He seems to think the series is over, and also calls the Wings the “Dead Things.” This article just gets me that much more pumped up for tonight’s game, so the Wings can prove idiots like Alan Adams wrong.
Author Archive for Brian ListPage 4 of 33
With the Wings’ playoff hopes on the line in a hostile arena, Manny Legace came through with solid goaltending tonight and led the Wings to a 4-2 win in Edmonton. Legace had 24 saves on 26 shots, and Nicklas Lidstrom scored the winner on a 5-on-3 advantage in the third period. Henrik Zetterberg, Robert Lang, and Tomas Holmstrom added the other goals. Lang had a goal and two assists, and Schneider and Datsyuk each had a pair of assists. The Wings scored two 5-on-3 goals, and added an insurance goal from Zetterberg on the powerplay with four minutes left. Jimmy Howard was called up from the Griffins to backup Legace, with Osgood out with a tweaked groin, effectively eliminating the goaltender controversy before the game even started. It is possible Legace gained confidence knowing his starting spot was not in peril, at least for tonight. Yzerman did the pregame skate but gave Mowers the nod after deciding he couldn’t last a full 60 minutes of play.
The style of play at even strength was fairly open, but most of the game was special teams battles. Lebda played great, especially toward the end of the game, blocking shots in crucial penalty-killing situations. He almost added a goal on a feed from Datsyuk. Datsyuk had his best game of the series, and showed a lot of speed and good puck control throughout the game. His 23-game playoff goal slump still sticks out though. I was happy with Lang’s effort tonight, and didn’t see as many lazy plays from him. Schneider also had his most dominant game of the series, and was an important weapon on the power play. Chelios was resilient after getting roughed up all night, and was important in clearing the Wings’ zone on the penalty kill. Zetterberg has been solid all series and continued that tonight. Legace made a few mistakes that could’ve cost the Wings, and he allowed two five-hole goals that he might want back. In the end, he was solid and gave Wings fans a bit more confidence coming into Game 5. Disappointments on the night include Shanahan and Samuelsson’s scoring droughts. Shanny shot the puck out the other end on a wide open net and had six shots, and Samuelsson missed the net on more than a few scoring chances.
As for officiating, the refs called the game under the rumor that Gary Bettman might be in attendance, and they followed through by calling 20 penalties. It got to the point in the third where Brendan Shanahan fell to the ice by himself to avoid contact with Chris Pronger at the blue line. Any contact with the opposition tonight was followed by a penalty, though credit is due that the calls were fairly even, with 11 Edmonton penalties to the Wings’ 10. The total joke of officiating really took away from the enjoyment of the game, and I didn’t appreciate how any close save along the goal line led to a 10 minute review process between the war-room in Toronto and arena officials. These stoppages had the good intention of making the correct calls, but should be limited to extreme circumstances. The NHL should be very concerned about crossing the line of reviewing to the point they become the NFL, with coach’s challenges and reviews left and right. Mickey Redmond was all over the calls all night, and hated the new replay process.
First Period
The Wings got an early powerplay 25 seconds in, after Raffi Torres was caught with his stick between Kronwall’s skates. The Oilers met the Wings’ sustained pressure by blocking shots to prevent quality scoring chances, just like in previous games this series. The best chance came when Zetterberg had a chance on a back door tip- in, but couldn’t handle the pass.
At 3:17, Franzen was cut on the forehead by Bergeron’s skate in a scrum behind Roloson. Not wearing a visor, he was lucky the skate didn’t catch him closer to the eye. At 4:42, Datsyuk nearing broke his playoff scoring drought with a wrist shot from the right circle. The puck rose on Roloson, caught him high up, and would’ve trickled across the line had he not turned around and gotten his glove on it.
At 6:02, Legace made a good save on a shot coming off an Oiler 3-on-2. The play resulted in an Oiler powerplay, with Williams called for hooking behind the net. Draper and Zetterberg did a good job killing off the majority of the penalty kill, playing keep-away with Cleary. But, at 7:22, Pisani scored from Torres and Horcoff. On the play, Torres beat the Wings on the dump in, and got it off to Pisani near the left circle. Pasani beat Legace five-hole, and it was a shot that might have been saved if the Wings had a game-saving goaltender. But such goals should be expected the way the Wings played the regular season. 1-0 Oilers.
