The Wings improved to 2-0-1 last night with their win over the Edmonton Oilers at home. It was an entertaining game and one in which the team played well, overall. A couple defensive breakdowns led to the Edmonton goals, but otherwise I thought the defense was solid. Dominik Hasek was very strong and would have easily had a shutout had the defense not allowed those two isolated plays and hung their goalie out to dry.
The big story of the game was the reunification of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. After going with the projected lines for the first few minutes of the game, Mike Babcock made the change around the 7:00 mark, ending up with a Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom top line and a Hudler-Filppula-Samuelsson second line.
Briefly:
… Mikael Samuelsson looked good last night. He scored a slick wrap-around-esque goal in the first period and made a nice pass to Chris Chelios later in the period to help put the Wings up by two. Chelios also had a strong game.
… 19 seconds after Chelios’ goal, Shawn Horcoff put a beautiful shot over Hasek’s glove from the slot with a Red Wing all over him. Even though it was a goal against, I couldn’t help but appreciate the skill he displayed there. Dom had little chance to make that save.
… Henrik Zetterberg and another hot-and-cold night. He notched two points and had a number of great scoring chances, but something was missing. I can’t really explain it, but he seems a little off. Obviously, it’s not a very big concern as he’s still producing, but if he can put up 7 points in three games playing like he has, imagine what he could do at full throttle.
… You get the feeling that when Pavel Datsyuk finds the back of the net, he’s going to keep finding it. He’s only got two points so far, but he’s been heavily involved in creating chances for himself and for his linemates. When he gets a break, watch out.
… I missed Homer’s power play goal at the start of the second, but it looked like a typical goal for him in the glimpse of a replay that I did catch.
… Dominik Hasek owes Brett Lebda some thanks after the puck hit Brian Rafalski’s skate at the end of a power play and deflected straight to center, where Raffi Torres had just left the penalty box. Had Lebda not been there to pick up the puck, Torres would have had half of the ice surface to himself.
… Jiri Hudler has looked strong so far this season, but there was one rush he could have done better in the second period. Rather than move his feet and keep up the pace, he slowed down and waited for someone in red to join him. Next time, keep going Jiri!
… Kind of a funny moment toward the end of the second: Pavel Datsyuk executed a beautiful takeaway just over the Red Wings blueline and turned to start a rush the other way. After a few steps, he somehow managed to overskate the puck and the rush fizzled out practically before it got going. Unfortunate, but I laughed, oddly enough.
… Late in the period, the Oilers scored on a pretty play. Robert Nilsson crossed the Red Wing line, made a nice drop pass to Joni Pitkanen, who sent it across to a completely uncovered Andrew Cogliano. The replay showed Dan Cleary gliding while Cogliano blew past him from the bench. Needless to say, Dom had little chance on that one, hung out to dry like that.
… At the start of the third, Pavel had a glorious scoring opportunity off a flurry around the net, but chose to pass the puck back to Zetterberg, whose shot was blocked by a defenseman. Right after that, Holmstrom was called for goaltender interference when Roloson backed into him from a good five feet in front of the crease. Hmm.
… Another player who’s been a little off so far this season is Nick Lidstrom and if it continues much longer, I’m going to be a bit disturbed.
… While we’re on the topic of defensemen, I’ll mention Andreas Lilja. I want to know that Regular Season Lilja did with Playoff Lilja, because I want Playoff Lilja back. Regular Season Lilja seems to be particularly bad this year. At this point, I’m thinking the rookie Derek Meech would be a better top four choice than ol’ Andreas.
… At 18:36 of the third period, the play was stopped and the Oilers pulled Roloson. Babcock called a timeout. The Oilers ended up putting on some solid pressure for a minute or so, before Zetterberg made a nice play along the near side boards. He sent the puck to Datsyuk in the Detroit slot and from there it went up to Draper at center. While Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond were calling, “Give it to Chelios!” Draper sent a wrister under the crossbar to close out the scoring.
… I said yesterday that I’d like to see the game finish in regulation and it was definitely good to see. Next up: the Flames tomorrow night.