The Wings stretched their winning streak to five last night, beating the Nashville Predators 5-3 at home. For a much-anticipated rivalry game, it was relatively tame, with not a lot of displays of emotion and a total of four penalties. There was a lot of hard skating and much finishing of checks, however, so it wasn’t totally devoid of aspects expected in such a game.
Dominik Hasek started for the Wings as they obviously preferred to have their #1 in net against their division rival rather than Chris Osgood. He played well, but twice was the victim of some opportunism on the part of the Preds and some bad defense on the part of the Wings. The third goal may or may not have been tipped on its way to the net by Andreas Lilja, and if it was, there’s no blaming Dom for it. He only faced 17 shots, so his save percentage will be down a bit, but he was strong overall.
In my preview, I suggested that Chris Mason might start over Tomas Vokoun because the latter had played in the Preds’ most recent game. Well, Vokoun started, but it would have been better for Nashville had they gone with Mason, as the Czech goalie allowed two very uncharacteristic stinkers before being pulled. Mason, of course, allowed three goals, but only on one of them did he have any real chance. Otherwise, he played very well.
After a choppy, whistle-filled first minute or so, there was continuous play for the next 4-5 minutes. The teams skated up and down the ice, but neither could get much going offensively. The Wings were too sloppy passing the puck, and the Preds could get it deep and cycle it, but couldn’t finish, as the Detroit defense nearly always disrupted the last pass before the net. So, despite the fact that there was continuous play for a decent stretch, there were very few shots.
Around the 6:30 mark, the Preds took the puck into the Detroit end on a rush like the others they’d had. The Wings defense appeared to get a little mixed up at the blueline, but they seemed to have it under control as Steve Sullivan and Greg Zanon skated about level with the faceoff circles. Nick Lidstrom covered Sullivan, the puck carrier, on the right wing, and Hasek moved over to play the shot. Danny Markov was in position to cover Zanon, but decided to watch Sullivan instead and have his back turned to the left wing side. Sullivan passed the puck across and got it through to Zanon, who redirected it into the half-open net. Mickey Redmond put it exactly right when he said Markov needed to be more aware and active on the play. No chance for Hasek as the Preds took a one-goal lead at 6:35.
The Wings answered 50 seconds later with a tying goal. Pavel Datsyuk, skating along the left wing in the neutral zone, sent the puck across to Henrik Zetterberg, who skated over the blueline and drove to the net as Kimmo Timonen covered him. Hank cut across a little, shifted to the forehand and released a quick shot from 15 feet out, beating Vokoun 5-hole. It deflected off his leg and slid across the line at the far goalpost, making it 1-1 at 7:25. Not a good goal for Vokoun to give up.
A minute or so after the goal, the Wings came close again when Valtteri Filppula found himself all alone out front with the puck. He was too close, though, and couldn’t get it over Vokoun, who stopped his shot with his right pad.
Following the equalizer, the Wings seemed to settle down in their own end and they began to be very patient with the puck on carry-outs. Something changed once they crossed the red line, however, as they had trouble completing passes in or near the Nashville zone.
Around the 13:00 mark, Johan Franzen made a great play getting the puck up to Kris Draper. Draper got behind the Predator defense and was breaking in on net when he appeared to fan on the shot. Replays showed that Sullivan, who’d caught Draper from behind, had lifted his stick just as he was taking the shot. A great defensive play, but disappointing.
At 14:52, the Preds took a 2-1 lead when they somehow managed to spring a 3-on-1 into the Wings zone. Brett Lebda couldn’t do much of anything as Scott Hartnell sent it across to Jordin Tootoo to Hasek’s left. Tootoo tipped the puck high as Dom sprawled across the net, and it went in under the crossbar. Not a good rush for the Wings defense to give up, to be sure.
There was a lighter side to the play, however. When the 3-on-1 broke, Dan Cleary and Mikael Samulsson were caught trying to catch up. Apparently, in an effort to get Cleary back in the play, Samuelsson decided to use his stick to propel his linemate forward. He pushed Cleary in his hockey pants, which ended up causing Cleary to stumble, rather than giving him an extra boost. An interesting strategy by Sammy, eh?
A little over a minute later, Datsyuk came close to scoring when he sent a shot from the slot just wide on the far side. He was trying to snipe it and for a second it looked like he was successful.