At 8:40, Winchester was called for holding and the Wings got another powerplay. The Wings had trouble gaining the Edmonton zone, with Zetterberg carrying the puck right into traffic at the line. The Wings generated some sustained pressure, but only one shot on net.
Following the penalty kill, Cleary did a good job beating Bergeron on the dump in behind Roloson, and the pressure led to an Oiler penalty at 11:34, cross checking on Greene. Soon after, Staios was also caught cross checking and the Wings got a crucial 5-on-3 advantage. The Wings scored at 13:25, on a Holmstrom redirection of a Schneider blast from the point. Holmstrom did a good job getting Roloson frustrated on the previous stoppage, and, whether it had any affect, Roloson was out of position on the shot. 1-1 tie.
At 15:30, Draper had a huge hit on Spacek, and the Wings showed a lot of energy following the powerplay goal. But every Edmonton shot on Legace gave me the sense that Legace was beatable tonight - certainly wasn’t going to steal the game - and we would need strong offense to back up his effort.
At 16:28, Holmstrom got called for holding the stick. The Wings killed the penalty with authority, beating the Oilers to dump-ins and clearing the zone to avoid a scoring chance. At this point, I noticed just how much the Wings had killed the energy of the crowd with the tying goal.
At 19:23, the Wings scored an unusual goal from Lang. On the play, Datsyuk passed across to Lang on the left circle, and a shot from Lang managed to hit the left post, the right post, and the back of Spacek’s leg into the net. The goal was reviewed at length, the refs apparently making sure it did not go off of Kronwall with on a kicking motion. It did neither, which was obvious in all angles of video, but they kept the fans and tv audience waiting as Toronto checked it out. Ruled a goal. 2-1 Wings. Shots in the period were 14-6 Wings. Faceoffs 14-9 Wings, with Datsyuk going a near-perfect 9-1 on faceoffs.
Second Period
Yzerman was interviewed during intermission, and thought the Wings had played well in overtime in Game 3, and that was carrying over into tonight’s game. He explained that he couldn’t have played the entire game tonight, and thought that Mower’s speed would be a good match for the Oiler’s speedy forwards.
Again, the Oilers committed the early penalty. This time, Michael Peca, 32 seconds in for elbowing. On the powerplay, Shanahan was hit up high by a Lang shot, and fell to his knees. The Wings sustained pressure with Shanny down, and he was forced to get up and play out the rest of the shift till the Oilers cleared. The Wings got some good set-ups with Lidstrom shooting and Holmstrom in front before the powerplay was killed off.
At 2:54, Holmstrom fed Zetterberg back-door, but Roloson was square to the shot and made one of his best saves of the night. Another game, another Zetterberg back-door chance. I’m enjoying getting used to that set-up.
At 3:43, Maltby was called for hooking. It didn’t take long for the Oilers to capitalize. Legace made a save on a point shot, but gave up a huge rebound and the Wings failed to clear the zone. Spacek scored from the right circle, beating Legace five-hole, again. This time he was thrown off by a cross-ice pass from Hemsky and wasn’t in position for the shot. It was a weak goal by playoff standards, and the cross-ice pass should’ve been broken up by the Wings’ defense, as well. 2-2 tie. And that means the Oilers have the crowd back and every shot on Legace is as tense as ever for Wings fans.
At 6:02, Manny made a big stand with the puck cycling from behind the net and chances from Samsonov and Stoll. These scoring opportunities showed the importance of Manny not giving up big rebounds. At 8:26, Lebda was called for holding to the right of Legace. It was a scary dump-in, as Manny almost got caught out of the net trying to play the puck. Cleary had a good penalty kill, and forced Roloson to make a shorthanded save.
