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.
