Update (10:55 PM): George Malik has a nice roundup up reactions to the game in the media here. - Matt
Here’s a shocker for you: the Wings lost last night to a team they should have been able to handle in their sleep, if the standings were any indicator. However, at times it seemed as though the Wings were ranked 30th and the Flyers were fighting for first place in their division, not the other way around. The 6-1 Philadelphia result would have been surprising if the Wings didn’t have a penchant for losing to teams that have no business beating them. Now, Philly has many of the tools of a good team, but when last night’s win was their just their 15th through 56 games, I think it’s fair to say the Wings were favored last night.
Joey MacDonald was in net for the Wings and looked great through two periods as he kept his team in the game with a number of stellar saves. However, he pretty much collapsed in the third period under a combination of being unused to so much playing time (it was his third start in a row after a layoff of just over two months) and of being run by the Flyers at least three times. He gave up five goals in the final period, a couple of which were flat out his fault (such as RJ Umberger’s shorthander, in which Joey’s holding of the post left much to be desired), the others of which were a result of a dogged defense that seemed to give up.
By the time the fourth goal went off the right post and in, I started thinking that Babcock ought to pull MacDonald, just to get him out of there for his own good. However, Babcock chose not to, even when the 5th and 6th goals were scored. I like Babcock and what he’s done with the team, but I hate - hate - the way he refuses to pull goalies when it’s just not their night. I don’t care if he was defending Jimmy Howard from the wolves or whatever. There was no reason to keep an obviously physically and mentally exhausted MacDonald in there last night except as some kind of power trip. To me, deciding not to pull MacDonald meant he had given up on the game. How often is it that you see a team sparked by a backup coming in? It doesn’t happen always, but it does happen, and the Wings could have used that when the game was 4-1.
Peter Forsberg was pretty quiet through two periods, but he kick-started the Flyers’ onslaught with a goal at 4:20 of the third. He finished the night with two points, having assisted on Simon Gagne’s backhander, and while I’ve seen him dominate games much more than he did, he looked good for a player who’s had the injury troubles he’s had this season. He was strong on his skates, which is a good sign for whoever’s hoping to trade for him, since it means his ankle is giving him minimal problems.
One thing that was blatantly obvious last night was the Wings’ lack of size. The Flyers owned them physically all night, which is disheartening for a fan who has seen the team become more physical than ever this year. They may hit more and may be able to handle punishment better, but they really got manhandled last night by a seemingly huge Philadelphia team.
Shock of the night: Andreas Lilja actually did something that provoked a fight. At 16:11, he hit Simon Gagne from behind into the boards and was immediately (and I mean immediately - he’d hardly taken a breath) attacked by Denis Gauthier, whose gloves were off with amazing quickness. Lilja, I’m ashamed to say, submarined and cowered (granted, Gauthier wasn’t man enough to challenge him face-to-face, he just started throwing punches from behind), but it was over soon and the Wings got a four-minute power play. Somehow, Andreas’ boarding of Gagne was missed. Unfortunately for the Wings, the Flyers killed off the double minor and got a big momentum boost.
Another shock: Derian Hatcher’s offensive foray at the start of the third period. Philly’s Big Pylon somehow found himself at the bottom of the left circle with the puck and he advanced as far as the back of the net before drawing a high-sticking double minor from Mathieu Schneider. Yes, Schneider somehow managed to get his stick high enough to clip Hatcher in his face. It hardly cut Derian at all, but any blood is enough for a 4:00 penalty, obviously.
Least surprising event(s) of the night: Joey MacDonald got run over by Mike Richards on a Philadelphia shorthanded chance in the first period and apparently none of the Wings even went over to him to at least tell him not to do that, even though MacDonald was laid out on the ice. MacDonald was run at least two more times, but nothing was done about it by his teammates, though the officials finally handed out a penalty for it at 12:57 of the third period.
The Wings’ well-established practice of making average goalies look spatectacular was in full effect last night, as Michael Leighton got a nicely padded 32-save performance with shots going into the crest of his jersey 88% of the time. Not to downplay his performance, which was strong, but he didn’t have it as rough as Kiprusoff and McLellan had the night before, when Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Tomas Holmstrom showed up to play. The most dangerous line he faced all night as Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, and Johan Franzen, with the Young Gun Line of Valtteri Filppula, Jiri Hudler, and Josh Langfeld tied at second with Robert Lang, Dan Cleary, and Jason Williams. Offensively, the top line was relatively silent, even though it came away with earned by anyone in the Winged Wheel last night, as Zetterberg assisted on Holmstrom’s goal in the first.
