On the Wings

The Wings wrapped up their final Western Canada swing with a disappointing 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames last night. They didn’t play terribly, but the Flames definitely controlled the majority of the game, both from the defensive side as well as the offensive. The Flames were very much determined to win last night and it would have taken an equally determined effort by the Wings for them to stand a real chance. Unfortunately, they only showed that effort a few times throughout the game.

Dominik Hasek was in net for the Wings and looked pretty good compared to his last outing. I have to say, though, that it would have been nice if he’d been able to hold on to rebounds better. The puck was bouncing off him into the slot, gift-wrapped for the Flames, all night, making the Wings’ defensive efforts look pretty frantic at times as they had to try to lift Calgary sticks while at the same time clear the puck. He looked like a fool on the second goal and made a mistake he cannot afford to make in the playoffs, but I’ll get to that.

The Wings got into penalty trouble right off the bat, with Kirk Maltby getting called for slashing at :13. A minute later, the Flames got on the board when Hasek couldn’t handle the rebound after making a big save on Dion Phaneuf. Daymond Langkow, coming across the front of the net, picked up the puck and flipped it backhand over Hasek, who was down and frozen on the play. The goal came after a fast break by the Flames, so the Wings’ defense wasn’t quite set up, making it easy for Langkow to get behind everyone unmolested. Not a great start.

Jiri Hudler had a nice chance a minuter or so after the goal, when a pass up put him behind the Calgary defense down low. He put it into Miikka Kiprusoff’s crest, however. Kiprusoff, by the way, didn’t look quite like his usual cool, calm, and collected self last night. He kept making odd saves and just looked a bit jumpy. I don’t know, maybe that’s normal for him, but I remember him being much more stable.

For the next 7-8 minutes, the teams just traded B- or C-grade chances. Nothing too exciting. There were a couple successive icings that really slowed things down, as well. At 8:26, Robert Lang took his customary hooking penalty. After the face-off, Danny Markov surprised everyone by taking the puck and blowing down the right wing with more speed than I’ve ever seen him use. He got off a shot and Kiprusoff had trouble with it, but it didn’t matter because the ref blew the whistle almost as soon as it touched him. Nice chance by Markov, though.

Once the Flames got set up, the had a few chances, which were lengthened by the rebounds Dom was giving up. Some tense moments here. On the second set up, Andreas Lilja was throwing himself around with a vengeance, blocking shots and generally busting his butt in an effort to prove he belongs on the ice more often.

Following the power play, the Flames continued to swarm, with the Wings looking pretty helpless in their own end. Hasek made one heck of a save on Jarome Iginla at 12:01. Following a Calgary shoot-in, Tony Amonte and Iginla found themselves on either side of Markov and basically uncovered. The puck came from behind the net to Amonte, who dished it across to Iginla at the right post. Dom read the play, fell to his left and stoned Iginla on what should have been a sure goal.

Following the big save by Hasek, the Wings turned it on a bit and they became a little more offensive. Their push was cut short, however, by a Markov penalty at 13:52. Kristian Huselius had stripped Danny of the puck in the defensive zone and seeing Tony Amonte walking in on net with it, he hooked the Flame to prevent a great scoring chance. Smart penalty by Markov. Before the power play began, FSN informed us that the Flames had 11 shots, 7 of which had come on the power play. They didn’t get a lot on this one, however, as they flubbed their first set up and the Wings took away most angles on their second.

Following the penalty, Andreas Lilja made a bit of a mistake when he iced the puck while three defensemen (himself, Danny Markov, and Brett Lebda) were still on the ice. Fortunately for the Wings, it was time for a commercial break, and they were able to get a strategy set up before the next face-off. According to the temporary color commentator, Larry Murphy, they were deciding which of the defensemen would play forward. Obviously, they picked Brett Lebda, who was left wing on the face-off. Kris Draper won it cleanly and the zone was quickly cleared. Markov went off and Kyle Calder came on so the Wings quickly returned to their normal complement of defensemen and forwards.

Around 17:30, Huselius sent the puck off the post, coming close to putting the Flames up by two. A minute later, a line composed of Matt Ellis, Johan Franzen, and Mikael Samuelsson, put on the best shift the Wings had to that point, generating a number of scoring chances and definitely contributing to the Wings’ catching up in shots. They finished with 10 to the Flames 11, when they had only 4 to their 11 earlier in the period.

Early in the second period, Valtteri Filppula was on the receiving end of a dangerous play following a shootaround in the Detroit end. He went into the right wing corner to pick up the puck and Brad Stuart chose that time to pinch up. Filppula saw him coming and submarined just as Stuart reached him, narrowly avoiding the latter’s knee hitting his head. Pavel Datsyuk took advantage of Stuarts decision as he picked up the puck and carried it down the ice with Craig Conroy falling back to play defense. Pavel weaved his way through the defense, which did very little to stop him, and ripped a shot that beat Kiprusoff glove side. Nice transition by Datsyuk, catching the Flames flat-footed like that. 1-1 at 1:27.

