The Wings lost Game 3 of their Western Conference Semifinal series with the Sharks, 2-1 in San Jose last night. It was a game that began with promise, as they came out of the gate charging hard and took a one-goal lead at 11:13 of the first. Gradually, however, the quality of their play slipped and by the third period, they were playing atrocious hockey. Having to deal with officials that either made bad calls or missed calls altogether did not help, of course, but make no mistake, the Wings blew this game. They had a goaltender who was going to the distance to keep them in it, but couldn’t give him the modicum of support he needed to eke out the win. Had they put forth in the third period half the effort they exerted in the first, they would have won, as the Sharks weren’t stellar themselves. They just sucked less.
Like I wrote above, the Wings looked promising at the beginning. They had jump and were creating chances on decent cycle shifts in the San Jose zone. Mathieu Schneider came close to putting the Wings up 1-0 early when he hit the post following a Robert Lang chance. Another shot of his went off the backboards and out front, resulting in another scoring opportunity. The Wings got a power play in the first five minutes but couldn’t do much beyond generate pressure. The Sharks fed off that kill and started asserting themselves. By the midpoint of the period, they were swarming in the Detroit end until Dominik Hasek froze the puck. Soon after that, the Sharks took a penalty and the Wings went on the power play. They scored at 11:13 on a deflected Nick Lidstrom shot and took the lead. After some “skate repairs” for Nabokov (effectively an uncharged timeout for the Sharks), play resumed. The Wings remained dangerous throughout the rest of the period, though their play was hampered by a BS hooking call on Lilja in the final two minutes. Fortunately, the Sharks took a penalty of their own and we finished the period 4-on-4.
Early in the second period, the Sharks began to make their presence known as they started generating some serious pressure in the Detroit end. Danny Markov, in particular, played strong defense during this stretch of play. Robert Lang was slapped with one of the worst penalties I’ve seen in a while at 5:32 when a Shark bounced off him in the slot. Fortunately, the Wings killed off the penalty. After that, the teams were pretty even for a stretch as they traded chances. Around the midpoint of the period, the Wings began to be sloppy in their end and the Sharks soon took advantage of it, scoring a goal at 12:43. Carle took the initial shot and Clowe was able to get to the rebound despite the fact that he was tied up by Lidstrom. The puck went in just under Hasek’s glove on the wrong side of the line between a goal and a brilliant save. Soon after that, Jiri Hudler broke into the San Jose end only to be knocked down without a call. The game sped up as the teams skated the length of the ice with the puck. Todd Bertuzzi took a stupid elbowing penalty at 17:44 and single-handedly killed any momentum the Wings had. Hasek was very good on the PK, making a couple great saves, including stopping what seemed to be a sure goal by Cheechoo. After that, the period wound down without much to report.
After an uneventful first couple minutes, both teams apparently decided to set up in the Detroit end and stop skating. The Wings continually turned over the puck on clearing attempts that wouldn’t have gotten past a bantam team, let alone the Sharks. San Jose forced Hasek to make a number of big stops as they kept getting great chances as the Wings’ defense conceded the zone. The Wings looked slow and lethargic and the Sharks hardly had to work themselves as they stood around cycling the puck. A couple times, they had Dom down and out after a save, but sent it wide. The officials didn’t help, as the ref got in the way of Draper as he was clearing the puck at one point and the disruption ended up causing an icing. Back in the Detroit end, the Wings were getting beaten to just about every puck and were only hanging on by the skin of their teeth as the Sharks put on the pressure. In the offensive zone, even the Wings’ top line couldn’t pass their way out of a wet paper bag in the third period, as one promising-looking shift fizzled out after repeated takeaways were marred by fumblings of the puck. Mike Grier nearly put his team ahead 2-1 at one point after he got behind the Wings’ defense and took a long pass from Marleau. He tipped it wide.
Kris Draper took a penalty at 11:38 in the madness following a glorious San Jose scoring chance. Usually, I would have said it was a good penalty to take, but under the circumstances, having to kill a penalty was the last thing the Wings needed. At 13:19, Cheechoo made it 2-1 after he pounced on the rebound from a McLaren shot. With Hasek down and out, he pulled the puck, maneuvered around the prone goalie, and got it into the open net just as three Red Wings converged on him.