The Wings got a power play beginning at 16:30 after Shea Weber broke his stick on Datsyuk’s arm while cross-checking him. It wasn’t a very good effort, though, as their tendency for sloppy passing continued.
A minute and a half into the second period, Henrik Zetterberg took the puck down the right wing and decided to try a spin-o-rama move, releasing a backhand shot as he turned. To his, and everyone else’s, surprise, the puck went in the net. Vokoun must have been caught flat-footed by Hank’s spontaneous move and missed the puck as it went between his glove arm and his body. Barry Trotz was less than impressed and pulled him in favor of Mason.
The Preds came right back, however, and scored less than a minute later. Dan Hamhuis threw it at the net from 55 feet out to keep it in the zone following a Detroit clearing attempt. There was a bit of a crowd out front and I believe it glanced a little bit off Lilja’s stick before going into the net, but it didn’t change direction very much if it did. Hasek should have had it. They originally gave the goal to Sullivan, who was thought to have tipped it in, but they changed it to Hamhuis once it was realized no other Predator had touched it. 3-2 Preds at 2:25.
After the goal, there was more continuous play, with the Wings controlling flow a little more than the Preds. Chris Mason was looking sharp in this stretch, turning aside Wings shots and looking like he’d be tough to beat.
The refs slapped Sullivan with a ghost hooking call at 10:36 of the period and the Wings capitalized at 12:22 when Pavel Datsyuk found Nick Lidstrom creeping up in the left circle. Pavel, on the right wing, threaded the pass through to Lidstrom, who tipped it in to tie it at 3.
The game slowed down a bit after that, but the Wings weren’t done. Within two minutes of Lidstrom’s goal, Filppula was skating down the left wing boards with the puck. He was pressured by the Predatoes defenseman, so he made a short pass to Jiri Hudler at the far edge of the circle. Hudler took a quick shot across the net to the far upper corner, beating Mason high glove side at 14:16.
It was an interesting goal because, prior to the game, Hudler had said in an interview that he couldn’t go high glove side on Vokoun because his Czech countryman would be expecting it. With Vokoun out of the game, Jiri was free to take his favorite shot, though it was to the opposite side since Mason catches left and Vokoun catches right. It would stand up as his second-career game winner (he’s scored two GWG’s in a row now).
The pace quickened after that, as action picked up and the teams traded chances. The Preds couldn’t beat the Wings’ defenders or Hasek, however, and were soon down by another goal. As the period wound down to the last minute, Pavel Datsyuk demonstrated an aspect of his stickhandling talent I’d never seen before. He skated over the blueline down the right wing and faked a pass back to the line by dropping the puck to his skate and then kicking it back up to his stick. I don’t think it had much effect, but it was very interesting and obviously done on purpose.
The Predator player covering him veered off to cover Zetterberg, who was sandwiched between two Nashville players and steered away from the net, leaving a wide open space in the slot. Datsyuk saw Tomas Holmstrom filling that spot and sent a centering pass from the corner. Homer took the pass and snapped a quick shot that beat Mason between his stick arm and his body while Paul Kariya looked on. 5-3 Wings at 19:00.
The Wings were penalized soon after the goal, but the Preds did nothing before the end of the period. They also did nothing with it at the start of the third.
For much of the period, there wasn’t a lot worth noting. Play was fairly continuous, with the Wings patient in their own end and the Preds making some effort at a comeback. One play that stood out was Pavel Datsyuk’s excellant defense on Paul Kariya along the left wing boards around the 4:00 mark. Kariya was carrying the puck in on a rush and Pavel close him off an squeezed him into the boards, looking more like a defenseman than a skilled forward. Good to see that. It was a picture of the rest of the period: the Preds were trying to get something going, but the Wings were preventing them both by strong defensive play and by the occasional offensive foray. They seemed especially good at disrupting passes, which made it very difficult for the more puck-possession-oriented Predators players to make anything happen.
With about 45 seconds left, the Preds made one last push when they pulled Mason. They only got a couple of fairly harmless chances and the game end. 5-3 Wings final.
As far as rivalry games go, this one was a relatively tame affair. It was a skilled game but not nearly as nasty as some Wings/Preds matchups have been in the past. I can’t say I’m disappointed because the Wings won, but I’ll expect more next time.
The Wings now travel to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets Friday night.
