by true Citizens of Hockeytown
Update (10:27 PM): According to the team’s official site, Homer skated on his own today. - Matt
Update (5:30 PM): George Sipple has actual quotes from Mike Babcock on the Holmstrom situation, and Red Wings TV has video of those comments. - Matt
Ansar Khan reports that Tomas Holmstrom (knee) will sit out tomorrow when the Wings face the Florida Panthers. The team expects him back Monday against Washington.
Update (2:41 PM): George Malik has posted his Wings-Oilers wrap-up at Snapshots. - Matt
The Wings lost to the Oilers 4-3 in a shoot out last night in one of the least exciting games of the season. Neither team played all that well, but Detroit looked particularly flat and were lucky to get a point. Edmonton played a high-energy, physical game and the Wings were unable to do much of anything on their own terms. They did outshoot the Oilers 42-25, which I suppose is something.
… Dominik Hasek made 22 saves, but I didn’t think this was his best game.
On Edmonton’s first goal, he was too far out of the net and he gave up just enough of a rebound off the Sheldon Souray lob that Ales Hemsky had an easy time of it putting the puck in.
He had no chance on the Joni Pitkanen goal, which was just a nice play and an unstoppable shot.
On the third goal, however, he was not holding the post when Sam Gagner made a nice pass to Fernando Pisani out front. Despite the fact that Brett Lebda was draped all over him, Pisani had a relatively easy time of it putting the puck over Dom’s right shoulder.
In the shootout, Dom made a solid save on a tricky Gagner, but was beaten blocker-side by a straight-up shot by Hemsky. I don’t blame him for the loss, not by a long shot, but it looks like he’s still got a kink or two to work out.
There was a bad moment in the third period when Shawn Horcoff drove to the net, lost his footing, and slide skate-first into Hasek’s chest. It was immediately evident that Dom was hurt on the play and when FSN zoomed in on his face, he looked to be in some serious pain. Chris Osgood immediately got ready to go in and was about to step on the ice when Hasek got up, seemingly none the worse for wear. Even with Chris Osgood playing as well as he has, an injury to Hasek is one of the last things the Wings need. They dodged a bullet there.
… Mark Hartigan scored his first goal as a Red Wing in just his second game. It came as a bit of a surprise, as the play looked harmless enough, but Roloson dropped his shoulder and gave the AHL call-up just enough space to squeeze the puck through. It was more bad goaltending than anything else. I’m glad he scored, but I’m going to go on record as saying I don’t like Mark Hartigan. My fiancé and her best friend are experts on the Griffins and they have nothing good to say about the guy and because I’ve learned to trust their judgment on all things Griffins, I’m not signing up for the Mart Hartigan Fan Club.
… Henrik Zetterberg scored two goals and tied the game up both times, but I did not think it was his best game. Too many poor decisions with the puck, in my opinion, not the least of which was his decision to rip a slap shot in the shootout. However, he was more noticeable than Pavel Datsyuk, who was mostly neutralized by the Oilers, though he did, at least, come close to beating Roloson in the shootout.
… The Eurotwins played some with Mikael Samuelsson last night, but had more success with Dan Cleary. Sammy’s hit one of the worst dry patches of his time here in Detroit. Valtteri Filppula finished with 19:45 in ice time, but remains all but completely ineffective. I don’t know what it’s going to take to get those two going.
… Aaron Downey was twice the victim of some Academy Award-worthy acting on the part of Dwayne Roloson as he received two penalties for bumping the Edmonton goaltender. He made contact on both occasions, but was pushed into him by the Oiler defense each time. Still, it’s not characteristic of Downey to put himself in that kind of position, which is further evidence that the Wings were off their game last night.
… Even Nick Lidstrom looked a little off last night, as he was beaten by the Oiler speed at least a couple times and just did not look as smooth as he does normally.