The Wings got another power play not long after that, but did nothing with it. Following the power play, Robert Lang made a nice play to Jiri Hudler, but Huds was quite literally tackled by Hannan in front of the net. No call. With time winding down and the Wings’ hopes of a comeback dwindling, the officials essentially made the Sharks’ win official by slapping Todd Bertuzzi with a completely bogus tripping call. I must say Kyle McLaren went down rather easily on that one. Looking back over the penalties Todd has taken since donning the Winged Wheel, it seems to me that the officials in this league are willing to call anything and everything he does while they’ll let other players get away with murder. I know why that is, but that doesn’t make it right. Anyway, they killed off the penalty and made a final push. Pavel Datsyuk had a nice chance cut short by a blatant hooking by the San Jose defenseman, though Joe Thornton got credit for a nice defensive play when he knocked away the puck Pavel lost as a result of the hook. The period wound down after that with an anticlimactic final seconds faceoff.
A few random notes:
… I wonder how many times Joe Thornton got kicked out of the faceoff circle last night. I can think of two instances: one where he tapped Zetterberg on the skate for no apparent reason, the other at the end of the game. Just an interesting thing to note.
… Todd Bertuzzi needs to be better. He does some good things, but far too often, he’s floating. And, I’ll be glad when he’s not the one setting up the screen on the power play. His size is nice there, but the fact that he turns and jumps into the air on every shot shows he doesn’t have Homer’s fearlessness in facing the shot. Unless he can find a way to make the puck go in on the earthquake he causes when he lands, it’s not going to work.
… Someone apparently lit a fire under Lang’s rear end because he showed some real jump in the first period. But after his penalty, he fizzled out. Again.
… Henrik Zetterberg is playing well considering his back is a problem, but too often he still tries to do it all. I’ve grown tired of seeing him skate into three defenders and lose the puck because he has no one to pass it to. Hank, either wait until your linemates catch up or dump it in and go around the defenders to pick it up there.
… I suspect Jiri Hudler will be the player benched when Tomas Holmstrom returns for Game 4. His size makes line matchups a concern on the road and he didn’t have the world’s greatest game last night. He had a couple chances where the puck came to him on a glorious scoring chance that fizzled out when he fanned on the shot. You need to bury those, Jiri.
… I know the Wings scored a power play goal on a blueline shot, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule these days. They need to find a way to get that shot set up, particularly from Mathieu Schneider. One shot in three games doesn’t cut it, especially after you had 34 in the first round, Mathieu. Soft wristers from 30 feet don’t really do the job either.
… So, the Wings showed it doesn’t matter whether you start fast or end fast, you can still lose. I would love to see them play a whole game like they’ve played in various single periods. (if they put the three good periods they’ve had together, they’d have a full game!) Hopefully they’ll find a way to put forth a more complete effort on Wednesday or Saturday could be the first and last stop in their farewell tour.
… Oh yeah: I don’t want to hear anything from Sharks fans about the Joe. The Tank seemed about as silent as a tomb for the majority of the game last night, unless you count the booing when icings and offsides were called. It wasn’t until the Sharks took the lead that the fans began to make noise. I’ve criticized the Joe for sounding more like a restaurant than a hockey arena, but even the rich casual fans who meander in during the second period and leave early in the third are louder than that.
… One last thing: the ice at the Tank sucked. It was evident by the way players on both teams went flying like a runningback tackled by what we football players call “the turf monkey.” I remember at least three instances where a San Jose rush was cut short by a Shark wiping out for no apparent reason. Dangerous.
Anyway, that’s all I have for now. I need to start working on stuff for finals.
Jeez, what game were you watching last night? “On the Wings”? more like “On the Whine.”
Go Sharks!
Went to the game. It’s usually pretty quiet when play is actually going on. The fans usually ooo and ah at things that don’t deserve ooing and ahing, and cheer at silly things like zone clears (but they need to ALL the way down) and easy glove saves. But it got pretty loud at times. Also noticed there wasn’t a single “Haaaasek, Haaaasek” chant.
Anthony,
Clever. Very clever. How long did it take you to think that one up? Better go give your mind a rest for a while.
Jim,
Isn’t there a Sharks forum where you can post those types of comments? Your sentiments are lost here.
Cody,
Good to know it wasn’t just bad pick-up from the TV mics.
I was ecstatic when VAN won game 7 against DAL. That meant that the Wings would have to face the SJ, and then probably ANA to make it. Those big bodies would inflict maximum punishment on the Wings, which is always fun to watch this time of year.
Sharks are young and big….Wings are old men that will wear down. Sharks in 5. Let the Sharks dynasty begin!
The refs were terrible, but equally as terrible for both teams. How about when Cheechoo go highsticked across the throat, or when Chelios slugged Thornton in the back of the head (right in front of the ref) after a perfectly legal hit? McLaren’s interference call in the third was equally as weak as any of the calls that were made against the Red Wings.
