On the Wings

The Wings took first place in the Conference last night with their 4-1 win over Phoenix. They were able to do so thanks to the Minnesota Wild’s 4-1 defeat of Nashville in Peter Forsberg’s debut. Powered by Henrik Zetterberg’s first career hat trick, the Wings finished the season series with the Coyotes 4-0 and put themselves a point ahead of the Preds with 60 games played for each team.

Dominik Hasek was in net for the Wings and played quite well considering he only faced 9 shots through the first 40 minutes. In the third, however, he was called upon to make some key saves and he didn’t disappoint. He was beaten only by a tip-in and otherwise had a great game in his return from the wrist injury. He looked calm and confident, and was definitely on top of his game.

Mikael Tellqvist was in net for the Coyotes, not Curtis Joseph, who I had predicted to start. He had a great game himself and Phoenix would have been in worse trouble had he not, as the Wings managed to get a number of high quality scoring chances throughout the night.

The first period began with both teams charging out of the gate. Action for the first five minutes or so was pretty exciting as they traded chances. The Wings had a couple great rushes disrupted by unforced errors, such as Pavel Datsyuk’s blowing a tire around the 3:05 mark and Jason Williams’ lazy pass aimed at a streaking Robert Lang that ended up being intercepted 30 seconds later or so. On that same shift, Lang, Williams, and Dan Cleary put up some power play-like pressure in the Phoenix zone, but it didn’t result in a goal. Not long after that, Dominik Hasek made a casual save on a dangerous rush that ended with the puck going at the net off Bill Thomas’ skate. Dom just calmly scooped it up with his glove and got a whistle.

Things slowed down around the 5:00 mark. Hasek made another great save at 6:54, this time on Ed Jovanovski, who had crept up. Dom stoned him at the right post on the shot that came from 10 feet out. After the subsequent face-off, the Wings had a little trouble clearing the puck. Until Brett Lebda picked it up, that is. After the puck was sent back deep into the Detroit end by the Coyotes, Lebda picked it up, spun and immediately sent it up ice to Johan Franzen at the red line. It was a perfect pass, right on the tape, and, Franzen was able to take it in and get a shot off. To me that’s more evidence of how good Lebda is and how important he is for the Wings’ transition game, as George Malik pointed out the other day. I’ll never understand Brett’s detractors.

As well as Tellqvist played last night, he was helped by the Wings’ missing the net completely on a number of occasions. Case in point: Tomas Holmstrom had two great chances in one shift but sent it wide on both, first off the rush when his backhand clanged off the backboards, and then a little later when Zetterberg’s pass put him in prime scoring position. Homer put it up and over the net. Thirty seconds after Holmstrom’s chance, Niklas Kronwall had a great one of his own, but he ran out of real estate as he stuffed the puck in Tellqvist’s pads. Going the other way, the Coyotes had a good scoring opportunity but Hasek came up big.

The Coyotes got their first power play of the night at 10:37, but they had trouble setting up. Nick Lidstrom, Zetterberg, and Datsyuk controlled the puck in the Phoenix end for a while, easily killing of some time. Just before the end of the power play, the Wings had a fast break with Kris Draper pursuing the puck. He got to it first and threw it back to a trailing Franzen, whose shot went high and wide.

At 13:17, Jeremy Roenick was called for slashing, but the penalty happened a good 20 seconds before that as the Wings maintained possession when the referee’s arm went up. Johan Franzen sent a shot off the post during this time, but the whistle finally went and JR had to come off the bench to go to the box.

The Wings set up and had it cleared. They then had to deal with a shorthanded foray by the Coyotes, but soon enough they were back in the Phoenix end. Jiri Hudler was on the ice for the power play and has been for a couple games now. I guess it’s time to stop whining about him not being given opportunities, because that’s exactly what he’s getting now. It’s up to him to perform if he’s getting power play time. Still, he did only get 6:40 (2:41 of which came on the man-advantage) in total ice time, I guess there’s still room for improvement on Babcock’s part. Anyway, they didn’t score on this power play.

At 13:59, Kris Draper took a dumb holding penalty and the Wings were back on the kill. The Wings were a bit less assertive this time around, as Datsyuk turned the puck over behind the goalline and a later clearing attempt was fanned on and resulted in a good scoring chance for Phoenix. Fortunately, Hasek was awake.

After the power play, the Wings controlled the play and they had one of the best chances of the night in the final minute. Pavel Datsyuk stole the puck in front of the net and got off a backhand shot that Tellqvist stopped. Pavel picked up the rebound, however, and made an amazing no-look, through-the-legs drop pass to Henrik Zetterberg in the slot. Hank’s point-blank shot was also stopped but I was too floored by Datsyuk’s pass to care. How he knew Zetterberg was there, I have no idea. Are there any two players in the league better suited to play together?

The period wound down after that. The first few minutes of the second were only eventful in spots, from Mathieu Schneider’s booming shot at 1:40 to Bill Thomas and Steve Reinprecht’s flubbed odd-man rush a minute and a half later, to the Young Gun line’s great shift around the 6:00 mark.

