Monthly Archive for January, 2008Page 4 of 5

Wings 1, Avalanche 0

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 9, 2008
in 2007-2008, Avalanche and Game Reports
. 6 Comments

Update (9:07 PM): I should also point out that Brian Rafalski had a great game defensively, perhaps one of his best in the Winged Wheel. - Matt

I’m between shifts at work and don’t have a lot of time, so, once again, this will be brief. I apologize.

… This was perhaps the closest-fought game the Wings have played this season. They weren’t playing their absolute best hockey, but they were playing well enough to beat just about anyone and Colorado stuck right with them. There were stretches of play that were as exciting and tense as any I’ve seen this season and there were plenty of times where I was sure the Avs would score.

The Avalanche countered the Wings by playing a puck possession style rather than throwing fits and dumping it in like some teams, and, to their credit, they did a darn good job. It didn’t make the game more enjoyable, per se, since I was concerned about a comeback until the final seconds, but it certainly kept things interesting.

It was good to see the Wings pull out the win, in spite of the Avs’ strong play.  They still don’t look like they’re slowing down.

…  Although the Wings outshot Colorado 25-19, I thought the Avs had the better scoring chances. Hasek had to be real sharp on a number of occasions and not just by making a save; he was sharp with his stick as well and made a few timely poke-checks to cut a chance short. There were more than a few times where the Wings’ D was hanging on by a thread only to just clear the puck away.

… At the other end, the Wings had a lot of good cycle shifts, but it did not seem as though they tested Theodore as much as they often test other goaltenders. The team’s in-zone passing was strong, though in their own end and at center their passes were frequently intercepted.

… The Wings were forced to hustle a lot more than they usually do, I thought. Most games, they make everything look so easy, but last night they had to really work for it.

… Tomas Holmstrom had a fair outing in his return from a knee injury. He was a trooper on the Wings’ goal as he took a Niklas Kronwall shot off the upper inner thigh and managed to get a swipe the puck without falling over in pain. Pavel Datsyuk picked it up and scored his 17th as a result.

… I thought Andreas Lilja had a solid game. The more he does that, the harder it will be to complain about him.

… Chris Chelios took a roughing penalty at 16:40 of the first period, but it was worth it. While coming in on an offensive flurry, Cory McCormick had needlessly cross-checked Nick Lidstrom only to find himself swarmed by the the Red Wing captain’s teammates, including Dominik Hasek. Chelios, however, came around behind the Colorado punk and hauled him to the ice with one arm. When he was pulled off McCormick, Cheli dropped his gloves and started motioning at him, but was taken to the penalty box instead.

It was a great reaction to see and one I found completely understandable. When I saw the play live, I wondered what all the commotion was about, but as soon as I saw the replay, I was incensed. The game was probably too close for it, but I would have liked to have seen Aaron Downey go after McCormick and teach him something about respect, were he in the lineup.

… I said it after Dom’s shutout in Dallas on Saturday, but I’ll say it again: it’s time for the talk about concerns over Hasek’s goaltending to stop. He’s gotten back on track and comments like that just demonstrate a lack of understanding of what’s actually going on in Detroit these days. That kind of talk comes out of a desire of those who don’t like the Wings’ success to find a chink in their armor. However, it’s safe to say that, if this team has a weakness, it certainly isn’t goaltending.

… The team practiced today with the same lines as last night, so it’s possible that there won’t be any changes to the roster for tomorrow night’s game against the Wild.

Links

Detroit re-signs Osgood to three-year deal

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 9, 2008
in Chris Osgood and Roster Moves
. 0 Comments

The Wings announced today that they have signed Chris Osgood to a three-year contract extension. Red Wings GM Ken Holland told the media,

“Chris has a tremendous career record as an NHL goaltender and his performance this season places him as one of the top goalies in the game today. He’s been a big part of our success in every season he has been with the Wings and we’re very happy to have him signed for an additional three seasons.”

The terms of the deal were not part of the announcement, but TSN reports that Osgood will earn “close to $1.5 million a season.”  TSN also points out that he is 50-11-12 since returning to the Wings for the 05-06 season.

This is a great deal for the Wings, who are getting a bargain price for one of the game’s top goalies. Even if Osgood can’t keep up this pace over the next three seasons, his presence in the locker room will be invaluable, particularly  when the time finally comes for Jimmy Howard to make the leap to the NHL.

