Well, that sucked. Two comebacks, a Pronger-less Ducks, and two long 5-on-3′s and the Wings still couldn’t find a way to win. I thought they looked bad all night. They were outhustled by the Ducks, out hit, out everythinged, except outshot. It all began with Todd Bertuzzi’s awful, awful, awful turnover to Corey Perry that led directly to the first Anaheim goal. I guess the shock of seeing Bertuzzi turn the puck over so badly was too much for Dominik Hasek to handle, as he then blew a chance to make one of those spectacular saves he’s been making. After that, what had been a promising start to the game turned into a continual disappointment.

Some guys who did have a good night for the Wings: Todd Bertuzzi, in spite of his assist on the Corey Perry goal; Valtteri Filppula, who seems to own Scott Niedermeyer, but needs to find a way to finish his spectacular plays; Dan Cleary, who keeps doing what he’s been doing. Other players had their moments, in patches here and there.

The Wings came back to tie it at 1 and at 3 and outshot the Ducks 39-22, but I never really thought they were in this game. Credit goes to the Ducks for playing their hearts out in the absence of argubly their most important player, but had the Wings played like they had in Game 3, the result still might have been different than it was. It was a golden opportunity for the Wings to take a stranglehold on this series, and they blew it. And the Ducks have momentum, though it may not mean much in this series, if its history is any indication. It’s now best two-of-three, with the Wings having home ice advantage. It’s not all bleak, not by a long shot, but it’s going to be a heck of a battle. I know this team can do it, it’s just that games like last night’s aren’t exactly encouraging.

I should have more tonight, when I get home from work.

Some more thoughts on the game:

… Key moment on the first shift, while the Detroit lines were still nice and predictable: Hnerik Zetterberg takes a pass from Pavel Datsyuk and drives to the net. He gets a shot off and Tomas Holmstrom follows up by riding Scott Niedermeyer into JS Giguere. JS is bowled over and loses his helmet. He is shaken and it showed for the rest of his time on the ice. Homer and Niedermeyer were both vying for position, so it wasn’t about running the goalie, so much as gunning for the puck. After that, Babcock began his line shuffle.

… The first fruits of the line mixing (at least on the scoreboard) came at 11:09 of the first, when the new Swede line hooked up for Johan Franzen’s goal. A nice pass by Samuelsson made it an easy slam dunk for Johan, and a no-chance play for Giguere.

… The power play units didn’t get the mixing treatment as much as the even strength lines did, so the second goal was from the usual top line group. Zetterberg carried in and Pavel Datsyuk headed to the net, drawing two defenders with him, while Holmstrom came in alone on the other side. After taking the pass from Hank, he ripped a nice shot off the post and in to make it 2-0 at 19:17. Giguere could have had it, maybe, but Homer’s shot was very good.

… The third goal was rather flukey, as Dan Cleary just threw the puck at the net and it bounced in off Bertuzzi, who got a stick and a leg on it. For some reason, Giguere was pulled after that one, though I thought he hadn’t had that bad a game. Sure, he looked a little shaky, but he hadn’t had a chance on the goals.

… With Ilya Bryzgalov still working the soreness out of his butt from sitting on the bench, Tomas Holmstrom potted another goal at 3:34, 17 seconds after Bertuzzi’s. Valtteri Filppula streaked in down the left wing and around the back of the net, burning by Scott Niedermeyer like he was nothing more than a pylon in a deking training exercise. He came out from behind the net, and got off a shot that nearly went in. Bryzgalov was down and out as the puck tricked to his left, where Tomas Holmstrom pounced on it and slammed it into the net. Not only was it great to see Homer continue to prove his worth, it was awesome to see Fil burn a Norris Trophy candidate.

