On the Wings

The Wings advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2002 with their 2-0 win over San Jose in Game 6 last night. It was one of the team’s strongest performances of the playoffs, I thought, and it was a fitting end to the series.

The Sharks came out hitting hard from the start. Clowe had a big first shift, running Nicklas Lidstrom into the endboards and then going after Kirk Maltby. It was obvious what the San Jose gameplan was in the early minutes: knock some Wings out of the game the same way Mathieu Schneider was knocked out of Game 5. The Wings weathered the storm, however, particularly since the guys the Sharks were targeting are some of the smartest veterans in the business. Still, the Sharks mostly controlled play for the first 10 minutes or so, as the Wings started a little slow. They sold out on defense, though, and held San Jose off, eventually getting rolling.

Mikael Samuelsson opened the scoring at 15:26 when Johan Franzen made a beautiful long pass to him over the blueline. Sammy broke in on Nabokov behind the defense, deked, and sent the puck into the vacated net. A great goal. Not long after that, the Sharks took a penalty, but came closer to scoring on the kill than they had all game to that point. Dominik Hasek, trying to handle the puck down low, was rushed by Mike Grier and ended up passing it directly to him. Grier went around the back of the net for a wrap-around and Lidstrom rushed to the goalmouth, diving and getting his stick there in time to knock Grier’s early shot away. Not long after that, Datsyuk and Franzen both made great dekes in sequence and nearly scored. The Sharks earned a 2-on-1 in the final minute, but Hasek stoned the puck carrier. At 19:52, Samulesson struck again, as he and Robert Lang were sprung on a 2-on-1. Sammy kept the puck and shot it just inside the right post and over Nabokov’s glove to make it 2-0.

The Sharks were dangerous early in the second period, but Dominik Hasek was a rock and turned away their shots, regardless of the quality of the scoring chance. Around 6:30, the Sharks had a great scoring chance, but Dom made a save at point blank range to deny them. Not long after that, Jonathan Cheechoo nearly scored in a wide open net off a rush, but his linemate Thornton had knocked the net off and his shot went wide anyway. Soon after, the Wings iced the puck, and Ron Wilson saw fit to squander the advantage he had in being the home team of having the last change, and put out the Marleau line against the Draper line, which had been entirely effective in shutting the Sharks’ captain down. Not sure what Wilson was doing there.

The Wings began asserting themselves offensively again and while running the Sharks around in the offensive zone, Todd Bertuzzi laid a big hit on Brown along the boards. He gave Brown a little bit of a shove at the end of the hit, which resulted Brown’s head bouncing off the glass and the Shark was noticeably woozy for the remainder of the shift. Bit of a borderline play there, Todd. But it was good to see, as he played with an edge after that, so hopefully he’s regaining his taste for physical play. Not long after that, FSN showed a sign made by a San Jose fan that made me laugh: “Chelios, my grandmother is single.” Chelios saw it too and got a kick out of it. I guess people who can’t accept the fact that Chelios is still a great defenseman need to find solace in poking fun at his age. Pretty lame. Why not marvel at the guy’s physical ability? Later in the period, the Sharks started running the Wings again, with Grier going after Lidstrom in the end. Not long after that, Bertuzzi made a nice play driving to the net with Thornton covering. His linemate, following up, nearly scored. Pavel Datsyuk made a nice play at the blueline around the 13:30 mark to keep the puck in and a very hectic pressure shift by the Wings followed. They had the Sharks running around for a solid minute, but nothing game of it, even though Nabokov lost his stick and was playing with a skater’s. Late in the period, Datsyuk and Holmstrom went in on a 2-on-1, but Pavel shot the puck rather than sending it across to Homer. In the final minute, the Sharks pressured in the Wings’ zone and Chris Chelios took a hooking penalty.

The Wings killed off the penalty without much trouble in the third. Kyle Quincey was drilled by Scott Hannan on a carry-in and drew a penalty on the play. The Wings had a decent power play, but couldn’t score. Quincey took a penalty himself on his next shift, but it was the Wings who came closest to scoring. Kirk Maltby broke in on Nabokov shorthanded and tried deking but this time the goalie wasn’t fooled and his pokecheck stripped the puck. Craig Rivet got away with a textbook example of interference on Henrik Zetterberg, but the most interesting development of that power play was the fact that the Sharks’ fans started getting on them. Ranger fans at Madison Square Gardens, they were not. The pace of the game settled down after the Quincey penalty expired, but the Sharks soon began pressuring in the Wings’ zone. Nothing came of it, though, and play began to be more end-to-end. The Wings were turning San Jose’s game on them by blocking shots very well. The Sharks hit the post at 15:40, but that, and a chance by Ehrhoff which was stopped by Hasek, was the closest they came to scoring in the final minutes. Filpulla and Datsyuk had a 2-on-1 break, but Nabokov made the save on Fil. They pulled their goalie with 1:49 or so left, but they couldn’t get solid pressure going with the extra man. Filpulla and Datsyuk were very effective at pestering San Jose puck carriers and the game ended with the Wings on top, 2-0.

Like I said, it was a strong game by the Wings. They showed real determination and strength, which is encouraging to see as we head into the Conference Finals. This group has a commitment to team defense that came out in a big way last night and I think that as long as the forwards are as responsible defensively as they were in Game 6, the Wings will be very hard to stop. Some people may say the Sharks blew the series, but I give the Wings credit for their tenacity and I hope you do too. Sure, the Sharks could have played better, but I think the Wings showed pretty definitively they are the better overall team. I’d also like to see Dominik Hasek get some credit. I was unhappy about his signing last summer because I was afraid he’d get hurt early on (though I knew he’d be great when healthy), but now I don’t regret it at all. I think he may be playing a bigger role in this run than he did in 2002, when the team was so good it could have won with almost anyone in net. This team needs him to back them up, like they need every piece to do its job, and it’s paying off well.

I’m excited to see where this team will go. My confidence is growing.

My condolences to the Sharks fans. Your time will come. You follow a very skilled team. In the meantime, some of you need to hit the books and study up on penalties. All too often last night, the fans at the Shark Tank were booing and jeering perfectly good calls, as well as totally legal defensive plays that obviously were not called for anything. And it was enough different from normal fan chatter to be noticed.