Ansar Khan asks the obvious question: “where does this leave Dominik Hasek?” Well, all Dom would say is he’s focused on his game now and that he’ll decide after the season. Now that the Wings have Osgood locked up, whatever Dom choses to do, they’ll be okay.

MacLeod: Wings to make “player personnel announcement”

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 9, 2008
in The Team
. 0 Comments

Update (11:35 AM): Break at work. Ansar Khan has a source that says the team has re-signed Chris Osgood, possibly to a three-year deal. I hadn’t thought of that. Great news, though. - Matt 

Update (10:26 AM): I suppose I should offer a guess: it’s possible that the team is going to announce the signing of Darren McCarty to a contract to play in Grand Rapids. After all, Bob Duff suggested yesterday that the Wings may be interested in doing with McCarty what they did with Joe Kocur years ago.

The only other thing I can think of is Chris Chelios is retiring now that he’s become the second-oldest player, but that’s highly unlikely. Cheli has indicated in the past that he does not want to pass Gordie Howe, but that he’d like to play as close to Gordie’s mark as possible. As he still has a little over six years to go, retiring now would be too soon.

I’d be shocked if it were a trade, as the team is humming along nicely and doesn’t require any tinkering. - Matt

Bruce MacLeod reprints an email from the team over at his blog. The team will make an announcement at 11:45 AM today on the official site.

I have no idea what this could be about. Unfortunately, I’ll be at work at that time so I won’t be able to cover whatever it is until 2:30 or so.

GameDay: vs. Colorado (22-16-3, 47 Pts) 7:30 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 8, 2008
in 2007-2008, Avalanche and GameDay
. 1 Comment

Tonight is the second of four games between the Detroit Red Wings and the Colorado Avalanche this season. In their meeting on December 27th, the Wings skated to a 4-2 win in Denver. The teams will face off twice in February to round out the season series. Tonight’s game is on Versus.

Since losing to the Wings late last month, the Avs have posted a 1-2-1 record. On the 29th, they lost 3-1 to the Kings and two nights later, they lost 4-3 in a shootout to Phoenix. On January 2nd, they dropped a 5-2 decision to the Coyotes and hit a low point.  They rebounded, however, and snapped that skid in their last game with a 2-1 overtime win over the Islanders on Saturday. They are in 8th place in the Conference, just two points ahead of the Blues, who are hosting Columbus tonight.

The Avs are without two of their top stars, Joe Sakic and Ryan Smyth. Sakic has been out since November 30th and underwent hernia surgery on December 28th. He’ll be out another 2-3 months. Smyth broke his ankle during the team’s December 31st loss to Phoenix and will be out eight weeks or so. Colorado is also without Tyler Arnason (wrist) and Kurt Sauer (neck).

Paul Stastny leads the team in points with 44, while Milan Hejduk is second with 30. Marek Svatos is the leading goal scorer, with 16, while Stastny and Hejduk both have 15. Wojtek Wolski is the only other healthhy Colorado player with 10 or more goals.

According to Terry Frei, Jose Theodore will start tonight for Colorado.

For the Avs’ perspective, see Colorado Avalanche Talk,  In the Cheap Seats,  Jibblescribbits,  and Mile High Hockey.

The Wings are 4-1 since their win in Denver last month.  Their only loss came New Year’s Eve to St. Louis. They beat the Coyotes on December 29th (4-2), the Stars on January 2nd (4-1) and 5th (3-0), and the Blackhawks on the 6th (3-1). They are currently first overall.

Kirk Maltby (back strain) and Tomas Holmstrom (knee bruise) will both return to the lineup tonight at the expense of Matt Ellis and Aaron Downey. According to Bruce MacLeod, Holmstrom skated with Valtteri Filppula and Pavel Datsyuk this morning and Kirk Maltby was on Kris Draper’s wing with Dallas Drake. Mikael Samuelsson has been bumped down to the fourth line with Tomas Kopecky and Johan Franzen, though both he and Franzen should see some power play time to make up for it. Expect the Wings to return to their rotation of Drake, Ellis, Downey, and Kopecky, now that the team is healthy.

The Wings’ top three point-producers, Nick Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk, and Henrik Zetterberg, were named Western Conference All Star starters today. Zetterberg leads the team with 26 goals and 54 points. Datsyuk and Lidstrom both have 36 assists, but have put up 52 and 40 total points, respectively.

As per the Wings’ goalie rotation policy, Dominik Hasek will start tonight.