Just as the Flames shot themselves in the foot Sunday night by turning over the puck repeatedly, so did the Wings. There were players giving away the puck two or three times on the same shift and in the defensive zone. For a team priding itself in its puck possession style, it was appalling, even accounting for the Flyers’ highly-motivated puck pursuit.
My perception of the game is distorted by the lens of the third period, which was straight-up awful. The Wings weren’t nearly as terrible through two periods and I don’t want to leave the impression that they were. But the fact is, they were average or worse for the greater part of the game and, given that and the fact that the Flyers were working their butts off, the Wings had no chance to win. I’d put it down to having played the night before, but they had just had a decent break between the Blues game and the Calgary game, so they should have been fairly rested. I don’t think the road trip is much of an excuse either considering they didn’t leave the time zone. If it was just plain exhaustion, then that raises concerns about the team’s stamina.
If it was a problem of motivation, that raises a whole other set of concerns, not the least of which is what better motivation is there at this point in the season than the fact that a win last night would have put them a point ahead of Nashville for the Division lead? As it stands, they’ll have to win in Dallas on Wednesday and hope the Preds lose the same night against the Sharks at home if they want to pass them.
If you want to see the damage, check out the NHL Highlight Machine’s reel from last night.
I’ll respectfully disagree with your view that Babcock should’ve pulled Mac. What’s to gain by pulling a guy who’s getting little or no help from one of the best defenses in the league? In a situation like this, a goalie is usually pulled to give a wake-up call to the other players. But, by the time it was 4-1, Babcock knew that it was the enitre team losing the game, not the netminder (it’s hard to ‘pull’ the rest of the team!). Witness the play of Nick Lidstrom; last night was the worst game I’ve seen him play in years. The same could be said for others
I saw MacDonald as the best Wing on the ice for the first two periods. And don’t forget he’s not a high falootin’ first-string goalie. He’s just learning to play in the NHL; Babcock knows that great goaltenders need a mental toughness to compliment their other abilities. All players need to learn to deal with games like this, tough as they are, even in their depressing aftermath.
Also, I believe Forsberg was more a factor than you’re giving him credit for. Although he didn’t get on the scoreboard until the third, he winning nearly every faceoff and battle on the boards. He was routinely knocking all but the most skilled Wings off the puck at every turn. When there was a loose rebound in front of the Flyers goalie, Forsberg scooped it safely away. For these reasons, not scoring alone, many call him the best player in the game. And he lead the physical attack on the Wings, a tactic which he knows to be effective.
(Having said all of that about Forsberg, I still don’t think that he’d ever make a good Red Wing. Too long on the wrong side of the tracks. But the Wings should fear a trade that sends him back to the Western Conference!)
Tha main point that I agree on is that the Wings got supremely ‘handled’ in the physical sense last night. hope that GM Holland and the front office boys heard that alarm, loud and clear. This is a scenario that we’ve seen played out in too many post-seasons lately. Back-to-back schedules and big, physical players will be the order of the day once the season is over. What can/will Holland do to toughen up this team before that trade deadline?
I agree that MacDonald was the best player in the Winged Wheel for two periods as he definitely kept the Wings in the game through the second. He did fall apart a bit in the third, however, and it was for his own sake that I was wishing Babcock would pull him. He does need mental toughness, but keeping him in a fairly meaningless game against a supposedly far-inferior opponent could be damaging to his development, not helpful.
You’re right, the Wings as a whole weren’t playing well at all, and not all of them could have been pulled, but I felt Babcock could have tried something different. Putting in Jimmy Howard may have made things worse, but it also could have made things better by giving the team some motivation to skate in front him. If Babcock felt there was nothing to gain by pulling MacDonald, he really was giving up on the game.
You’re right about Forsberg. I should have said more, but I focused on his offensive contribution because that’s when he really started hurting the Wings.
As far as toughness goes, I don’t see the Wings getting much more gritty, no matter what happens at the deadline. One player will not change the whole team, as IwoCPO pointed out so well today. The Wings are as tough as they’ve been in years and when they’re playing like they did Sunday, toughness isn’t so important.
However, without size and toughness, they’ll have to sustain that high level of play against big, tough teams in the post-season if they want to go anywhere, like you said. The big question now is whether or not they can do it. After a game like last night’s, I have to admit my hope has taken a hit. Still, I’m confident they’ll rebound from it and learn from it. They may very well be alright come the playoffs.
I agree that the Wings have the game to skate past the toughness that they’ll encounter. But I share your concern when the ultimate question is asked: WILL THEY?
And the one other thing that I forgot to say was that I think that you and the OtW crew do a fine job. Keep up the good work1
Thanks for the complement, rislac!
Philly BLOWS!! Everyone gets lucky