1/29 Notes — On the Wings

Update (7:40 PM): … Ansar Khan, easily the most accessible Wings writer, has published a blog post in response to a claim by a certain St. Louis hockey media personality that the Red Wing lockerrom is at the point of revolt against Mike Babcock (see A2Y for details). Read the whole thing. – Matt

… The Wings beat the Avs yesterday, 3-1, and ended their losing streak. I wasn’t able to watch the game, so I can’t do a write-up on it, though it sounds like it was a bit more lopsided than the score indicates. Though the Wings outshot Colorado 41-12, they only led by a goal until Kirk Maltby scored at 18:54. It was a good thing Kirk put one in the net, though, as one of the Wings’ goals was disputed, a Tomas Holmstrom marker at 14:02. There wasn’t conclusive evidence to turn it over so the goal stood and the Avs aren’t happy, though Joe Sakic was sober enough to realize it didn’t matter in the end because his team lost the game for themselves.

Anyway, the Wings can now go to Long Island with a win behind them and perhaps build up some momentum for the stretch run.

… A big thank-you to the Avs for being so lethargic yesterday. It meant Dominik Hasek didn’t have to exert himself too much in his return to the lineup after getting over the flu. 12 shots? I know the Wings have one of the best defenses in the league, but 12?

… That’s all for now. I feel completely out of it since I missed the game. I’ll probably update this post throughout the day, but I have to go to class in a few.

Comments

micah says:

January 29, 2007 at 2:36 pm

the two things i noticed from yesterday's game:

- the wings looked in playoff form. thankfully, not theirs. some other team with recent playoff success.

- franzen and filppula looked great. i hadn't explictly noticed them in too many games before, but last night, it seemed like they were catalysts on some great scoring chances.

Matt Saler says:

January 29, 2007 at 3:44 pm

Micah,

The Avs seem to bring out the best in the Wings this season, with the exception of the Jan 20th game. I'm glad to hear they were getting in proper playoff form.

I've been surprised at Franzen lately, though I've noticed Filppula getting much more involved in the play over the past few weeks. Johan, though, is someone you think of as a purely defensive forward, but he's been throwing his body around and showing some skill. Maybe he's going to have a Cleary-esque breakout.

Justin says:

January 31, 2007 at 10:22 am

The game was a few days ago, but if anyone still cares… I watched the game and I gotta say it wasn't as great as the stats make it look. Yes we outshot the Avs 41-12, but honestly it was more a case of the Avs playing extremely sloppy than it was the Wings dominating the game. Yeah we outplayed them, but we weren't getting that many great scoring chances. Most of the 41 shots were just throwing the puck on net. We were pretty weak offensively ourselves, and what good chances we did muster would get stoned by Theodore – who was playing a great game. Datsyuk and Zetterberg hooked up for a great first goal where Pavel showed great patience and made Theodore look like a rookie. But both the Holmstrom and Maltby goals were pretty lucky. Maltby made a beautiful tip on Chelios' shot from the blueline, but I contend all tips are at least 50% luck anyway. Holmstrom's goal wasn't luck – that was great hand-eye coordination he showed – but I call it lucky because it didn't get waved off.

As for whether Holmstrom's goal was legal or not: It certainly LOOKED like the puck made contact with Homer's stick over the crossbar. But being as unbiased as I can, you CANNOT clearly see it on the replay (thanks to the puck and stick both being black and the shot being so hard that there weren't enough video frames to see it well) and inconclusive was the right call. And since the call on the ice was goal, it stood.

Matt Saler says:

January 31, 2007 at 12:36 pm

Justin,

That certainly helps explain their play for the first two periods of the Islanders game. I hadn't seen the Avs game and, after seeing the stats, I thought they were back on track after losing to St. Louis. Obviously, they weren't, and it carried over in New York.