On the Wings

Update (7:08 PM): I see from FSN’s preview that the Wings have handed out towels for the game tonight. I hope the fans there will put them to good use. I’m anxious about this game in a similar way to how I’d be on edge before a playoff game. Will the fans at JLA provide the right atmosphere? Please do. - Matt

Update (4:12 PM): The Tennessean reports that Martin Erat will be out four weeks with a sprained right knee. The Preds will have 11 forwards tonight rather than 12, but will carry 7 defensemen instead of the usual 6. - Matt

The Wings won the first installment of the Big Showdown last night, posting a 5-2 victory over Nashville and moving within one point of the Preds for the Central Division lead. It was a bit of a wild game at times and the Wings found out pretty early they were also playing against the officials, but they fought through it and earned a solid win.

Chris Osgood was strong in net, with the exception of the first goal, and came up huge a number of times. He had some key saves in the third period that held the Preds at two goals and was definitely one of the stars of the game.

The Predators came out of the gate charging and ended up holding the Wings in their zone for the first minute. Detroit finally got the puck out and were carrying it down the ice, but the play was stopped when they went off-sides. Following the faceoff, they quickly took it right back in and before long, they had scored to take the one-goal lead. Kyle Calder led the rush, skating down the right side boards and around the back of the net. He tried a wraparound shot, but Tomas Vokoun stuffed that and the puck ended up squirting into the slot. Robert Lang pounced on it and put it past Vokoun at 1:39.

Not long after the goal, Jordin Tootoo showed up on the radar. He started taking runs at the Wings in their zone, but ended up getting knocked on his can by Brett Lebda at one point. Still, he was able to get in a big hit or two, the most noticeable being a high elbow shot to Mathieu Schneider’s head. No call. The Predators were getting sustained pressure and creating problems for the Wings, who didn’t seem able to clear the puck for the longest time. They finally did and got a chance or two in the Nashville end before the puck came back the other way. Schneider, obviously upset that the Tootoo hit went uncalled, stepped up and took the punk out as he skated up ice. Obvious penalty, but it was nonetheless infuriating that the officials called it after letting Tootoo get away with his attempted decapitation of Schneider. As a result, Babcock went berserk, which was unusual, to say the least, but to no avail.

The Predators scored on the power play, with a long shot by Alexander Radulov that may or may not have been deflected by a kneeling Andreas Lilja, at 7:02. It seemed a little soft at the time, that’s for sure. Radulov celebrated as though he’d scored a playoff series-clinching goal (something no one wearing a Predators jersey has ever done, by the way).

About a minute later, the Predators carried the puck out of their zone on a broad-front rush. Chris Chelios chose this time to step up and nail Jordin Tootoo, which left his partner, Brett Lebda, defending a 2-on-1 rush. Brett was called for the tiniest of hooks while Osgood was occupied with the business of making a big stop.

On the power play, the Wings had a nice shorthanded break with Pavel Datsyuk and Valtteri Filppula skating in, but Shea Weber took the puck away on a nice defensive play. JP Dumont had a big shot at the other end, but Osgood made the save.

The game settled down a bit after that. Chris Osgood was called for delay of game when he played the puck just over the line outside the trapezoid, at 12:04. It was a bad mental mistake by Ozzie, who had Nick Lidstrom right there and didn’t need to touch the puck at all. Fortunately, the Predators’ power play was uneventful.

At 17:48, Darryl Bootland laid a big hit on Ryan Suter along the near side boards. Josh Langfeld was right there, but I guess Darryl thought he could use some help. Not long after that, Filppula carried the puck in on a rush and skated on the net, with Martin Erat slashing and hooking him, but not getting called for it. The play ended when Kimmo Timonen fell on the puck just above the crease. He just lay there until the official blew the whistle. Later on in the game, a Wings player would try the same thing, but he was told to keep the puck moving.

At 19:10, the Wings missed connecting on a breakout pass, and it ended up going down the ice along the endboards in the Nashville end. The linesman used his discretion to call it an icing, which I didn’t understand because I thought icings on attempted passes were supposed to be waived off.

As hard as it is to believe, it’s true that the Nashville Predators somehow played a full period of hockey against the Detroit Red Wings and did not take a single penalty. I know I saw them commit more than a few, but the refs must not have been watching the same game.

The Wings opened the second period strong, generating some solid pressure. Finally, some Predator committed a penal infraction and Detroit got their first power play. Unfortunately, the didn’t do much with it, though after the penalty expired, Kyle Calder had a glorious chance to score. The puck was passed to his feet, however, and he was essentially handcuffed, despite the wide open net in front of him. Correction (9:08 PM): The puck came to Calder off a rebound, not a pass, and he definitely wasn’t expecting it. - Matt

At 4:30, the Wings took the lead following a couple great plays by Valtteri Filppula. He took a cross ice pass from a teammate, kicked it skate to stick and carried it into the Nashville zone. He took a shot and, when it was blocked, he kept going, picking it up off the deflection, and then he dished it to Kris Draper down low. Draper banked it off Vokoun’s pad and it ended up out front, where Kirk Maltby was standing. He roofed it from 12 feet out to make it 2-1.

