That was a bit of a wild one. The Wings came out with guns blazing in the first and chased an allegedly ill Jose Theodore in the second.
Then the Avalanche woke up and remembered they’re in the second round. They were helped along by a couple gifts from a brain-cramping Red Wings defense and made it an interesting game down to the final minute.
After 20, it looked like the Wings might run away with this series. After 60, it looks like it’s going to be very tight, just like expected. And that was without Peter Forsberg in the Colorado lineup.
The Wings will need to make better decisions defensively in Game 2, that’s for sure.
BtJ liveblog here.
More to come tomorrow.
The Wings looked like they shut down their offense after Franzen’s second goal. I’m sick of watching them sit back and play shut down hockey after getting a semi-comfortable lead when there’s still plenty of hockey (more than half the game in this case) left to play.
I wish the Wings had sat back and played shut down hockey after their fourth goal. Colorado’s third goal is a perfect example: Holmstrom was the third man in and committed to the forecheck. One easy pass later, the Avs are down the ice on a 3-on-2. The third period was much better defensively, except for a few shifts where they just had a brutal time trying to clear the defensive zone. It certainly didn’t help that Chelios may have had the worst playoff game of his life last night.