of NHL experience.

If Kronwall is healthy, though, Meech may just be sent down because otherwise he’d be a scratch, even with Danny Markov still out. The Wings would have six healthy defensemen and wouldn’t have much reason to keep him in town when he could be playing in Grand Rapids. So, the AHL transaction page could be a good indicator of Kronwall’s condition.

The Wings need to rebound from Tuesday night’s embarrassing loss. The Hawks are hot right now and won’t be pushovers but if the Wings play like they did in the first period of the Sens game, they should be able to overwhelm Chicago. Still, they could just run into another suddenly-hot goalie in Nikolai Khabibulin and fall into the same hole they did against Ottawa.

12/13 Injury Update

Ansar Khan reports that Pavel Datsyuk did not practice today due to stiffness. Apparently, it’s nothing big, though it’s not certain whether or not he’ll play tomorrow night in Chicago. Babcock wouldn’t tell what exactly the issue was, so it could be anything.

Hopefully Pavel won’t have to sit tomorrow, as he seems to be hitting his stride and doesn’t need to have that disrupted.

… Khan also reports that Johan Franzen will definitely be back tomorrow night. He says nothing about Niklas Kronwall, however. Nik’s injury problems are beginning to be a bit frustrating, I have to say.

Wings 2, Sens 3

Update (11:15 AM): Gorilla Crouch has more. - Matt

I have to go take a final (my last one) and then work on a project until I go to work so I have no time to do anything other than refer you to Abel to Yzerman. Regular coverage should return next week when we’re all done with school for a few weeks.

GameDay: vs. Ottawa (15-15-1, 31 Pts) 7:30 ET

Because of finals, this will be another brief preview:

Tonight is the only game between these teams this season.

The Sens are coming off a 6-2 loss to the surging Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday, a game in which they allowed five power play goals. It was the third loss in a row for Ottawa, which dropped games to the Caps and Rangers before heading to Columbus to lose.

Ray Emery, rather than Martin Gerber, will get the start tonight for the Sens. Gerber allowed four goals on 13 shots against the Jackets, while Emery has allowed 10 goals in his last three games, according to the AP.

The Wings won their last game, a 5-1 decision over Toronto in which they scored five power play goals. In contrast to the Sens, they have won their last three, with two wins over the Blues coming before Saturday’s win over the Leafs.

Johan Franzen (knee) and Niklas Kronwall (groin) are both expected to sit out tonight’s game.

The Sens are struggling a bit, but they still have talent so the Wings can’t expect to win just by stepping out onto the ice. Expect Ottawa to step up their play against their old teammate, Dominik Hasek, who’ll have to have a strong mental game tonight, for his part, and not get carried away emotionally.

I don’t think I’ll be able to watch tonight, and even if I do, I probably won’t be doing a full-scale game summary because I won’t have the time.