For more of the Wings’ perspective, see Snapshots, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, yzerman is god, Detroit Hockey, LetsGoWings, and Winging It In Motown.

The Wings have been playing strong hockey lately and there’s little reason to think they’ll stop tonight. The Avs are a bit weaker than they were at the last meeting and they were handled fairly easy then. In the past, that would have me concerned, as the Wings have often played below their potential in such situations, but that hasn’t been much of a problem this season. The main exceptions were their games against Chicago and they overcame that little problem on Sunday. With Maltby and Holmstrom returning to the lineup, the Wings are only stronger and therefore should be in good shape tonight.

One of the storylines tonight will be Chris Chelios’ becoming the second-oldest player in NHL history as he is now one day older than Moe Roberts. He’s got a while to go, however, before he’ll close in on Gordie Howe’s record of 52 years, 6 days. The NHL’s press release on the achievement is after the jump. Continue reading ‘GameDay: vs. Colorado (22-16-3, 47 Pts) 7:30 ET’

Wings 3, Blackhawks 1

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 7, 2008
in 2007-2008, Blackhawks and Game Reports
. 6 Comments

Update (09. Jan, 3:55 PM): Corrected Denis Savard’s name below. - Matt

Unfortunately, I don’t have much time today, so this will be brief.

… It was good to see the Wings exorcise that demon last night. You could tell from the onset that the game wasn’t going to be a repeat of their four losses to Chicago. They came out looking determined to put to rest any doubts about their ability to take care of the Hawks and looked nothing like a team that had played a pretty hard-fought game the day before. They had an energy normally reserved for games following a two- or three-day rest.

… Henrik Zetterberg’s goal at :50 of the first period was a thing of beauty, as was the play that set it up. However, you have to wonder what the heck Chicago was thinking to let Hank sneak in completely uncovered like that. I mean, he dishes the puck off to Jiri Hudler at the blueline and suddenly all eyes are on the little Czech. Then Jiri passes it across to Andreas Lilja and all five Hawk skaters turn to watch the most defensive defenseman in Detroit, while Zetterberg skates in completely unmolested. A nice Swede-to-Swede pass later and Hank is netting his 26th.

… Chris Osgood was strong once again and very much deserved the shutout. It’s a real shame he didn’t get it.

… Dan Cleary’s looking like a goal-scorer again. I hope he can keep it up when Tomas Holmstrom returns and he’s not a lock to play with Zetterberg or Pavel Datsyuk.

… Who knew Nikolai Khabibulin was so vicious? Tomas Kopecky joined Tomas Holmstrom and Martin Lapointe in the ranks of Red Wings who’ve had goalies freak out and attempt to make them eunuchs. How Khabibulin didn’t get booted is beyond me.

… Valtteri Filppula has returned to his habit of falling to the ice inexplicably. He also seemed to have trouble carrying the puck in open ice last night. Put him in a crowd and he’s suddenly a stickhandling genius, but give him space and the puck just falls off his stick.

… The Hawks never gave up last night, but the Wings never took their foot off the pedal, so it didn’t matter. Khabibulin was pulled late in the game and the Wings came close to putting it in the empty net twice before Chicago iced it with 30 seconds left. They then pulled Khabibulin again with 14 or so seconds left. Not sure what they were trying to accomplish there. Two goals in 14 seconds? It’s been done, but wasn’t exactly likely. Maybe it had something to do with Denis Savard’s idiotic comments yesterday.

… Again, it was good to see the Wings do what they should have done four times before: beat the Chicago Blackhawks. Now they can turn their attentions to another injury-depleted team, the Colorado Avalanche.

Links

GameDay: @ Chicago (19-18-3, 41 Pts) 7:00 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 6, 2008
in 2007-2008, Blackhawks and GameDay
. 1 Comment

Update (5:45 PM): Chris Block of Third Man In has a very thorough preview posted. - Matt

Tonight the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks meet for the fifth time this season. The Hawks lead the series 4-0, with wins October 6th (4-3 SO), October 12th (3-2), November 11th (3-2), and November 17th (5-3).  The remaining three games will be played on March 11th, April 2nd, and April 6th.

The Blackhawks have dropped three straight, each of which came on the road during a Pacific Division swing. They began 2008 with a 9-2 loss to LA on the 1st and followed that up with a 4-2 loss to Phoenix two nights later. The next night, the Ducks defeated them 2-1. Following a 5-6-1 December and their troubles thus far in January, the Hawks have fallen to fourth in the Central and are four points out of a playoff spot. Tonight is their third game in four nights.