The Wings looked energized by the goal, but the Flames held them off by holding them, literally. During one stretch in their own zone, the Flames seemed to commit about five penalties in succession, but the officials turned a blind eye. Then Calgary took the puck down the ice on a rush and Kris Draper released some anger by taking a dumb “interference” (it should have been cross-checking) penalty as he came in on the backcheck.

On the power play, Dion Phaneuf had a big shot which forced Dom to be quick. At the other end of the rink, Johan Franzen wrecked havoc with Pavel Datsyuk as both players had a couple good shorthanded chances. Good kill by the Wings.

They continued their forced defensive posture when the Flames kept up their pressure following the expiration of the penalty. They had three or four sustained shifts in the Wings’ end through the 9:00 mark, with more cycling going on than scoring chances. Toward the middle of the period, things evened up a bit as play became end-to-end, with the teams trading average chances.

Kyle Calder and Company put on a good show around the 11:30 mark with a strong shift. Hudler and Calder both had a couple good chances during this stretch, but Kiprusoff was too hard to beat. After that, the game slowed down again. Mathieu Schneider breathed some life into the game at 13:40 when he sent a shot just wide on a sudden scoring chance. A couple minutes later, the Wings had a good chance to go ahead by a goal, but Samuelsson was too tied up to pounce on the puck and put it in the empty net.

At 16:08, Andreas Lilja was called for cross-checking Stephane Yelle, whose nice sales job was more responsible for the call than the hit itself. With the Flames cycling the puck around the zone, Jarome Iginla skated across the net and bumped Hasek in the head with his elbow just enough to deserve a goaltender interference penalty. Apparently, Hasek thought it was definitely interference and decided the time was right to sell the penalty. He fell like he’d been shot and started flopping as the puck came at the net. He made one save as he fell and then the rebound went right to Huselius, who lifted it over a prone Hasek into the net.

Mike Babcock was understandably upset about Hasek’s antics after the game, telling the Calgary Sun, ““It wasn’t interference at all—our goalie tried to draw the penalty and he dove and they shot it in the net.” Babcock’s story changed a little when he talked to the Free Press, however:

“He embellished it,” Babcock said, “but (Iginla) got him, he was in his paint, he got him for sure. So I just said to Dom, ‘If you embellish it, it doesn’t go your way. You’ve got to hold your ground and stop the puck.’”

Hasek can’t pull a stunt like that if he’s going to carry this team through the playoffs. In both games on the trip, he allowed a goal as a direct results of two huge and avoidable mistakes: leaving the net at bad times and trying to sell a penalty at even worse times. Not good.

Dom stood tall on a rush following the goal, however, stopping Jarome Iginla’s effort. Not long after that, play was stopped because the net was off, just as Nick Lidstrom took a shot. The net had moved because Rhett Warrener had been pushed into it and when he got up, he stuck his arm out and knocked it off. For whatever reason, the faceoff was in the neutral zone, despite the fact that it was Warrener himself who had moved the net, not a Red Wing.

In the final minute, Pavel Datsyuk was involved in a flurry around the net, but nothing came of it.

The third period had a fairly uneventful first few minutes, with play largely going up and down the ice and neither team holding a distinct advantage. At 7:39, the Wings got their first and only power play, a tripping call on David Hale, who hauled Pavel Datsyuk down on a break. The Wings got a couple good chances, but were unable to score with the man advantage.

The Wings seemed to snap awake after the power play and action began to pick up as they started putting the effort in. That didn’t last long, however, as things once again began to slow down around mid-period. The Flames broke up the flow by freezing the puck for face-offs and by icing it. When play was going on, they put up a tight defense and made it difficult for the Wings to get much going. Still, lines like Pavel Datsyuk and Company had good shifts and generated chances, but Kiprusoff was too strong.

The Flames were really killing time whenever they had the puck, choosing to hold it behind their own net rather than shoot it into the Detroit zone and allow the Wings to pick it up. In the end, their tactics paid of as the Wings couldn’t get the puck past Kiprusoff, even though they outshot the Flames 10-2 in the period. Hasek was pulled with a minute or so left, but the Wings got nothing too dangerous going. 2-1 Flames final.

A correction on a pre-game update I made last night on the GameDay post: Darryl Bootland was technically a healthy scratch and was not sent down to Grand Rapids last night. The team obviously thought there’d be no point in sending him on ahead rather than just having him fly back to Detroit with them. The Detroit News reports that he will be sent to Grand Rapids today.

Back to the game: It wasn’t as bad a loss as the Canucks game, but it was still a bit disturbing. The Flames are a possible first round opponent (more possible now with the win) and the Wings had a bit too much trouble with them for comfort. Granted, Calgary was desparate for a win, but they’ll be tighter, if not more so, during the postseason. The Wings will have to be more disciplined and will have to put up a better effort if they want to have any success against the Flames in a series.

They next face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday at home and they’d better roll over them, especially if Todd Bertuzzi is in the lineup.