… The Wings need to figure out a different power play strategy for times when Tomas Holmstrom is out of the lineup. No one else on the team can come close to doing what Homer does and when they try for the same plan of attack on the man-advantage despite his absence, that fact is never more obvious.
… I hate it when teams play for the shootout like the Oilers did last night. They hardly tried to score in overtime, despite the fact that they had a couple solid chances. Their shootout record may look pretty impressive, but really it’s pathetic, as they’ve had to rely on a gimic to get nine wins. They have just six wins not tainted by the shootout, while the Wings have 19.
… The Wings have notched at least a point in each of their last nine games, but they were fortunate to get the last three. In Nashville, they barely held on and emerged with a win and at home last night, they were outplayed by the NHL’s youngest team. Hopefully they’ll fare better against one of the League’s worst, Washington, Florida tomorrow.
Links
Update (1:57 PM): I wish the Wings’ game preview page looked like this. - Matt
Update (1:45 PM): Red Wings TV has added two pre-game videos, one with comments from Mike Babcock, the other with comments from Mark Hartigan. - Matt
Tonight is the third of four games between these two teams this season. The Wings lead the series 2-0, with wins October 8th (4-2) and October 30th (2-1). The final game will be on February 26 in Edmonton.
The Oilers are 3-2-1 in December thus far, with wins coming in Anahiem, Los Angeles, and St. Louis. Their most recent game, a 5-4 shootout win over the Blues, cut off a three-game skid in which they lost to Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Dallas. The Oilers are at the tail end of a three-stop road trip and will be playing their third game in four nights.
Shawn Horcoff leads the team in in goals (15), assists (18), and points (33). He’s the only Oiler with double-digit goals, but Ales Hemsky has nine. He hasn’t scored since November 30th, however, though he put up three points in St. Louis Tuesday. Horcoff, on the other hand, has 13 points in his last 8 games.
Sheldon Souray returned Tuesday night after missing 25 games because of a shoulder injury and scored a goal. Unfortunately for Edmonton, he was not the only injured Oiler. Via the Edmonton Sun: “Ethan Moreau, LW, foot; Matt Greene, D, foot; Geoff Sanderson, LW, back.” Defenseman Dick Tarnstrom will return, however.
It looks as though Edmonton has something of a goaltender rotation going. Dwayne Roloson started in Dallas, but was pulled after he allowed three goals on six shots. Mathieu Garon, relieving Roloson, fared a bit better, giving up two goals on 24 shots. Garon then started the next night in St. Louis and made 24 saves. It looks, then, like Roloson will be back in net tonight.
For the Oilers perspective, see The Battle of Alberta, Covered in Oil, Lowetide, mc79hockey, always on the road, Black Dog Hates Skunks, Irreverent Oiler Fans, Nothing 2 See Here, Oil Country, Ontario, the real deal hockey, SportsGuru, and Talkin’ Hockey.
The Wings are 5-0-0 in December thus far and have gone seven games without a loss. They’re coming off a draining 2-1 win over Nashville on Monday, a game which came the night after a hard-fought 5-2 win over Carolina. Tonight is the first of a four-game homestand that will see them playing host to Florida, Washington and LA.
Three Red Wings (Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Tomas Holmstrom) have 10 or more goals, but Dan Cleary is just one away with nine. I’d say he’s due to cross that double-digit threshold.
Kris Draper (knee), Kirk Maltby (back), and Tomas Holmstrom (knee) are all out tonight. Matt Ellis, Aaron Downey, and recently-called up Mark Hartigan are filling in.
According to Mike Babcock’s phone conference yesterday, Dominik Hasek is slated to start tonight, while Chris Osgood will start Saturday versus Florida.
For more of the Detroit perspective, see Snapshots, Gorilla Crouch, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Gloveside, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, and Winging It In Motown. Nathan already has a bit of a preview posted at HockeyTownTodd and George Malik has a preview roundup at Snapshots.