At 11:30, Winchester was called for hooking behind Legace, coming off a 2-on-1 with Ryan Smyth. Shanahan did a good job of recovering from getting beat by Winchester by breaking up the 2-on-1 on the trail. On the resulting powerplay, Shanny had several chances on Roloson but missed the net or got off weak shots. The best chance came when Zetterberg handled the puck behind the net and got it out to Datsyuk, who fed it to Lebda back-door. Lebda had a wide-open net but somehow hit the left post. It was a bad break for Lebda, and could’ve potentially hurt the Wings had they lost.
At 14:15, Greene was called for hooking on Cleary. Williams turned the puck over to Ryan Smyth behind Legace, and the Oilers were able to clear the zone and play keep-away for awhile. This was not a good powerplay, and the Oilers outworked the Wings, even creating their own shorthanded chance.
The powerplay was nullified with an interference call on Samuelsson at 15:46. This was a terrible call, with Staios diving after Samuelsson just barely tapped the back of his leg. This set off the Wings’ bench, and set the stage for a frustrating end to the second period.
With play at 4-on-4, a Kronwall “hook” led to an Oiler 5-on-3 man advantage (after a few seconds at 5-on-4). The 5-on-3 lasted one minute. Legace was strong in this final stretch of the second, making a save on a Pronger point shot and not giving up a rebound. The Wings got it killed and were back to killing the 5-on-4. Chelios had a good penalty kill, doing the dirty work in front, but was called for cross-checking in front. This sent the Oilers back to a 5-on-3, and set off Chelios. He looked as angry as I’ve seen him, and I really thought he was going to clock one of the refs and/or get ejected for arguing the call. On seeing the replay, it was a good call, as Cheli really did cross check the guy across the face, but I guess Chelios was still upset about the Samuelsson call. The Wings were lucky the refs didn’t tack on extra minutes for Chelios’ tirade.
The Wings lasted the dozen or so seconds of a 5-on-3, and had 1:44 left on the penalty kill for 5-on-4. However, Franzen losing his stick made it, for all intensive purposes, another 5-on-3. In what could be a defining moment of the series, the Wings were able to kill off the remaining Oilers powerplay and get out of the first period at 2-2.
Third Period
The Oilers nearly took the lead over a minute in, but Manny made the save on Ryan Smyth along the post. He lost track of the rebound, but luckily the Wings were able to clear the zone. At 1:13, Holmstrom was called for cross checking. It was a phantom call, as he just bumped into an Oiler and that was it. At 2:02, Legace made an awkward save on Torres in front, and found himself way out of position with the puck on the mouth of the crease. Lucky for the Wings, Maltby was able to stand his ground in front and prevent a rebound chance from the Oilers.
At 5:06, Greene was called for tripping behind Roloson. A Pisani high-stick on Samuelsson at 6:29 gave the Wings a short 5-on-3 opportunity. And they came through huge. After switching sides with Schneider, Lidstrom blasted a shot from the right and beat Roloson cleanly. It would turn out to be the game-winning goal, 3-2 Wings. The Oilers wanted an interference call on the play, because when Lidstrom switched sides, he had slight contact with Stoll, who dove looking for the call. The crowd joined in and booed loudly.
At 8:35, Shanahan found himself staring at a wide open net when he snuck in behind Roloson. Unfortunately, he shot the puck out the other side, costing the Wings what could’ve been an important insurance goal. Shanny just couldn’t get a break tonight.
At 10:01, Bergeron was called for interference behind the play. Samuelsson missed the net on a shot, which was typical of him tonight. Legace turned the puck over the Ryan Smyth on the other end, but recovered with a glove save on the goal-line to keep the Wings ahead. The play was reviewed to make sure the puck did not cross the line. No goal. Still a Wings powerplay, even though everyone forgot after the officials went over seconds of replay for about ten minutes. The powerplay was killed off.
At 14:53, Cleary tried to hit Pronger, but instead got lifted three feet off the ice and thrown into the boards himself. It was a good effort - you have to recognize that Cleary is half Pronger’s size. At 15:22, Hemsky hooked Lebda, who did a good job moving his feet to draw the call. The Wings got their insurance goal on the ensuing powerplay, with Datsyuk splitting the Oiler defense and feeding an open Zetterberg in front. Henrik dieked Roloson out of his jock-strap and roofed it. 4-2 Wings.