… The whole Holmstrom v. Niedermeyer/Pronger thing happened at 11:40 of the second period. I’ll need to watch the replay again when I get a faster connection (tomorrow!), but my initial reaction to Niedermeyer’s part in the play is probably wrong. What Rob did wasn’t really all that bad, though it seemed like he took a few steps. Pronger’s part in the play was disgusting, however, and I couldn’t be happier that he’s suspended, especially given his value to the Ducks. I hate the guy and I know from years of watching him play in St. Louis that the best punishment the Wings could deal him would be to beat the Ducks. There’s no need for anyone to go after him.

I have to admit that I was so incensed by the whole thing that most of my thoughts would not have been publishable on this blog, which I’ve tried to keep family-friendly. I’m not a swearing kind of guy, but I believe there is a time for that kind of language, if only rarely and due to extreme emotion (otherwise it loses its shock value and means nothing), and that may have been one of those times. But I’m cooled down now.

… I was worried about Holmstrom for a while after that hit, thinking he had to be injured fairly badly. Versus, of course, couldn’t get any news on him, so it was a shock when he was out there in the third period. Of course, he looked great when he came back, making a perfect pass to Valtteri Filppula for the Wings’ 5th goal. Best part about the play, aside from the goal? Scott Niedermeyer’s presence. Homer’s pass was perfect, but Niedermeyer’s minor tip made the whole thing poetic.

… At the end of the game, Ryan Getzlaf nearly ended his own career while in a battle for the puck with Kirk Maltby. Maltby’s stick was on top of Getzlaf’s when the Duck raised his and ended up brining the blade of Kirk’s into his face near his eye. My initial reaction was that Getzlaf sold it well, but then I saw the replay and saw that the had given Maltby 4 minutes. Totally accidental, but very scary. Not at all similar to the Holmstrom incident, though. Craig Conroy clipped Homer in the eye all on his own.

And now, some individual recognitions:

… I already said in my initial reaction what needed to be said about Dom: he was great, easily one of the three stars of the game.

… Todd Bertuzzi was as noticeable last night as he’s been during his time here in Detroit. He was physical and was creating chances around the net. Hopefully we’ll see more of that from him.

… Valtteri Filppula had a great game as well. It was one of the rare times where Versus made mention of two players (Fil and Todd) that needed to perform for the Wings to win and actually got it right.

One last thing: I don’t want to hear another word from anyone who follows the Ducks about how Detroit isn’t Hockeytown and can’t fill their arena. With the Wings ahead by 4 or 5 goals, fans started filing out and by the end of the game, the arena looked quite empty. I know it’s not fun to watch your team while they’re down so far and have effectively lost the game, but you do not walk out on your team in the Conference Finals, I don’t care what the score is. The same goes for fans in Detroit. If the Wings are put in a similar position, I hope fans would have the respect to stick around.

Okay, maybe not, but it was pretty darn close. Definitely one of the team’s best performances of the playoffs and you can’t chalk it up to the Ducks choking, because they had a fairly solid game themselves, I thought. The Wings just outclassed them in just about every phase of the game. Except goonery.

The tag team hit on Holmstrom by Rob Niedermeyer and Chris Pronger was pure bushleague and the fact that Niedermeyer was the only one penalized on the play is a joke. Pronger was the prime mover on that hit and got away scot free. I think they both should be suspended at least a game, but given Pronger’s superstar status, they’ll likely leave him alone. As for Niedermeyer, he already had to sit out much of the game, so that’s practically like a suspension, right? Um, no.

I thought just about every player in the Winged Wheel played great. Players who stood out as playing especially well: Tomas Holmstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Todd Bertuzzi, Valtteri Filppula, and Mikael Samuelsson just to name a few. Dominik Hasek was stellar once again as well. He’s playing with an edge now, almost relishing contact and finding a confidence that allows him to make many of his best saves from the top of the crease rather than on the goalline. I love it.

Oh, and Mike Babcock’s decision to suddenly change up their lines: genius. It worked great. The Versus commentators couldn’t understand how it was possible the new lines could play so well together without any practice. It was comical. I especially liked the Swede Line, with Henrik Zetterberg centering Mikael Samuelsson and Johan Franzen. They cycled the puck well and generated a lot of problems for the Ducks.