The Hawks have had a rash of injuries in the last month and a half or so. They lost Jason Williams to a groin injury on November 28th, Martin Havlat to a groin pull on December 22nd, Brent Sopel to a broken finger on December 26th, James Wisniewski to a knee sprain on the 26th, and  Jonathan Toews to a knee sprain on January 1st.

They’ve also been without Kevyn Adams (knee, Nov. 7), Dave Bolland (broken finger, Dec. 23rd), and Ben Eager (concussion, Dec. 23rd). Needless to say, their fall in the standings should come as no surprise given those injuries.

The Chicago Sun-Times, though, says that Sopel could return tonight.

Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp lead the team in points with 39 and 34, respectively. Sharp’s 21 goals leads the team as well, six over Toews’ 15. Kane leads the team in assists with 30, twelve more than Robert Lang’s 18.

Nikolai Khabibulin will be the starter tonight.

For the Hawk side of things, see The Third Man In, Second City Hockey, and The Blackhawk Experience.

The Wings are coming off a 3-0 win over Dallas yesterday afternoon. It was a close game and a bit of a goaltending duel, as both Dominik Hasek and Mike Smith made some spectacular saves. I’d say the Stars had the edge in play most of the game, or at least that’s how it seemed, as they were determined to break their slide and had a lot of jump. The Wings, however, took an early lead off a Brian Rafalski goal and clung to it until Dan Cleary scored a surprise one at 10:08. To their credit, the Stars did not give up and continued to press the attack. They forced the Wings to ice it at 19:32, but a nice faceoff win by Kris Draper, the Wings’ took possession and Johan Franzen potted an empty-netter.

I wouldn’t say the Wings played their “A” game yesterday, but the ice probably played a role in that. They didn’t play poorly, however, and the Stars, even given a boost by the return of Sergei Zubov and the confident goaltending of Smith, couldn’t find a way past Dominik Hasek. With the Stars’ bending the Wings’ defense all game, Dom was the reason it didn’t break.

The roster will remain the same as it was in Dallas. Tomas Holmstrom (knee bruise) and Kirk Maltby (back strain) won’t be back until Tuesday. Homer is apparently ready to go, but the team is taking extra precautions, which has the Swede “snarly,” just like Mike Babock likes him. Because Derek Meech is in Grand Rapids for two weeks, Chris Chelios will play the second game of a back-to-back for the first time this season.

Chris Osgood will get the start for the Wings.

For more of the Wings’ perspective, see Snapshots, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, yzerman is god, Detroit Hockey, LetsGoWings, and Winging It In Motown.

The Blackhawks have, needless to say, owned the Wings this season. Since they last faced-off, however, the Hawks’ injury troubles have made them seem less dangerous. Still, they’re in prime position to build on a close game with Anaheim with a win over a tired Red Wings team tonight. I don’t know what to expect from this game, but if the Hawks and their seven minor leaguers, still well up with youthful exuberance when they see the Winged Wheel, it may turn out like the other four games.

However, the Wings will have the benefit of a rested Chris Osgood between the pipes tonight and that should help off-set the skaters’ fatigue.

Wings 3, Stars 0

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 5, 2008
in Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek
. 2 Comments

I’ll have a few more comments on this game tomorrow morning, but for now I will say this:

After Hasek’s stellar 22-save performance today, it’s absolutely time to stop with comments like “… Hasek’s extremely shaky goaltending …” and “… doubts about Dominik Hasek in goal …”  While those things may have been true even a month ago, they simply aren’t any more.

At this point in time, between Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek, the Detroit Red Wings have the best goaltending front in the League. I don’t think it’s even close.

Aaron Downey versus Brad Norton

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 5, 2008
in Aaron Downey, Brad Norton, Fights and Video
. 2 Comments

Last year, the Wings’ experiment with Brad Norton failed. This year, the Aaron Downey experiment seems to be working. On April 6th, 2006, the two met before either of them donned the Winged Wheel. The following is the result:

Somehow I think Downey would rather be remembered for this:

(Norton v. Downey video via AOL Fanhouse)

GameDay: @ Dallas (23-15-4, 50 Pts) 2:00 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 5, 2008
in 2007-2008, GameDay and Stars
. 4 Comments

Update (2:14 PM): Mike Smith is in net for Dallas, by the way. - Matt

Update (1:56 PM): To be fair to Marty Turco, I should also point out Dominik Hasek’s record against Dallas: 8-10-1-1.  - Matt

Update (12:15 PM): Mark Stepneski has some pre-game comments over at Andrew’s Dallas Stars Page NHL Blog. - Matt

The Wings and the Stars face-off for the second time this season this afternoon. They last met on Wednesday in Detroit in a game the Wings won, 4-1. The remaining two games are scheduled for February 17th and March 13th.