The Wings looked drained by the end of the Nashville game, but they’ve had a couple days to rest up, so they’ll hopefully come out with good energy tonight. The Oilers are having a rough season, but they have youth and enthusiasm to go with grit and they’ll make life difficult if the Wings aren’t on top of their game. Hasek has looked solid in his last three starts and will hopefully continue his resurgence with a strong game tonight. With Tomas Holmstrom out of the lineup, the Wings’ power play may not be as effective at generating chances, but players like Mikael Samuelsson and Valtteri Filppula will have an opportunity to get on track offensively.
The Oilers are 8-1 in shootouts, so if the game ends up in one, it may have a disappointing result.
… I apologize for not posting on the Predators game. Finals came first and now I’m done. I don’t have much to say about the game, though, except that the Wings were fortunate they had a fresh Chris Osgood in net, as they totally ran out of gas and barely weathered the storm.
Also, I think Dan Hamhuis should be added to the Enemies of Hockeytown list. Why? Because he tried to take out Nick Lidstrom’s knee from behind when he came out of the penalty box late in the second period. That’s pure bush league.
… Speaking of knees, Tomas Holmstrom evidently hurt his against Carolina on Sunday and missed practice today after playing through pain in Nashville. It’s all but certain he won’t play tomorrow against Edmonton. Apparently, he has not undergone any tests and does not know how he injured it. The team has called up Mark Hartigan to take up the vacant spot on the roster.
Losing Homer is a big deal, but it could be worse. It may even turn out to be a positive of sorts, as Mikael Samuelsson skated with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg in practice today. Although Babcock wouldn’t commit to that unit for the Edmonton game, it’s possible he’ll stick with it. If anyone on this team needs the boost the Eurotwins can provide, it’s Samuelsson. He doesn’t have a goal in nine games (1G on November 21st vs. St. Louis) and only has two points over that span.
… The remaining practice lines:
Hudler-Filppula-Kopecky
Cleary-Franzen-Drake
Draper-Ellis-Downey
… Red Wings TV has a post-practice interview with Mike Babcock here. You may find his his pronunciation of “Filppula” humorous.
… Bruce MacLeod reports that Domink Hasek will start tomorrow, which is in keeping with the official goalie rotation policy for the month.
… According to Ansar Khan, Kris Draper practiced with the team today for the first time since he went down with his knee injury (November 227th). He’s not due back for another two weeks or so. Red Wings TV has a post-practice interview with Drapes, as well.
… Kirk Maltby has not skated since his back became inflamed, though he has been told he does not have any major injury and has been given a shot to reduce the swelling. I’ll believe it’s a minor thing when he’s back in the lineup.
… It’s a couple days old now, but be sure to read this excellent post by George Malik at Kukla’s Korner on the current debate about goaltender pad size, if you haven’t already. Also, IwoCPO’s post on unscrupulous post editing/deletion on the part of the Detroit hockey media is well worth a read.
… The NHL held a brief phone conference with Mike Babcock this afternoon. Abel to Yzerman has the audio here. If you’d rather read it, I have the transcript after the jump.
Continue reading ‘12/12 Notes’
Update (8:15 PM): The NHL TV feed to the game is here. - Matt
Update (6:10 PM): IwoCPO’s got a great pre-game post up. Also, be sure to stop by there during the game for the liveblog. - Matt
Update (6:05 PM): Helene St. James’ post has been updated to say that Chelios will be a healthy scratch tonight, as whoever was hurt is now well enough to play. Babcock still wouldn’t say who it was.
Bruce MacLeod has the lineups for both teams here, as well as likely lines. One change, though: with Chelios sitting, Derek Meech will dress for the first time since November 17th. - Matt
Update (2:37 PM): Ansar Khan reports that Chris Chelios, who wasn’t supposed to make the trip to Nashville, might have to fill in tonight because of a “a minor injury to an undisclosed player.” Khan says it was not Lebda, who skated in the optional practice, but doesn’t apparently know any more than that, as Mike Babcock wasn’t telling.