Anyway, I’ve got more I want to say, but I have to head off to work in a minute. I’ll post again when I get home tonight.

I apologize for my tardiness in getting this posted. I worked a 13-hour day today and only got home at 9:00. I’m pretty wiped out so this will be more brief than I’d planned.

… First up, something not directly related to last night: a lineup change for Game 3. Ansar Khan reports that Tomas Kopecky will take Kyle Calder’s place for the first game in Anaheim and says that it looks like he’ll be skating on the third line with Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper, in place of Dan Cleary. It’ll be interesting to see how big Kopecky does after not playing since December. You’d think Jiri Hudler would be a better choice in that regard, but his size screwed him over again. I just hope Babcock isn’t really planning on breaking up that third line. Calder either must be hurt or in the doghouse, because his minutes have been way down and he’s been about as effective as a pylon on skates.

… On the other side of center ice is the Ducks bench, which has lost Chris Kunitz for the rest of the playoffs. Kunitz didn’t play last night and the Ducks still won, so maybe it’s not such a big deal. Just kidding. He’s their top line left-winger and a strong player. Let’s hope the Wings do a better job of taking advantage of this.

… Anyway, on to the game. a word about the video-reviewed goals: the first one, I don’t have any problem with, except that I don’t like that the referees are using video review as a crutch instead of making a call on the ice. The second goal pissed me off. Hasek was clearly pushed into the net by Niedermeyer, but the referee did not make that call and because that was not a reviewable aspect of the play, the goal stood. That’s, quite frankly, BS. If the referee says Hasek was pushed into the net, it would have been no goal, and perhaps the Wings would have gotten away with a win they didn’t necessarily deserve.

… The game followed the now usual pattern for the Wings: get dominated in the first, even things out a bit in the second, control the play in the third. They were out-hustled, out-hit and and out-puck handled by the Ducks for 35+ minutes, only managing to put on a decent show defensively, if only by the skin of their teeth. After their 5-on-3 goal, though, they turned it up a notch and things were looking great until the Ducks scored again. Then, I wasn’t very confident that they’d pull off the win, because they looked somewhat deflated. They were run around in overtime and it would have required a real change in mindset for them to have pulled off the win, because they didn’t seem to have the wheels.

… Dom has to be better. He was too easily fooled by Getzlaf’s misdirection on the first Ducks goal and was awfully far back in his own net on their second. Can’t really blame him on the third, but he was too far off the post on the game winner, even if it was a nice shot by Niedermeyer. The great thing about Dom is that he rebounds from sub-par performances, so we can probably expect a strong game from him tomorrow night.

… One thing I hope the Wings work on is their puck movement. It’s seriously lacking thus far in this series and it’s disturbing because that’s one of their trademarks. They’re making stupid passes that are easily knocked away by the Duck defense and have been having serious trouble clearing the zone, something they’ve generally been pretty good at, once they have the puck. If they can’t stickhandle over the Anaheim blueline, they need to be able to put it in the corner and run it down. I don’t know how many times I saw them refuse to shoot it in and end up losing it because one of the four Ducks lined up their knocked it away, often making for an odd-man rush.

… I don’t know if the team is becoming fatigued or what, but they need to start skating more. I see them floating more than I’ve seen them do all year and that also means they’re hitting less. If it means shorter shifts and more minutes for the fourth liners, it needs to be done. Part of their problem with being unable to hold on to the puck is that they aren’t moving their feet enough.

… Another contributing factor is the tendency of guys like Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk to skate into a crowd of three or four Ducks and then try to get through it without passing off to the wing. It doesn’t work and I’m tired of seeing them try it. There are ways to be the hero, guys, and that is not it. Get the puck low and set up a slam-dunk play, or something. Don’t try to do it all on your own.

… Alright, lastly, the Wings need to find a way to be perfect on special teams, both offensively and defensively. They’ve been at their best up or down a man, and if that’s going to be the norm in this series, they need to capitalize whenever they’re on the power play and kill off every penalty.