The Stars have dropped three straight and have been outscored 11-4 in that span. The loss to the Wings was just the second of those three, as they were knocked out by the Minnesota Wild, 6-3, the next night. Although they will be playing their third game in four nights, the Stars will be highly motivated to stop this slide, much like the Blues were on December 20th.

Since Wednesday, Dallas has fallen from first in the Pacific and second in the Conference to second in the Division and 4th in the West.

According to Mike Heika, the status of Sergei Zubov (hand) is uncertain. The defenseman has missed the last two games, but practiced yesterday and apparently kept it simple. He’s listed as questionable by the Dallas Morning News, though the notes section there says he’s a game-time decision.

Jussi Jokinen (knee), Jere Lehtinen (hernia), and Phillippe Boucher (shoulder) remain out.

Heika also notes that Dave Tippett switched up the forwards some in practice yesterday in an obvious attempt to generate some more offense.

As for the starting goaltender, that remains a bit of a mystery as Marty Turco has had two rough outings in a row, but saw the most time in practice yesterday. He was pulled after allowing three goals on four shots Thursday night and has beaten the Wings just once in his career. I’d say conventional wisdom would put Mike Smith in net today, but if Tippett wants to force Turco to overcome his demons, we’ll see #35.

For the Dallas side of things, see  Andrew’s Stars Page,  Razor with an Edge (official),  Stars Blog (Dallas Morning News), and Stars Scene.

The Wings have been idle since Wednesday and so are well-rested as they head into this brief road trip.  After the game today, they’ll head to Chicago to face the Blackhawks for the fifth time this season. Hopefully they won’t be caught looking ahead to that game when they have a motivated Stars team to deal with first. They’ll be looking to improve their 24-1-1 record against non-Central teams.

It looks like neither of the currently injured players will be returning today. Tomas Holmstrom (knee bruise) hopes to make it back  tomorrow, but it seems Mike Babcock has Homer’s return pegged for Tuesday. The same goes for Kirk Maltby (back strain), who isn’t as adamant about wanting to return this weekend.

Dominik Hasek will start this afternoon. Chris Osgood will get the nod tomorrow.

For more of the Wings’ side of things, see Snapshots, Abel to Yzerman, HockeyTownTodd, Behind the Jersey, No Pun Intended, Red Wings Nation, yzerman is god, Detroit Hockey, LetsGoWings, and Winging It In Motown.

HockeyTownTodd makes a good point in his latest:

Look for the Wings to return to a more basic game because of the crappy ice.A little more Dump ‘n Chase, very careful line changes (especially in the 2nd).This game could very well be determined by turnovers and takeaways.

The ice is a definite issue, but if turnovers and takeaways become a key feature in the game, the Wings should be in relatively good shape. Pavel Datsyuk is leading the League in takeaways with 64 and he’s more than capable of making something out of them. By the way, Henrik Zetterberg is the highest ranking Red Wing in giveaways at #56 with 30. That doesn’t surprise me, really. Hank can be a bit of a puck hog.

I thought the Wings played a solid game overall Wednesday night, so if they at least pick up where they left off, they’ll be in a good position to come out on top. The Stars will obviously look to elevate their play and they have the skill to make things uncomfortable for Detroit’s defense, but if they don’t catch the Wings napping, I don’t see them coming out of their tailspin just yet. If they can get Zubov back in the lineup and start Smith, they stand a better chance, but it’ll be tough either way if the Wings bring their “A” game.

Of course, we all know what happened last time the Wings faced a highly-motivated team that was looking to stop a losing streak.

Red Wings TV: Latest “Birthday Bandit” Strike

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 4, 2008
in Jiri Hudler, Kris Draper and Video
. 0 Comments

Here’s a hilarious video of Kris Draper doing his usual birthday thing to Jiri Hudler. Gotta love Draper’s strategy of hiding behind the biggest player on the team.

I’d embed it here, but, for whatever reason, it wrecks havoc with the page. Sorry about that.