Helene St. James asked Babcock if it was Nick Lidstrom, but was told “no, no, no.” Apparently, the injury is not necessarily something that will keep the player out of the lineup, but Chelios was brought along just in case. - Matt
Update (2:08 PM): The press release on the Violetta hire is here. - Matt
Update (12:56 PM): Again via Snapshots: the Wings have officially announced the hiring of Steve Violetta, formerly of the Nashville Predators, as the newly-created senior vice-president of business affairs. Mr. Violetta’s job will to reconnect the team with the fans, as the team has realized just icing a top-of-the-line squad is not enough any more. - Matt
Update (11:18 AM): Via Snapshots: the Wings’ media guide is now available online here (13.95 MB PDF). - Matt
Update (10:53 AM): Here’s George Malik’s post-game roundup.
A quick thought on the Preds game: it’s important to remember that the Wings didn’t have it easy last night and only took a 2- and 3-goal lead in the last 5 minutes of the game. They’re going to be tired, whereas the Preds are rested. It should be interesting, especially given the Wings’ troubles with the Central this season. The good news is they’ll have a rested Chris Osgood between the pipes. - Matt
It’s finals week here at school and I have a big one tomorrow. So, I’ll be studying most of the day and probably won’t be able to watch the game tonight. This is all the blogging I really have time for today.
From the Wings’ 5-2 win over Carolina last night:
Links for tonight
Be sure to stop by Snapshots throughout the day. George will have posts on the game last night as well as stuff relating to the Nashville game before long.
Update (4:37 PM): IwoCPO’s liveblog post is up over at Abel to Yzerman. - Matt
Update (4:33 PM): If you’re an out-of-market Wings fan and don’t have NHL Center Ice or if you’re an in-market Hurriances fan and got screwed by FSN South, you can watch it online here. - Matt
Update (4:02 PM): Luke DeCock of the News & Observer reports that the Hurricanes will go with the same lineup they iced last night. That means no Jeff Hamilton, “3 1/2 lines and seven defensemen.” Also, Cam Ward will start. He also says, “[y]ou have to figure they’re on fumes but we’ll see.” - Matt
This afternoon is the only game between these two teams this season. The Hurricanes won the last meeting, on January 10, 2006, 3-2.
Carolina leads the Southeast Division with 35 points, six ahead of the nearest challenger, Atlanta. Since a decent October in which they earned a point in 10 games (7-3-3 ), they’ve had some trouble with consistency. In November, they never won more than two in a row, but they didn’t lose more than twice in a row, either. They finished with a 7-6-0 record in November. In December, they’ve alternated wins and losses, beginning with an 8-1 embarrassment in Buffalo on the 1st. The rebounded with a 4-0 shutout of the Rangers on the 3rd, but lost three days later to a then-below-.500 Tampa Bay squad, 2-1. Last night, they defeated the struggling Montreal Canadiens, 5-1. So, really, the only impressive thing they’ve done so far this month is put the puck past King Henrik four times in New York.
Cory Stillman leads the team in goals with 16 and in points with 34. Matt Cullen is the top assist man, with 24. Rod Brind’Amour is second on the team in points with 32 (14G, 18A), while former Red Wing Ray Whitney is 3rd with 14 goals and 16 assists.
Mike Commodore (broken finger) is listed as doubtful by the North Carolina paper, the News & Observer. Luke DeCock, writing for the paper’s ridiculously-named “Lord Stanley’s Blog,” suggests that Jeff Hamilton, a healthy scratch last night, could return to the lineup so that the Hurricanes can roll four lines.
Cam Ward played last night, but there’s no reason to believe he won’t play again tonight.
For the Carolina perspective, see Canes Country, Cason Blog, Hurricane Season, Sweet Tea, Barbecue and Body Checks, red and black hockey, and Carolina On Ice.