But I guess in a city that can’t even fill up an arena for the playoffs it’s easier to blame the refs for a poor performance than to blame the players on the ice.
Hunter,
If you’d read my post at all, you wouldn’t be making comments about how I’m attributing the loss to officiating. I said the Wings lost because they played terribly, not because the refeering sucked.
And enough with the shots at Detroit already, Sharks fans. You have no idea what you’re talking about.
You may say that you aren’t attributing the loss to the refs, but just about every complaint you have is about the refs.
1. “Having to deal with officials that either made bad calls or missed calls altogether did not help”
2. “their play was hampered by a BS hooking call on Lilja”
3. “Robert Lang was slapped with one of the worst penalties I’ve seen in a while”
4. “Todd Bertuzzi took a stupid elbowing penalty” (I’ll give you credit for actually blaming the player on this one)
5. “The officials didn’t help, as the ref got in the way of Draper as he was clearing the puck at one point”
6. “the officials essentially made the Sharks’ win official by slapping Todd Bertuzzi with a completely bogus tripping call”
7. “Huds was quite literally tackled by Hannan in front of the net. No call.”
8. “it seems to me that the officials in this league are willing to call anything and everything he does while they’ll let other players get away with murder”
9. “Pavel Datsyuk had a nice chance cut short by a blatant hooking by the San Jose defenseman”
As you told Anthony:
“Clever. Very clever. How long did it take you to think that one up? Better go give your mind a rest for a while”
Great game with dramatic momentum swings. Referees could have made many more calls, but for the most part they let the players decide the game. You are so right about one thing - the ice in San Jose is perhaps the worst in the league. Temps here have been reaching the 80’s during the day with low humidity. A few years ago, the local media noticed the bad ice and the rink operator tried a few things to make it better (including beefing up the air conditioning every day during the playoff run). It seemed there was a slight improvement, but obviously the ice has returned to its atrocious state. As fans we’ve gotten used to it. In every game, you’ll see several great passes seem to just hop over the receiver’s stick blade at the last instant. We can only shrug and say “bad ice”.
“I know why that is, but that doesn’t make it right.”
Well, what would make it right? If Bertuzzi donated half of his salary to Steve Moore and his family each year for the rest of his cowardly career, I suppose that would be a good start. The Wings are a noble team. They should to trade Bertuzzi the instant the postseason ends.
Hunter,
I can’t stop you from reading it that way, but I can, as the author of the post, tell you that your interpretation is flat out wrong. The lines you quote are just that, lines. The post as a whole is directed at the Wings, who blew the game with supremely lackluster play in the third period. That had nothing whatsoever to do with the officiating.
Any frustration I have with the officiating is that blown or bad calls either sucked further life out of the team or denied them a chance at getting some back. That does not exonerate them, but it does mean the officiating had an impact.
And each of those instances you cite are legitimate complaints for a hockey fan to make. If your mind wasn’t so clouded by singular bias, perhaps you would be willing to admit it.
By the way, I admit that the officiating was bad both ways, but I’m not here to discuss calls that went against the Sharks, so don’t try to scream bias on me. Complaining about bad officiating on the Sharks side is your prerogative, not mine.
This post was meant as a calling-out of the Wings, not of the officiating.
Props to the Sharks for winning the game, no doubt that they came out in the third harder than the Red Wings did. If you want to come out and quote Matt’s post though, he didn’t just simply complain about officiating because that’s not why the Wings blew the game.
“Gradually, however, the quality of their (Red Wings) play
slipped and by the third period, they were playing atrocious hockey.”
That is it right there. Nabokov isn’t as stellar as the Media is making him out to be. Thorton isn’t tearing into the Wings. Cheechoo isn’t frightening. As a matter of fact, the only team responsible for Detroit Losing is the Red Wings. They simply aren’t comming out to play durring all 3 periods. The Wings will rebound back though, and I am still sticking with Wings in 6. The Sharks are nowhere near starting a Dynasty. They are closer to a Golf Course than they are to a Stanly Cup.
Sharks kicked your ass - why can’t you just admit it??
Maybe you’re sore about living in a rustbelt state … we have sunshine, money, AND a Stanley Cup contending hockey team!
Wow…what a whining pile of hot steamy dung!! Nabby outplayed Dom… Thornton outplayed Lindsrtom, and the other lines on the sharks out rolled Detroits other lines…..Time to BBQ some Wings..
Diane,
Last I checked, the Wings also are a “Stanley Cup contending hockey team.”
Well, I think the officiating was pretty even (Evenly BAD) on each side, and the Tank was quiet as a tomb until the Sharks TIED the game, (not took the lead, although it got louder then).
