The Wings took a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals last night with a 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars.
Some quick thoughts on the game:
… Despite the fact that they statistically dominated the Stars, i don’t think the Wings have fully hit their stride in this round. They looked a bit sloppy offensively and never really got going. Even Pavel Datsyuk, who is usually very smooth with the puck, looked a little off his game.
… Defensively, though, I thought they were real solid. Chris Osgood had another strong game.
… Darren Helm looked great on his goal. A nice shot, but one Turco probably should have had. He took Helm too lightly.
… On the Wings’ second goal, the Stars took Holmstrom too seriously. They were so concerned with him that Henrik Zetterberg had an easy time of it putting it back in the net.
… The Stars seem to be on the edge of a meltdown. Their frustration is obvious, from Marty Turco’s sneaky cheapshots on Holmstrom and Filppula, to Steve Ott’s antics.
The ultimate example was Mike Ribeiro’s absolutely uncalled for two-hander to Chris Osgood’s chest at the end of the game. Just prior to that, Osgood have moved his stick slightly as Ribeiro went by, catching the Stars forward with the butt end. That was unecessary on Osgood’s part, but certainly did not warrant a chop like Ribeiro gave him. If Ribeiro was that upset, he should have confronted Osgood face-to-face.
Personally, I do think Ribeiro should be suspended. You simply cannot use your stick like that. Osgood looks pretty foolish to have rolled around like that, but that doesn’t change the fact that Ribeiro two-handed him in the chest after the buzzer. The League has to take action, even if it’s only a game or two.
… Game 2 seemed to be another indication that perhaps the Stars have run out of steam. They’ll no doubt look better in Game 3 as they play in front of their home crowd, but it will have to be a major improvement if they want to make this a competitive series.
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If I recall, Sean Avery speared Marc Andre Fleury at the end of Game 2 and nothing was called and there was no suspension. Fleury had started it (like Ozzie) with some slashes of his own. Hal Gill and Big Georges Laraques just moved in on Avery and tried to beat him down before a ref saved his butt. If Fleury had dove after the spear (which he didn’t) maybe there would have been talk of a suspension…
Ozzie dove and made it look like Ribeiro had slashed him across his neck or something and couldn’t breath. But alas, replay shows it was nothing close to as bad as his theatrics made it look. If Colin gives Ribeiro a game suspension for that, I don’t understand how Avery got away with it…I don’t think diving should be rewarded with suspensions if Colin needs to see a guy rolling around on the ice in order to give out a suspension. I’d say BOTH Avery and Ribeiro deserve 1 game suspensions for their antics. But next time I’d like Ozzie not to play dead in order to draw it…
Good recap. The Stars are definitely getting frustrated and Turco reminded me a bit of Eddie the Eagle when he’d lose it against the Wings.
“Game 2 seemed to be another indication that perhaps the Stars have run out of steam.”
I don’t know if it’s running out of steam - they had enough energy to win if they had finished on their chances. Dallas got all the scoring chances they needed to get to win in Game 2, they just missed the net or shot it right into Ozzie. I guess you could call it lacking puck luck or snake-bitten. The Wings aren’t missing those chances now.
Any two handed slashes should be addressed even if it were Stevy Y.
Of course Mike Roberto does not come close to #19.
I’m not sure why the refs tolerate all the after the whistle stuff anyway.
Matt–I actually disagree. I thought the Wings looked fine offensively (just a little bit of slop at times), but had some issues defensively. No team that gives up a 4-on-1 at any point in any game played well defensively. Not to mention the 4+ times a Stars player somehow ended up with a clear lane to the net. Turco slid too far on the Helm goal and was out of position, which is why Helm had so much room on the far side. It looked like he just lost his net a bit.
Osgood was terrific this game, and the reason the Stars had so much trouble getting good shots on him was because he came so far out of his net to challenge the shooter. It made a lot of potentially difficult saves very easy.
TSN: “Stars forwards Mike Ribeiro and Steve Ott and Red Wing goaltender Chris Osgood have been fined undisclosed amounts by the NHL” - no suspensions however.
Brian,
Avery never speared Fleury. Fleury didn’t start it with “slashes of his own” either. Your brain is exaggerating your memory of the incident, which is something that happens to almost everyone.
Ron,
Did you call Ribeiro “Roberto” on purpose? If so, that’s great. After his disrespect towards Franzen, I don’t see why I should call him by his proper name either.
Justin,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_ur_KKBi2M
(start watching at 1:08 for the best view of what happened)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5AxixeaoE4
(starting watching at 5:54, and you’ll hear the announcers recap what happened pretty much exactly like I said it. Fleury slashes at Avery and Avery spears him)