Update (5:55 PM): Two more responses to the game:
First, Anaheim Duck Fan. Quote: “The Ducks played an amazing first period.” What? I will say that during the game, particularly during the first period, I wondered how fans enjoy watching the Ducks. A completely different philosophy on the game of hockey, that’s how.
It’s moments like these that I find myself in sympathy with the melodramatic view that teams like the Wings and Senators are bastions of the skill/puck-possession game opposed to strongholds of thug hockey of the Anaheim or Philadelphia vein. Only a Cup win by one of puck-possession will stop that particular tide.
Second, Finny at Girl with a Puck. I’d just like to point out that it doesn’t matter where Hasek was, Todd Bertuzzi had no business hitting him. He didn’t trip. He deliberately ran him over. - Matt
Update (2:55 PM): Steph has posted her response to the game over at No Pun Intended. - Matt
Update (2:15 PM): Couple things. First, Ian left a great comment on the game below. Be sure to read that if you have a minute.
Second, Greg Wyshynski has a colorful reaction (NSFW – language) to the Wings’ win last night over at sports über-blog Deadspin in the NHL Closer. Not sure I find the comparisons with the Patriots at all flattering (the Wings don’t cheat, for example), but there’s no denying the dominance of the Winged Wheel this season. - Matt
The Wings wrapped up their three-game road trip with a playoff-style win in Anaheim last night, improving to 36-10-4 on the season and taking a 2-1 lead in the four-game series with the Ducks.
Some thoughts on the game:
… The first period was as infuriating as any 20 minute block of time I’ve watched this season. The Ducks are simply a vicious team and for the entire first period, I oscillated between mildly pissed off and incensed as I watched them ride roughshod over the Wings.
… The prime example was Todd Bertuzzi’s completely uncalled-for wrecking ball impression done on Dominik Hasek at 5:14. What was that?
I’m grateful for the referees for giving the guy an extra penalty on the play, but you have to wonder why he wasn’t given more. If it wasn’t a blatant attempt to injure, it was certainly extremely dangerous and could have easily resulted in an injury regardless. Johan Franzen’s reaction was perfectly justified.
I’m glad I can hate Todd Bertuzzi again.
… The Dan Cleary/Chris Pronger fight. Why? Was Pronger upset by Cleary’s reaction to his big hit? And what was Pronger’s cat fight-like clawing of Cleary’s face right off the bat?
I give Dan a lot of credit for standing his ground there and for dodging two or three haymakers before Pronger fell and for then getting in a few good punches himself. The end result of the fight, however, wasn’t so pretty, as Pronger bloodied Cleary’s nose and managed to cause his eye to swell shut, resulting in the latter ducking and covering on the ice.
Cleary left the ice after that and did not return for the rest of the game. The Wings missed him for the rest of the game, though they found a way to do without him.
Really, the fight should have been broken up when Pronger fell and I blame the officials for their negligence in that regard. Had they stepped in when they should have, Cleary’s eye injury would have been avoided.
… It was always my understanding that if a player dropped his gloves in an altercation, that player was given a fighting major. I can’t find anything about it in the rulebook, however, so apparently that’s wrong. So, I guess Doug Weight’s roughing penalty at 9:40 was legitimate, though he dropped his gloves on Lebda and tried to instigate a fight.
… The first period was a penalty fest, with the two teams taking a combined 34 minutes in penalties. Unfortunately for the Wings, they only capitalized on the power play once, while on a 5-on-3 at 11:52.
… The second period was much less frustrating, as the penalties became less frequent and the Ducks realized they actually had a game of hockey to play instead of rugby or UFC or whatever. That’s not to say they stopped throwing themselves around, though.
The Wings seemed to take over the game at least as far as puck possession was concerned, though they continued to take a beating from a physical Anaheim team. I thought they handled this physicality well, given the fact that they are not used to that kind of treatment. As much as I hate to watch the Ducks, I can be grateful that they reminded the Wings what playoff hockey is like last night.