The Wings lead the League with 42 points, three ahead of Ottawa, and lead their division by nine points (over St. Louis). They have won their last five games and are coming off a 5-0 shutout of the Minnesota Wild on Friday night. After tonight, they’ll get on a plane to play another Southern team, the Nashville Predators tomorrow night.
Henrik Zetterberg leads the team in goals and points with 21 and 40, while Pavel Datsyuk leads in assists with 23.
Kris Draper (knee) and Kirk Maltby (back) remain out, which means Aaron Downey and Matt Ellis will remain in the lineup. Helene St. James reports that Draper did not skate yesterday after suffering a set-back in the recovery process. Kirk Maltby is going to see the back specialist again for further testing tomorrow.
Dominik Hasek will get his third-straight start. Over the past two games, he’s posted a 1.00 GAA and a .971 save-percentage.
For more of the Wings perspective, see Snapshots, Gorilla Crouch, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Gloveside, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, and Winging It In Motown. IwoCPO already has a preview of sorts.
This is a must-win for the Wings, who need the momentum going into Nashville tomorrow night. I’d also like to see them win because I can’t stand the thought of them losing to the Hurricanes, which are easily my most-hated team of the Eastern Conference and a close second to Anaheim as most-hated overall. It doesn’t look like the Habs did much to tire Carolina out last night, so the Wings are going to need to be sharp tonight if they want to slow them down. They’ve been so business-like and efficient lately that I’m confident they’ll bring their “A” game tonight and hopefully that’ll result in some revenge for the loss in 2006.
The boys from Hockeytown destroyed the impostors from Minneosta last night in one of their most dominating performances of the season. Henrik Zetterberg lit up Wild goaltender Josh Harding with three beautiful goals for his second career hat trick and Dominik Hasek showed the NHL that he’s back to form with his 77th career shutout.
… At the beginning of the game, the Wild were pretty effective at slowing the game down to a mind-numbingly dull poke-checking trap-fest. And they were very open about it, with Brian Rolston telling Larry Murphy that they were “trapping it up pretty good.” Indeed. But the Wings top line gradually wore the Minnesota defense down and finally cracked Harding at 17:53 of the first with Zetterberg’s first.
… Hank’s first goal came just after the expiration of a Detroit power play and on a delayed penalty. After the Wild failed to clear, the puck ended up on Pavel Datsyuk’s stick on the far side. He sent it across the ice to Zetterberg, who was all alone to Harding’s right. Hank picked the puck up from around the feet of the ref and then put it over Harding, who was still moving across the net on his knees. Larry Murpthy told Hank at the intermission that he’d never seen anything like it, which was probably some hyperbole on Murph’s part, though it was a unique goal.
… Zetterberg’s second goal came at 5:31 of the second period, while the Wild were on the power play. After the Wild turned it over at the Detroit blueline, Hank took it up ice with Franzen trailing. He dropped the puck off to Johan, who ripped a shot wide of the net from the slot. Franzen picked up the rebound off the backboards and dished it to Zetterberg out front. Hank moved across the goalmouth right-to-left and waited until Harding committed before banking it in off the far post. The best of his three, in my opinion.
… 1:10 later, Jiri Hudler put the Wings up 3-0 on another Minnesota delayed penalty. With Hasek on the bench, Huds came over the boards as the sixth man. He found a dead spot at the bottom of the left circle and one-timed a pass from Filppula through Harding to score. I have to say, Hudler has a very hard shot when he gets a chance to use it.
… Johan Franzen’s goal at 9:50 came on the power play and was just a case of his being johnny-on-the-spot when Harding gave up a tiny rebound off a Kronwall shot. It was precisely the kind of goal you want to see Johan get.
… Zetterberg completed his hat trick just 41 seconds into the third period off the feed from Datsyuk. With Holmstrom skating across the front of the net, Hank’s one-timer from the right circle beat Harding after being tipped by his defenseman. For whatever reason, it seems like hat tricks don’t happen all that often in Detroit, while you hear of them pretty commonly around the rest of the league. There’s the Gordie Howe hat trick and the apparent Red Wings hat trick, which is two goals and a goalpost. It was great to see Hank get just the second in his career (the first came last February in the Wings’ 4-1 win over Phoenix), and I hope we’ll see that more often.