The Coyotes went back on the power play at 6:29 and had a couple good chances. There was a scary moment when Kirk Maltby was caught off-balance by Derek Morris and went into the boards head-first. It was an innocent enough hit, but Maltby was turning and Morris’ contact sent him down. He went into the boards with the top of his head and after he got up, he was holding his neck like it had been treated like an accordion. He was okay and no penalty was necessary on the play, but it didn’t look good at first.

At 8:44, the Wings got a power play of their own. They set up and got a shot from Lidstrom before the puck was cleared. After some trouble regaining the zone, they got set up again and it resulted in a couple solid scoring chances involving Schneider, Lidstrom and Zetterberg. Shane Doan took the puck the other way shorthanded and Nick Lidstrom made a great defensive play from behind to prevent a Doan getting a shot off. On the Wings next set up, they got on the board. Zetterberg took a pass from Schneider, stepped off the boards into the right circle and ripped a wrist shot that beat Tellqvist glove-side. Holmstrom was out front throwing a screen and continuing the fine play that earned him a contract extension. 1-0 Wings at 10:30.

The Coyotes controlled play after that, but seemed pretty harmless. Yanic Perreault took the puck in on a personal rush and Brett Lebda played it just like he’s supposed to. He was called for interference, however. It was a bit dubious, to say the least. In any case, the Wings had to kill off another penalty. Dominik Hasek was forced to make a great save on Doan right off the bat, as the Phoenix captain had the puck down low. Kris Draper took the puck the other way on a fast rush, but his slap shot went right into the Coyote crest as Tellqvist had come out far enough to eliminate any angle. The Coyotes brought it back into the Detroit end but took a penalty themselves, so we had 4-on-4 hockey for 46 seconds. When the Wings got their power play, Datsyuk nearly scored with Tellqvist down and out but his shot came from a terrible angle and ended up going through the crease.

At 16:10, Frederik Sjostrom was called for goaltender interference and the Wings got another power play. They set up quickly and I noticed Valtteri Filppula was also seeing power play time. He only got 51 seconds with the man-advantage and 7:19 in total ice time, so we can continue to point out that injustice. Anyway, the Coyotes took another penalty when Nick Boynton slashed Mathieu Schneider’s stick in half, handing the Wings a 1:09 of 5-on-3 hockey. Zetterberg won the subsequent face-off and Lidstrom took a shot, then Schneider wound up for a shot and all three Phoenix skaters ducked as he released a boomer that clattered off the glass. Seconds later, Schneider got another shot off and Henrik Zetterberg pounced on the rebound at the side of the net. He got two whacks on it and after the second, his arms went up as he thought he scored. The play continued, however, as Morris cleared the crease.

The whistle finally blew with 46.3 seconds left and the play was reviewed. Replay showed that the puck crossed the line, if only barely, so the goal did, in fact, count. They seemed to take an inordinately long time, but that was probably more due to the booth trying to figure out the question of how much time remained and whether or not it was still a Red Wings power play, not of whether or not it was a goal. Finally, they decided it came at 18:01 and that the Wings still had the man-advantage. Little happened after that before the end of the period.

The Coyotes got their 10th shot 22 seconds into the period and then scored on their 11th three second later, after forcing and then winning a faceoff. Michael Zigomanis beat Zetteberg on the draw, getting the puck back to Derek Morris, who took a shot that was deflected in by Zigomanis out front. Nice sequence for the Coyotes, who had pulled within one with the goal.

Robert Lang handed Phoenix a power play with his usual hooking penalty at :58. The Coyotes looked good on this one and came close to scoring a couple times, but they couldn’t get the puck in the net. Pavel Datsyuk had a good shorthanded break but it was broken up when Travis Roche tripped him up from behind in an effort at knocking the puck away. No call, even though he never actually touched the puck.

After the penalty expired, Henrik Zetterberg drove the puck into the Phoenix zone, and only a nice defensive play by Zbynek Michalek prevented a good scoring chance. The Coyotes were controlling play pretty well. The Wings didn’t get their first shot of the period until 8:40 when Lidstrom forced Tellqvist to make a glove save. Soon after that, the game picked up a bit as the teams traded chances.

Tomas Holmstrom drew a penalty at 13:58 and the Wings went back on the power play. After about three setup attempts, they finally got the puck in the net. Pavel Datsyuk flat out refused to shoot the puck and kept making plays to Zetterberg, who got a couple shots off as a result. Datsyuk stole the puck off a Zetterberg rebound, skated in the slot, and dished it to Zetterberg on his right. Hank waited briefly for Tellqvist to fall and then beat him high with a wrist-shot. 3-1 Wings at 15:36.

The period wound down without much ado until the last minute or so. The Coyotes pulled Tellqvist at 18:40 and Jason Williams broke out with the puck 20 seconds later. He had a slam dunk chance at scoring a much-needed goal, but he somehow managed to backhand it off the post in classic Williams choking fashion. He even found a way to send it wide on a followup play. He finally got it in the net on a later rush when Pavel Datsyuk unselfishly gave it to him in the slot. He almost flubbed this chance too by nearly sending it over the net, but it went in top shelf and gave the Wings a 4-1 lead at 19:49.

A key win for the Wings, who now lead the Central Division by a point. They have a few days off and will play next on Wednesday night, at home against Chicago.