… The third period was more of the same, though the Aaron Downey/Sean O’Donnell fight late in the second seemed to cause the Ducks to kick up their play a gear or two. They made things interesting by scoring at 8:05 off a Pronger blast and kept the result of the game in doubt down to the final face-off with three seconds left. The Wings started looking more tired and may have run out of gas had the game gone into extra time, but they hung on.
… Dom had a strong game. He had little chance on the Pronger goal and was otherwise extremely sharp. You watch a goalie like JS Giguere freeze the puck nearly every time it comes close to him and you really start to appreciate Dom’s habit of keeping the play going.
When he’s not out of it as he seemed to be in San Jose on Saturday, he’s extremely involved in the play. Though that sometimes leads to heart stoppages for us fans (and probably his teammates), it doesn’t seem to bite him all that often. I suppose having an active goalie like that is better than having one that huddles in the net.
… A couple days after I write that Tomas Kopecky is the most expendable forward on the team, he what I thought was a whale of a game. His play to Valtteri Filppula on the Wings’ second goal was great and he was involved in a number of altercations with the Ducks. I loved seeing that.
The fourth line, with Kopecky, Matt Ellis, and Aaron Downey really stood out at times and much of that was due to Kopey actually using his size.
… Filppula had a heck of a game as well, I thought. I don’t know what it is about the Ducks, but they seem to bring out the best in him. He played very well in the playoff series last spring and in particular made Scott Niedermayer look like a rookie more than a few times. He was back at it again last night, scoring a goal while the Ducks’ Captain Greybeard looked on helplessly. He was constantly involved in the play and, quite frankly, stood out more than Pavel Datsyuk.
… Brian Rafalski, on the other hand, had a less than stellar game, in my opinion. Right off the bat, on his first shift, he turned the puck over, and that seemed to be the trend for him all night. Somehow he finished with only one giveaway on the official “Event Summary” but I can tell you that’s way off.
He was no doubt doing all kinds of positive things I just didn’t notice, but the giveways and occasional bonehead play really stood out. I appreciate Rafalski’s passing ability and know his defensive play has improved, but he’s fortunate the gift-wrapped pucks he passes out to the opposition seemingly every game don’t come back to bite him more often.
… Funny moment in the third period (I believe it was): Jiri Hudler went into the corner with speed, looking like he was going to lay a big hit on Chris Pronger. At the last second, Jiri apparently had second thoughts and chose to ease up, resulting in only a minor bump. Surprisingly enough, Pronger didn’t take Hudler to task for daring to touch him. Gotta love Huds, though. At times, he plays like he’s the same size as Zdeno Chara.
… Mathieu Schneider was largely unnoticeable, but more because the Ducks under-utilize him than anything else. He remains a threat on the power play and was most noticeable at those times, but thankfully did not do much more than release a few bombs against his former team. He finished with 17:49 in ice time.
… Watch this clip of the Rafalski goal and keep an eye on Scott Niedermayer at the end, after the puck goes in. Is it is just me or does he give Holmstrom a completely unnecessary shove? When did Scott Niedermayer become that kind of player? Oh, yeah, when he became Burke-ified in Anaheim. Pretty sad.
…Â Overall, a positive game for the Wings. They earned a tough road win in the second night of a back-to-back and did it in a playoff atmosphere. However, the game raises concerns over whether they could do it again over the course of a series.
Personally, I’m confident they’ll step up like they did last playoffs, but they’ll definitely need to be healthy. As I stated above, Dan Cleary’s absence was very noticeable in this game because he is one Red Wing who can take a beating just as well as he can dish them out. Fortunately, he’s okay and it doesn’t look like he’ll miss any time.
There is some bad news on the Henrik Zetterberg front, though: apparently, he’s felt little improvement in the back pain that kept him out of the last two games and that will keep him out of the All Star Game. He still has plenty of time to rest, though, so it’s not unlikely he’ll be fine by the next game.
As for the rest of the team (minus the three All Stars and coach), they get a good break here before they face Phoenix on Wednesday. They still need to work on their power play, which remains relatively ineffective, but they’ll stand a good chance on breaking out of that against the 22nd-ranked Coyote penalty kill.
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