… With the Wings up 4-0, Todd Fedoruk tried to get Aaron Downey to fight at 12:58 of the second period and, surprisingly enough, Aaron accepted. However, he lost his balance and fell down before they could get started and the fight never happened. Fedoruk, to his credit, just tried to help Downey up rather than lay into him, but despite the willingness of both parties to go at it, the officials broke it up. Just over two minutes later, they went for it again and this time nothing interrupted them.
Both players got some good licks in, but Downey fell to the ice and probably lost. I was a little surprise Downey would even entertain the idea of a fight, given that it could have provided some spark to the Wild, but he must have felt they were in such control of the game that it didn’t matter. Fortunately for him, it did not come back to bite him.
… Dominik Hasek’s play at 17:41 of the third period was probably the highlight of the game. With the Wild on their way to their second straight loss, the puck ended up on the stick of Marian Gaborik at center ice and behind the Wings’ defense. Hasek, facing down a total breakaway, chose to come out and challenge rather than wait for Gaborik to arrive. Like he’s done so many times before, Dom attempted to slide-tackle the puck away and was successful, hitting the puck just before Gaborik collided with him.
(via Kukla’s Korner, my apologies for the song)
Gaborik hit Dom in his leg pads and went flying up and over, flipping and nearly landing on his head. Definitely a dangerous play, but a smart one by Hasek. Had Gaborik had his head up, he could have possibly maneuvered around the prone goalie, but as it was, he was caught looking down. Hasek was given a tripping penalty on the play and probably deserved it, but it was a worthwhile penalty, as Gaborik on a breakaway is far more dangerous than Gaborik on the power play. There is some talk that the League will review the play, but I think that’s just wishful thinking on the part of the Wild faithful.
Dom’s performance in the game was solid and encouraging, as he only had to face 19 shots yet did not give up a softy due to not having enough work. It seems he is adapting to the Wings’ defensive style, finally. It looks like he’s back, folks. He’ll get his third-straight start tomorrow against Carolina, while Chris Osgood will start Monday versus Nashville, at least according to Mike Babcock in his post-game comments. He says Osgood will go against the Preds because he usually plays well in Nashville, no other reason. Then, the rotation will start.
… Much hay has been made over the recent declaration of Minneapolis-St. Paul as “Hockeytown USA” by some Sports Illustrated hack. I won’t dignify the story with a link, though I will say a couple things about it.
“Hockeytown” insofar as it refers to Detroit, has always been a marketing thing first and foremost. It applied during a time when the Wings were the only competitive team in Detroit and thus received the most attention. With all four teams in Detroit at various levels of competitiveness, the accuracy of “Hockeytown” has declined a bit, but that does not mean it no longer applies. Despite the fact that the Joe no longer sells out, the Wings remain the team with the second-largest fanbase in the League (behind Toronto) and have hundreds, sometimes thousands, of their fans going to their games in every NHL city. Hockeytown, to me, refers to the fanbase everywhere, not just in Detroit.
Besides, the Wings have a pending trademark on the phrase, so whatever the Sports Illustrated writer says, it’s theirs.
… The Wings are on a roll, folks. They are as efficient as I’ve ever seen them and are dominating teams up and down the ice. It’s still early in the season, but it’s exciting to see.
