Well, I don’t know about you, but I was impressed. Anaheim was riding roughshod around the rink all night, but the Wings took what the Ducks threw at them and didn’t back down at all. I like it. Do I think these repeated performances will be enough to dispel the “Red Wings are nancy boys” stereotypes? Not unless most league observers get a clue and finally realize that this team is a different breed, as far as both physical play and good old blue collar effort go.
If the image of Dan Cleary getting his head taken off by a Duck at center ice and then taking a leg to the face while still down, all before popping back up and getting back in time to block a shot with a diving play doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will. So what if he took a penalty at the end of the play. The rest of the Wings followed his lead in that regard all night.
If you had to see any stretch of play from the game and wanted to see what I’m talking about, the final couple minutes showed the new Wings better than just about any other. They were selling out on every Ducks shot with diving blocks and put forth an amazing effort at holding the score, in the face of enormous pressure from Anaheim.
Sure, the Wings had a couple lucky bounces to score their goals, but they were earned, as both came off strong offensive plays. I do think they need to capitalize on their offensive chances more in the coming games, but I’m more than willing to accept a few fortunate bounces. JS Giguere is still a big problem to solve, but let’s be thankful for all the help they get.
Star of the game: Dominik Hasek, who once again proved his immense value.
I think it was a strong effort overall by both teams. It was a tight-checking game and is going to be a tight-checking series, that much is obvious. I’m just glad to be able to point out that the Wings did not cow to the obviously rough Ducks.
It’s far too early to have an idea of how this series is really going to go, so I probably ought to reign myself in a bit. Still, I would love to see the Wings prove mediots like Helene Elliot of the LA Times (login) wrong and tonight was the first step in doing that (thanks Justin). That article, by the way, is so stupid, it’s almost not worth reading. But, if you’re looking for a laugh or two, check it out. I’d love to break it’s idiocy down paragraph-by-paragraph, but I don’t want to justify its existence any further.
One more thing about the game: the officiating sucked. What the heck was that? If they are really going to call those chintzy little holds, they’re going to detract from what should be a really great series.
A more complete game reaction coming tomorrow.
i cannot recall the last time i saw the wings block so many shots in a game. that is deeply satisfying.
dom looked intense, too. very in the zone.
the joe still is too damn quiet, though.
All the Wings seemed into it tonight. They had energy, and didn’t come out flat after the last series, which was good to see. I just hope they can keep the pace that they had tonight up the rest of the series!
Did anyone else see the Ducks assistant coach doing baseball like signs on the bench? What is that??? I remember seeing it just a bit before Giguere left the goal in the third… maybe that’s how they signal to do it? Seemed a little ridiculous to me.
but you’re right… same old, crappy officiating. Bad calls, and obvious missed calls on both sides.
Pronger didn’t seem to be much of a factor tonight. I kind of think he might be slightly injured…
GO WINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t remember the last time I swore so much over stupid calls - and not even so much because I was worried they’d screw us over, just because they broke up what was such good hockey until then. Luckily for us the Wings played a strong game despite it - seriously are people still commenting on the lack of physical play thing? I should think they’d be over that by now.
I sent that LA Times woman an email breaking down her article. What a ridiculous load of crap. If I had a nickel for every sports writer that latched onto the “Wings are old and slow and soft” angle, I’d have…well, a lot of nickels.
Journalism is dead in this country. All it is any more is a bunch of people regurgitating what they’ve seen and heard others write and say. It’s sad, really.
micah–
It might have been the mic placement or something about the versus feed. I’ve noticed the crowd noise seems a lot quieter on versus than on CBC when a game is shown on both and I switch back and forth. (Or CBC pumps up the crowd volume–either way, it sounds louder on that channel.)
And there was some speculation by the CBC announcers during the series with Vancouver that Pronger was either hurt or sick. They showed several clips where he wasn’t skating as well as he normally does, and was out of position several times. They figured he was either injured or sluggish from a virus or medication.