I think it’s wrong to say that the Wings let this one slip away, because they did not play all that well overall. It’s more like the Ducks almost let the Wings steal one. Detroit put up a fight, but they are still not playing up to their ability, so in some ways we’re seeing a bit of a repeat of the San Jose series. I hope that they aren’t fizzling out, because it seems as though they’re running out of gas. They aren’t skating with the puck like they used to, though they admittedly show a big effort without it. Their special teams have been great, but at even strength, they seem outclassed and often look to be barely holding on. Hasek wasn’t as sharp last night as he was in Game 1 and the fact that the Wings lost despite keeping pace with the Ducks in goals demonstrates the value of a dominate Hasek. They have to find it within themselves to be better in Game 3.
I’ll have more later today, after I get home from work.
Matt,
what about the Ducks’ third goal? Hasek was pushed by Rob Ni!
We didn’t lost the game because of bad work of the referees but, what the f*** was that?!
We lost to ourselves. And let’s do a better jog on Tuesday.
Cheers,
Humberto Fernandes
Matt,
what about the Ducks’ third goal? We believe Hasek was pushed by Rob Niedermayer.
We didn’t lost because of referees’ bad work, we lost to ourselves, but the third goal was ridiculous.
Best regards,
Humberto Fernandes
I agree with you. The Wings 5 on 5 play last night was not good. Too many players bunching up around the puck. Hasek was not as strong and the turnovers were painful to watch. I am hoping to see a more complete effort in Game 3.
Well, all season and throughout the playoffs the Wings have gotten better as the game goes on - much better late in the game than early. Now it seems they’re doing the same thing in the series…playing just well enough to keep pace with the other team at the beginning, and then turning it up by about game 4 or 5. If that’s their identity, so be it. I just worry that they’ll get up against a team that actually has a killer instinct and they’ll end up too far down in a series to pull it out.
The bottom line at this point is that they have now forced themselves into a must-win game in either game 3 or 4. If they don’t win one of them, they’re in big, big trouble. That kind of adversity probably doesn’t even feel like adversity to them any more. After the comeback victories and the pattern of the second round, I’m sure the Wings are thinking “we did it then we’ll do it now.”