The game got a bit tight when Franzen was sent to the box for slashing, but the Wings, notably Chelios, were able to clear the zone and prevent any major chances on Manny. Lebda also blocked a Pronger shot. Kronwall and Lebda being on the ice in such a key situation shows just how much confidence Babcock has in them.
The Wings finished the game with 31 shots to the Oilers’ 26. The Wings played as complete of a game as they have this series, and Manny did what he had to do to keep the Wings in it. He was shakey at times: the save on Torres, the turnover to Smyth, and the two five-hole goals. But the bottom line is that he was solid down the stretch, especially near the end of the second period when the Oilers had nearly four minutes of power play time. If the Wings can get some scoring from Shanahan, Samuelsson, and Datsyuk, they will be in a good position of putting the Oilers away. Being at home for Game 5 should be enough to give the Wings the edge, but who knows. Let’s just hope we never see referees Marc Joannette and Dean Warren again this playoffs. That was a travesty.
Another eye injury. He took a stick under his visor and suffered a pretty deep cut near the left eye. Let’s all hope for the best.
Let’s hope he got some treatment today, and as Babcock says:
“If he can go, he is definitely going to play. His contribution to our team is not just measured in what you see.”
And whatever team hires him I’ll hate them that much more for it - can’t stand the guy.
An obvious stance for the Oilers but some interesting quotes from the Edmonton perspective.
Coach Babcock on Lilja:
“If they gave an award for the most improved player on our team, without a question in my mind it’s Lils this year. He’s a guy who’s just come to work and gotten better and better and better, and his puck skills and his confidence have gotten better, and that’s good for him.”
From some passive watching of the game tonight, looking up at the tv when Ken and Mick got excited, here are some brief notes. The Wings dominated Chicago tonight. Shanahan got his 17th career hat trick, bringing his goal total to 39 this season, and the Wings got their NHL record 11th straight road win. Zetterberg added two goals, to make for 38 goals on the season. Lidstrom had a goal and three assists. Holmstrom tallied the other goal. The Wings led in shots 40-31. Khabibulin allowed 5 goals on 17 shots, and was pulled in the second.
The Wings dressed only 16 skaters tonight. Datsyuk, Yzerman, Schneider, and Williams all sat out. Manny was in net.
The Chicago crowd wasn’t very into the game, and didn’t even bother booing Chelios. Also, Don MacLean added an assist on one of Shanahan’s goals, his second point in as many games. He centered it out in front, and Shanny picked up the loose puck for the goal.
There were many scary moments. Draper took a puck to the foot and went to the locker room before returning later in the game. Chelios also took a beating. Dan Cleary was caught with his head down and elbowed in the head by Tuomo Ruutu, who was given a game misconduct for “kneeing” on the play. Cleary caught a bit of a knee, but what really got him was the elbow to his nose/forehead. He was very slow to get up, and appeared dizzy on the bench. Thankfully, he returned after missing a few shifts. Not such great luck for Jason Woolley, who left during the second with an undisclosed injury.
Kronwall had a physical game, and the game got really chippy near the end with some roughing calls and scrums after the whistle.
Playoff Update:
Since Vancouver lost tonight and is out of the playoff run, the Wings will play either Edmonton or Colorado. Edmonton has one game left, against Colorado at home on Monday, and 93 points. Colorado has two games left, both on the road, and 94 points. Edmonton must beat Colorado and hope the Avs lose their game in Vancouver in regulation, as Colorado would win the tie-breaker in the standings with more wins than Edmonton.
Update (12:54 PM): Valtteri Filppula has been re-called from Grand Rapids. Hopefully it’s just because they need a forward short-term in place of Zetterberg and not because his injury is a long-term thing. (via. A2Y) – Matt
Update (11:22 AM): Click here for a video of the shootout. (.mpg, 51 MB) — Matt
Zetterberg Update (08. Apr, 10:31 AM): The Detroit News quotes Tomas Holmstrom as saying, “He got a puck in the upper body somewhere.” If so, it’s interesting that it wasn’t noticed. Surely any shot strong enough to cause a rib injury, for example, would have been remembered and scrutinized for a reaction. Does anyone remember him getting hit in the hand by the puck?