Links
Update (7:55 PM): Abel to Yzerman has the usual liveblog-in-comment-thread going on. - Matt
Update (7:38 PM): If you’re an out-of-market fan and can’t watch the game on NHL Center Ice because of the NHL Network blackout, you can catch it online here on NHL TV. It’s even the FSN Detroit feed. - Matt
Update (4:05 PM): Looks like it won’t be Niklas Backstrom in net for the Wild after all, as Michael Russo (after disparaging comments about Detroit) reports that Josh Harding will start instead. That’s a bit of a relief, as Backstrom is one of the League’s better young goalies. (via Snapshots) - Matt
Update (3:15 PM): George Sipple reports that Kirk Maltby told hhim he’d see a specialist today in an effort to understand what’s going on with his back, which has kept him out of the past four games. Malts says that it’s no worse than it was, but it’s no better, despite rest. Hopefully the doctor will have good news. - Matt
Update (3:10 PM): Bruce MacLeod has an update from practice. Nothing new, as Kirk Maltby (back) did not skate and Kris Draper (knee) only skated on his own. - Matt
In a hurry this morning, so this’ll be brief:
Tonight is the first of four games between these two teams this season. The Wings won series last year, 3-1. They’ll meet again on the 20th of this month, the 10th of next month, and the 5th of the month after that to wrap things up.
The Wild had a four-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday with a 3-1 loss to Philadelphia at home. Tonight’s game kicks off a five-game road trip that will take them next to Columbus (tomorrow), San Jose, Anaheim, and LA.
Marian Gaborik is the team leader in goals with 10 and in assists with 22. Pierre-Marc Bouchard is the leader in assists with 19.
The Wild have a fair number of injuries. Via the Freep: “D Nick Schultz (throat), out; F Mark Parrish (hip), D Kurtis Foster (face), F Derek Boogaard (back), C Mikko Koivu (knee), D Petteri Nummelin (head), questionable.”
Niklas Backstrom should be the starter tonight for Minnesota. He’s posted a 2.26 GAA and .915 save-percentage thus far this season.
For the Wild perspective, see The State of Hockey News, Wild Puck Banter, Casual Hockey, Puck Wild, In the State of Hockey, and Land of Lakes and Hockey.
The Wings have won their last four and are coming off a dominating performance against the Montreal Canadiens. Tonight is the first of a two-game mini-homestand. They’ll see Carolina next, on Sunday, before heading to Nasvhville Monday.
Henrik Zetterberg still leads in goals with 18, but Pavel Datsyuk is making a bid to catch up, having scored seven over his last five. He has 11 now, and leads in assists with 20.
Kris Draper (knee) and Kirk Maltby (back) are both out tonight, which means Matt Ellis and Aaron Downey will remain in the lineup and on the fourth line.
Dominik Hasek will get his second consecutive start.
For more of the Wings perspective, see Snapshots, Gorilla Crouch, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Gloveside, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, and Winging It In Motown.
The Wild had a stretch of strong play interrupted by the Flyers this week and will be looking to pick up where they left off before that game. The Wings need to continue with the strong defense that shut down the Montreal power play and find a way to shut down Marian Gaborik. It should be an interesting game, with both teams great on defense, but with different styles.
Update (2:58 PM): Bruce MacLeod has another update:
… Dominik Hasek and Chris Osgood will likely rotate the upcoming games, with Hasek starting the rotation tomorrow. That would put Chris Osgood between the pipes on Sunday.
… Contrary to what I say below, Kris Draper apparently will skate tomorrow, with a brace, before the rest of the team does. - Matt
Briefly:
… Bruce MacLeod reports that Kirk Maltby (back) did not skate today, which means it’s highly unlikely he’ll return to the lineup tomorrow versus Minnesota. A Sunday return against Carolina is possible, though.
… Kris Draper (knee) also did not skate, but that’s to be expected as he’s not supposed to hit the ice again until later next week.
… Also, it looks as though Dominik Hasek will get his second-straight start tomorrow.
Update (11:34 AM): I meant to mention that the Eurotwins were in fact split up last night, but not at the beginning. They actually started the game on the same line and were only separated later, with periodic reunions on the power play. With Pavel playing so well and Hank not more than a couple steps behind, the split wasn’t such a bad idea. - Matt
The Wings won their first game in Montreal since 2003 and put on one of their better performances of the season in the process. They weathered an early push by the Habs and soon established a dominance that extended most of the rest of the game.