The Wings followed up the goal with an energetic shift by Robert Lang’s line. A shift or two later, Darryl Bootland got into it with Tootoo and before Darryl had a chance to get set, Tootoo threw his gloves off and starting swinging. Bootland, caught by surprise, only managed to get one glove off as he fell down, resolutely holding on to the front of Tootoo’s jersey. Tootoo got an odd sort of two-minute double-minor roughing penalty, which was served by him and JP Dumont, while Bootland got a single roughing penalty. The Wings, unfortunately, could not take advantage of the power play.

After that, the game settled down a little. Both teams had a couple chances, but they were unable to finish on them. The Predators put on some sustained pressure from the 12:00 mark on, but Osgood and the defense held them off. Kirk Maltby was called for slashing at 13:09 and tried to argue it despite the fact that the players’ stick was broken in half. At 15:55, the Preds took a bench minor penalty when Tootoo played the puck after stepping on the ice before his teammate stepped off. He served the penalty and watched the Wings put on a good show on the power play. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the puck past Vokoun.

Toward the end of the period, the Preds really swarmed the Wings’ zone and the final minute of the period was pretty hectic and stressful, which is why I don’t have much detail on it!

At about the 1:00 mark of the third period, Pavel Datsyuk tried a nice sneaky play by going behind the net, ostensibly for a wrap-around attempt, but at the last second, he brought the puck back and tried to stuff it in where he hoped Vokoun had vacated the post. Unfortunately, Vokoun hadn’t taken the bait.

The Wings did score not long after that, though, when Kyle Calder’s nice hustle along the boards resulted in a centering pass to Jiri Hudler, whose one-timer beat Vokoun glove side. 3-1 at 1:24.

About a minute later, Darcy Hordichuk decked Niklas Kronwall along the boards in the Detroit end on a bit of a dangerous play. Seconds later, Jordin Tootoo had Mathieu Schneider lined up, but he missed and hit the endboards at what looked like 100 mph. Scary to think what would have happened had he connected, especially given the fact that he left his feet on the play.

With the Wings leading 3-1, some yahoos in the crowd decided the time was right to throw five catfish on the ice. Note to Predators “fans”: in the places where it is a tradition to throw things on the ice (i.e. Detroit), it generally happens when the team it’s for is winning. If you’re going to try to copy a tradition, at least get it right.

Around the 3:50 mark, Pavel Datsyuk took the puck in on a fast break down the right wing, cutting across and getting a great chance on Vokoun. A flurry resulted, with Filppula and Tomas Holmstrom taking swings at the puck. Holmstrom was roughed up by the Predator defensemen, one of whom cross-checked the heck out of his lower back twice, but no call was made.

Not long after that, Paul Kariya took matters into his own hands and split the Red Wings defense as skated in on Osgood. He cut across the net, but Osgood stacked the pads and stoned him. One of the saves of the game, for sure. Unfortunately for the Wings, Hudler had taken a holding penalty on the backcheck, so the Predators got a power play.

Osgood made a big save at the start and Chris Chelios cleared it with gusto after that. The Predators then set up and Chelios was called for holding the stick, a bit of a BS call that could have easily been hooking on Jason Arnott. The Preds wasted little time scoring on the 5-on-3, with Shea Weber taking the initial shot and Martin Erat putting it in the net on the rebound to make it 3-2 at 5:07. The Wings killed the rest of Chelios’ penalty off.

Nashville continued to pressure after the penalty was over and ended up getting another power play when Niklas Kronwall was called for holding. Osgood came up huge again, this time robbing Jason Arnott at the right post with his glove.

Later in the period, Martin Erat went down in an ugly collision with Arnott. It looked like he twisted his knee on the play. The Tennessean reports that he will not be in the lineup tonight.

The Wings had to kill off another penalty at 15:27. Not long after it expired, Kyle Calder gave the Wings a two-goal lead when his centering pass went in off a lucky bounce off a defenseman’s skate. He showed great hustle on the play, so it was nice to see it pay off for him.

Less than a minute later, Valtteri Filppula put the game out of reach when he got a breakaway starting from the Detroit blueline following a miscue by Nashville. He skated in on Vokoun, deked a little with his stick, went forehand to backhand to forehand and put it over Vokoun’s right pad, gloveside. 5-2 Wings at 18:39. It was a nice finish for the player the Wings drafted 2003 after trading for the pick from the Predators in 2002.

The rematch is tonight in Detroit and it should be a good game. The Predators will play hard to try and keep face after last night and the Wings will need to match their intensity. Hopefully the officiating will be a bit more even tonight, as it was truly awful in this game.

Dominik Hasek will get the start for the Wings and may or may not face his countryman Tomas Vokoun in the other net. Barry Trotz hasn’t yet told the media what he’s decided.

There shouldn’t be any changes to the lineup for either team.

Dave at Gorilla Crouch has a game reaction posted, as do IwoCPO at Abel to Yzerman and The Forechecker.