Have to agree with you, the Tank must have some of the worst ice conditions in the league. Hopefully some more A/C is going to be part of the offseason “upgrades”.
After the game, my wife (Rabid Wings fan that she is) said, “You know, I really enjoyed that game, even though we lost”.
I doubt I’d be that gracious.
Hockey rules. Playoffs are awesome.
Playoff games that I can actually go to are even better!
- Go Sharks!
Diane:
Sharks kicked your ass - why can’t you just admit it??
Maybe you’re sore about living in a rustbelt state … we have sunshine, money, AND a Stanley Cup contending hockey team!
I miss the Flames fans, I think they had a bit more capacity to be insightful… And they weren’t assholes (for the most part)
I’m with you, Nick. I missed them from the onset of this series. You felt like you could talk hockey with them…
Although I’m a Sharks fan, I appreciate Matt’s objective analysis of last night’s game.
There were so many narrowly missed chances both ways that either side could have won it.
The ice at the Tank is soft because management chooses fan comfort over skating conditions.
They might sell more Sharks jumpers if they had made the opposite choice.
I believe Anaheim has similar conditions.
The Wings are scary fast and skilled, but it’s only a matter of time before Marleau, Michalek and crew start flying.
Would Hockeytowners agree that Chelios was showing signs of being worn down by the forecheck in the 3rd period last night?
Yeah, not the greatest performances on either side of the ice last night. Thornton had an outstanding game though. What’s with the fans of the 16 year-old Sharks team anyways (not all of you, just the ones with no clue about hockey)? We’ve been around for, oh I don’t know, eighty years or so. There’s plenty of hockey history here and yes, we can fill the stands. Why don’t sharks fans (again, not all of you) look at the number of sellouts we’ve had compared to those at the Tank. I’ve heard boos at the Joe before, but never as bad as at the Tank. Remember when the fans started cheering when Malts threw the puck over the glass from center ice? They thought it was a penalty because they just don’t know much about hockey out there. Just to be a bit immature here, if you surferboys knew anything about hockey you wouldn’t be making the kind of remarks that you do. We grew up skating on actual ice, not slushies btw. Does anybody know how many Cups the sharks have won anyways? Oh I remember, zero. Let me tell you sharks fans, it is fun to win 3 cups in the past ten years. We’ve been contenders for a long time. We understand the cyclical nature of NHL hockey. We all want the Wings to win, but we don’t beat ourselves up when we don’t. Whenever the Wings have been ousted from the playoffs in the past, I’ve always rooted for the team that defeated us to win the cup. That’s why Detroit fans are classy hockey fans of a classy team. These sharks fans need to take a page out of Calgary’s book. At least they had the integrity to thank “On the Wings” for not being an opponent-basher. I am not a sharks basher either, just of ignorant fans who have no hockey sense yet feel the need to make useless comments.
To “Diane”: Maybe you are getting too much sun. Perhaps your ice conditions and ignorant comments are just side effects.
So, go Sharks fans who have hockey knowledge and respect for their opponent. But most importantly, Go Wings!
Sharx Todd,
I can’t thank you enough for showing class. I personally would agree that Chelly was showing signs of being worn down, but he’s not alone. If I had to pick a “way to beat the Wings” I’d definately say it’s with a forecheck. I don’t think that Chelly is showing any significant signs of his age, especially since he is so quick to get moving.
I do look forward though to Game 4. It was nice to see both teams playing to their potential for a while. There was a few minutes of end to end hockey for a little bit, and that’s what I’m hoping to see in Game 4.
Yeah, I second the comment about Sharx Todd. I think Cheli is doing just fine though. Matt posted a piece about his “Desert Ride” workout a while back. Anybody who can endure that sort of self-inflicted punishment at that age is in great hockey shape. However, he is only human and west coast trips might be wearing on the entire team. I support a move to the Eastern Conference based purely on travel schedule. However, I love the Western Conference matchups (like San Jose) too much to see them switch. Wasn’t Toronto the last team to switch East? I’ve always liked the original six games, of which we’ve been deprived due to our status as a “western” team.
Matt, again, great job with this site man. Keep it up.
-Jordan
Couple things:
No team has dominated this series. I am getting sick of Sharks fans thinking they are “wearing down” the “old wings”.
I have to disagree with the idea that Hasek kept us in that game. He did make some great stops, but i thought both goals were soft because of his unorthodox position, which is great when it works, but atrocious when it doesn’t, as it didn’t last night. On both of those goals he flopped down WAY before he should have and was out of position to handle the shots, both of which where not very hard. And WTF is up with him STILL leaving his net?? I saw him misplay at least four pucks, almost straight into more scoring chances for SJ.
