I don’t have a lot to say about the game yesterday. I just watched it casually and only noted a few things.
Negatives:
Goal #1: Kris Draper loses a faceoff and then the net isn’t cleared by Mathieu Schneider. Marco Sturm took a shot from the right-side boards and it beat Hasek, who probably only saw it at the last second because of the screen thrown by Brandon Bochenski.
Goal #2: On the power play because of a trapezoid penalty by Dominik Hasek, the Bruins again benefited by the Wings’ inability to clear the net. A centering pass by Marc Savard was easily tipped in by Sturm, despite the fact that Chris Chelios was standing right there.
Goal #3: The Wings give up two straight 2-on-1 breaks and the Bruins capitalized on the second. A beautiful turnover by Pavel Datsyuk at center led directly to the break, which was made worse when Datsyuk collided with Niklas Kronwall on the red line. Petr Tenkrat carried the puck in and beat Hasek with a slapper over his right shoulder.
Goal #4: The Wings watch a shoot-in by Aaron Ward V-bounce off the backboards and let Patrice Brisebois walk right in and slam dunk the puck into the net, which had been vacated by Dominik “I think I’ll go for a stroll” Hasek. Great puck pursuit by Andreas Lilja and Nicklas Lidstrom on that one.
Goal #5: Chuck Kobasew became the latest beneficiary of the Wings’ inability to clear the net as he stood to Hasek’s left and knocked in the rebound of a Marc Savard shot.
Goal #6: I don’t know what to say about this one except that it was just a nice play by the Boston Bruins, who made two of the best defensemen in NHL history look foolish. Marc Savard broke in, sent it to Chuck Kobasew, who cut across in the slot and the puck seamlessly transfered to Phil Kessel going the other way while Chris Chelios kept watching Kobasew. Kessel tucked the puck in his feet to avoid Nick Lidstrom and the two Red Wings defensemen were caught with their backs to the play. Kessel lost control of the puck and it squirted to Hasek’s left, but he beat Datsyuk to it and flipped it into the net.
And those are just the negatives for which I can provide replays. There were many others, one of the most memorable being something the Wings had no control over. A Robert Lang shot somehow made it through Thomas and started trickling toward the net, but Lang bumped the Bruin defenseman and he fell hard, knocking off the net before the puck got to it. The play was obviously ruled no goal, which I think was the right call because it didn’t look to me like the puck was on it’s way in. It may have hit the post and given the Wings a chance at knocking it in, though. I do think that the Bruins player went down far too easily, so I’m a bit disappointed the officials did not call a penalty on the play.
Positives:
Darry Bootland’s fight: It was good to see Booter get one, and hopefully it won’t be the last. He definitely brings another element to the team.
Jiri Hudler’s goal: He showed some great persistence on the play, from his initial puck pursuit to the final all-out effort at scoring. Tim Thomas played the puck behind the net and Hudler had an unimpeded route into the zone as the two Bruin defensemen collided in the middle. Jiri kept at it along the sideboards and ended up picking it up. He brought it out to the to the slot and took a shot which was blocked. He got the puck right back, however, and released another shot, which went in because Thomas had committed to the first.
Jiri Hudler’s assist on Robert Lang’s goal: On a fast break with Lang, Hudler carried the puck in. He was surrounded by three Bruins players and was hauled down by Andrew Alberts, but as he fell, he got the puck across to Lang, who put it across Thomas’ body and into the net. Another great effort by Hudler.
The Bruins, needing to keep their playoff hopes alive, put on a playoff-like performance and earned playoff-like goals. The Wings, on the other hand, needed the points to close the lead on Nashville, but more importantly, needed to get their play back on track. They failed on both counts. Tim Thomas played a solid game, but the Wings lost this game because they underachieved. They did not follow up on their shots and did not capitalize on their chances. The Bruins did and were the better team for it yesterday. The Wings know it and have been saying all the right things to the papers as a result. Let’s see if they fix it by Tuesday. If they don’t, it’ll be ugly in Nashville tomorrow.
I was surprised that Babcock left Hasek in. He was having a terrible game and things obviously weren’t improving for him…
Hasek has looked pretty shaky the past two games after coming back from his little injury. I think they need to bring up Howard and play him for a couple games, just in-case Hasek gets hurt. I don’t think Osgood will be able to take us all the way on his own, and Howard needs some NHL experience.
Lookin’ forward to the next two games against Nashville… GO WINGS!!!!!
Babcock has only pulled Hasek once this year that I can remember and that was after the Sharks put 8 goals past him. It’s not Babcock’s practice to pull Dom, and it’s not Hasek’s preference to be pulled. It’s as much Dom as it is Babcock.
I thought Dom looked pretty good Friday. As for yesterday, he let in a stinker or two (such as the Tenkrat goal), but the others were direct results of bad defense. The Bruins were johnny-on-the-spot on all of them.
Jimmy Howard is in Grand Rapids for the stretch run, unless, of course, there is an injury. If Hasek does go down, Chris Osgood is the man and Howard would strictly be a backup. He is not ready for consistent NHL time in the regular season, let alone the playoffs. He hasn’t even proven himself in the AHL postseason yet. Jimmy may not even be able to move up for next season, as I’m told he has some confidence issues.
I just think it would have sent a message to the team that they needed to step it up a notch, if Babs would have pulled Hasek. Who cares if Hasek doesn’t like it… Babcock is the coach and should do whatever might help the team. I also think Dom needs to be brought down to earth sometimes and realize he is human. He even took a penalty for playing the puck out of the trapezoid… how many times has he done that this year??!!
I just hope he can stay healthy… otherwise I think we’re going to be in trouble come the playoffs.
The way the Wings were playing, I don’t think it would have mattered. Everyone was off and making Hasek the scapegoat may have created more problems than it would have solved.
Those kinds of games usually seem to be good for Hasek, who generally responds with a dominating game after a bad one.
I was looking forward to this game all week. Not because it was an exciting match-up, but because it was the first Wings game I would be able to watch in a while. (I live in Canada.) Boy was I let down. That game was the sorriest game I’ve seen the Wings play in a long time. It was like they didn’t care at all. Hudler looked alright but everyone else was just sleep-skating or something. Hasek was weak. Our offense was weak. Our defense was weak. Even Lidstrom, who you can always count on to play a good game, seemed pretty lax and nonchalant in his defensive zone. It seemed like everyone just had their minds elsewhere.
I avoided watching the sports highlights last night just so I didn’t have to see this embarassing performance again.
Justin, that pretty much sums it up. Sorry you got to see the worst of it.
After I watched the replays online, I realized how bad some of those goals were. NBC doesn’t break down plays nearly as well as FSN so I had allowed myself to think they were flukes and that the Bruins had just gotten lucky. Nope.