… The big story of the game was Dominik Hasek. Although he only faced 16 shots, Dom demonstrated that he’s still “got it,” as more than a few of his 15 saves were very tough. He obviously had a lot to prove given his slow start and last night he went a long way in re-establishing himself. He was caught a little flat-footed on the Habs’ one goal, but I can’t really blame him for that.
If he can that up in his next start, Mike Babcock will need to find a way to get both of his goalies the games necessary to keep them sharp. That will make the Wings that much tougher to play against.
… The other story of the game was Pavel Datsyuk, who had yet another dominating performance, finishing with two goals and one assist. Both of his goals came off intercepted Canadien passes and were basically unstoppable. His assist on Henrik Zetterberg’s power play goal was pretty conventional, but you can see the Habs respecting him as a threat as he carries the puck into the zone. Pavel’s turned his slow start around with 7 goals in his last 5 games, making him the player with the hottest stick on the team.
… Andreas Lilja got away with a pretty nasty hit early in the first period. With the Habs clearing their zone, Lilja stepped up and shoved Steve Begin into the boards from 4-5 feet out. Begin went flying sideways into the boards, hitting first with his head, and lay there for some time before getting up. Despite the fact that he struggled to get to the bench, the officials were slow to whistle the play dead.
Begin got some revenge later in the game when he and Lilja had a jersey-pulling contest disguised as a fight, but that doesn’t make it right. That’s not Red Wings hockey, Andreas.
… I normally think of Saku Koivu as a mild-mannered guy, but he was an ornery punk last night. He and Tomas Holmstrom nearly had a fight later in the first period and in the third, a tussle with Mikael Samuelsson resulted in former Red Wings Mathieu Dandenault executing a flying tackle on his captain’s antagonizer (and getting a game misconduct for his trouble). While I can appreciate Dandy wanting to come to the defense of his captain, the whole flying tackle thing was dangerous and unnecessary. I’m glad he got booted.
All that unfriendliness had me wishing the Wings didn’t have to wait until next year to play Montreal again. A home-and-home series would have been great, but because they’re not in the Central, a rivalry with the Habs is not officially sanctioned.
… I thought Casey Price looked quite solid, until Pavel started to wear him down with his two goals. Price didn’t have a chance on Kronwall’s goal, which was tipped, but he should have had Zetterberg’s and by that point, he looked a bit shaken. He’s a 20-year-old rookie playing in a high-pressure town, but did a good job over all. His teammates owe him better support than they gave him. I think Guy Carbonneau is pretty out of line to call out the goaltending when his skaters underperformed so badly.
… The fans in Montreal are merciless. You make a good play and you might get a so-so response. But you make a bad play and the boos rain down. One example: in the third period, the Habs basically passed Datsyuk the puck and the crowd got furious. I thought it was hilarious.
… Every time I watch Versus, I’m embarrassed by the amateurism of the broadcast. At one point, the color guy was praising the linesman for making a routine off-sides call. Why? When Koivu and Holmstrom got into it during the first period, they knew a penalty was called, but didn’t know who it was on and so they just stopped talking for 20-30 seconds. The FSN crew would have been on that immediately. I don’t want to make this a Versus-bash, so just one more thing: Brian Engblom needs a make-over, badly. His hair hit a new low last night.
A couple positives: they at least showed the ceremonial puck drop before the game and interviewed Gordie Howe in the crowd. The interview with Chris Osgood was also a highlight. The interview with Claude Lemieux? Not so much. If I never have to hear his voice or see his face again, I’ll be happy.
… Overall, a very good game for the Wings, who seem to get a kick out of playing Eastern Conference teams, as this and their game against the Lightning were two of their best all season. That they went without allowing a power play goal on seven chances despite being down their two best penalty killers is as good a sign as there is that the team is on a roll.
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