Ron Wilson is an asshole. Each of his press conferences have been directed at giving NO credit to Detroit for anything. He clearly doesn’t take us seriously. Go to peterboroughpete’s postgame wrapup of game 2; every comment is directed at taking all credit for the win away from Detroit.
I’m not deathly worried about this series, I think Detroit can handle SJ, but WHEN are they going to start playing like it? The reason they came out strong was that they were playing THEIR style, puck possession, great passing. Then they got desperate and nervous and reverted to dump and chase, which has never been as fruitful. They need to stop being intimidated into playing SJ’s game.
All right, that’s enough from me.
The Wings are fast and skilled..and old…Dom bailed them out a lot…Lets not forget the Sharks also beat them in the regular season, very badly a few times…it is the changing of the guard…East to West… I am an ex-goalie..learned in quebec…and huge Sharks fan..
In short: Skip Jordan…its bitter drivil…
Todd, Tim, Diane, good job…
Go Sharks! Wings suck.
The Wings average age is about one and a half years higher than the Sharks if you don’t count Hasek and Chelios (and it makes sense not to because they aren’t typical older players). The Wings aren’t old, people. Stop spewing this nonsense.
Rinkmaster, I believe you meant “drivel”. You’re right, perhaps it was a little nonsensical. But this is a rather trivial comment as well:
Rinkmaster says:
“Wow…what a whining pile of hot steamy dung!! Nabby outplayed Dom… Thornton outplayed Lindsrtom, and the other lines on the sharks out rolled Detroits other lines…..Time to BBQ some Wings.”
Perhaps you should learn how to spell Lidstrom. It’s plain disrespectful.
Anyways, I don’t mean to hate on you Rinkmaster. I’m sure you mean well. Your geography has most likely determined your sensibilities as a fan. I happen to enjoy watching all of the teams play. Let us both make more intelligent comments that do not serve to degrade this great game. The “drivel” actually erodes the constructive analysis that this site is known for. I won’t contribute to it anymore and I hope next time you comment it comes with a little more tact.
Nick, Jordan, Tim, Ian, and Paul,
Thanks for your comments, guys. Much appreciated! You guys said pretty much what I wanted to say (though I disagree about Dom, Ian. I think he kept the game close when it could have turned into a blowout during the third period).
Derek, GoSharksGo, Sharx Todd,
Thanks for your comments as well. It’s good to know there are knowledgeable and reasonable fans in the Sharks’ fanbase. You guys make dealing with trolls much easier.
What? San Jose has a hockey team? When’d that happen???
Matt, I just wanted to say that you are taking the Sharks’ fans criticism quite well. It makes me sick to see some San Jose fans ruin the value of Hockey like they do- it’s too bad it’s IMPOSSIBLE for them to grow up and become mature. I’m sure the fans that are saying “Go Sharks! Wings suck” or “Sharks kicked your ass - why can’t you just admit it??” are just bandwagon fans because they have no idea on what really makes a team good. They are the fans that just happen turn on the sports channel and say, “Hey, Sharks are winning, that’s cool. Whoa, when did we get Thornton???.” They look at the final score and then talk garbage. Seriously, please grow up.
And to those fans, even if the Sharks make it past the Wings, they have NO SHOT at beating New Jersey or Buffalo. It’s not because the team is bad; it’s just that New Jersey’s defense and goaltending is incomparably better than SJ. Buffalo’s offense will tear Nabakov apart.
But as for Round 2, good luck to both teams. It’s been a good series so far and I hope the Wings can come out on top.
Trolling happens no matter what team it is, and I bet there are plenty of Wings fans doing it on San Jose blogs out there. Trolls are not indicative of any team’s fans. So I don’t think it’s worth even acknowledging them and my approach would be to just ignore them, because asking them to stop does not work. I’ve seen trolling increase here with that approach.
Holy crap 32 comments! Where did all these Sharks “fans” come from? I wish internet browsers would have a “block trolls” feature along with the rest of the security options. But as it is, the best thing to do is just ignore them.
I wasn’t able to watch this game and I won’t be able to watch Game 4 either.
But I better be able to get home from work Thursday morning and see the series tied up.
P.S. Winning by one goal is not “kicking ass”.
Matt,
I regards to Thornton being thrown out of the face-off circle, Versus telecast showed video of the morning skate. You could see Wilson in the face-off circle teaching Joe how to smack his opponent. I think thats why he got thrown out of the circle in the 3rd.