As the day progresses, news should be coming out, though I doubt we’ll know what exactly the injury is, just how long he’ll be out. Check the Freep’s front page (more specifically, their Breaking News box, which will be on the right if there is any such news), Kukla’s Korner, Abel to Yzerman, the LetsGoWings Forums or back here for updates. — Matt
The Wings won 6-5 in a disappointing game against the Blue Jackets tonight. After losing their 4-1 lead midway through the second, a third period goal from Draper made it 5-4 and should’ve sent the Blue Jackets packing. But their persistence paid off and Nash was able to beat Legace with 33 seconds left to send it to overtime. Legace didn’t see the shot, and the goal made for Nash’s first hat trick. Nash led all skaters with 10 shots tonight, the rest of his team combining for the other 13 of Columbus’ 23 shots. The Wings ended the game with 36 shots.
The shootout seemed inevitable while watching the overtime, and Holmstrom was the first to score, as the 10th shooter, to win it in the sudden death rounds of the shootout. The bright spot of the game was seeing Legace as strong as ever during the shootout, making glove saves and closing the gaps along the posts. Also, Holmstrom had a great goal in the shootout, deiking Denis and going high. But the win came with the bad news that Zetterberg left the game near the end of the 2nd period with an “upper body injury.” He left the building to go to Detroit Medical Center to have it checked out. He would join Datsyuk (”lower body”) and Schneider (groin) as injured Wings. Woolley, Mowers, and Cross all saw action tonight. The Wings are now 6-1 versus Columbus this season.
The first period started quickly for the Wings, who opened with a 7-1 shot advantage. At 1:01, Samuelsson scored his 22nd goal (40th point) from Zetterberg and Holmstrom. On the play, Zetterberg made a pretty pass across to Samuelsson, who tipped it in a relatively open net on the 2-on-1. 1-0 Wings. The Wings got some great scoring chances during a stretch around 4 minutes in. Draper had a chance off a rebound on Denis, and Kronwall had his own off a feed from Zetterberg behind the net.
You could definitely notice Sergei Fedorov’s presence on the ice all night. He was booed fairly loudly, and made quite a few turnovers to finish the game at -1 with only one shot. Lilja made a giveaway at 14:40, but was able to make up for it by diving to deflect the puck from Letowski. At 18:13, Columbus scored a powerplay goal from Nash to make it 1-1. The Wings ended the period with a 12-8 advantage in shots, 5-5 in scoring chances. The period really turned from a quick start from the Wings to a back and forth grind-it-out game, which is all the Blue Jackets could ask for.
The 2nd period started with a Blue Jackets powerplay, and Lidstrom made a great play 25 seconds in by breaking up a pass to Nash that would’ve been an easy backdoor goal. At 2:46, Picard was caught holding up Chelios along the boards behind Legace, and the Wings got their first powerplay of the night. They came into tonight 2 for 11 in their last few games. At 4:14 Kronwall scored his first goal of the season (2nd career NHL goal) from Woolley and Lang. It was a pretty individual goal by Kronwall, who showed veteran patience on the blue line when he found some room, walked in between the circles, and beat Denis up high. Traffic in front and a screen by Shanahan gave Denis no chance on the shot. 2-1 Wings.
At 12:22, Legace made the save of the game on a chance from Letowski. On the play, Fedorov carried the puck up along the far boards, and threw it out in front after going behind the net. Letowski jumped on the loose puck, and Legace stoned him. The Wings showed a strong transition game by going from that big save to their own scoring chance. Shanahan picked up a rebound on Denis for his 35th goal, to make it 3-1 Wings. On the play, a point shot from Draper rebounded and Mowers got a chance deep on Denis, the rebound going to Shanahan for his Johnny-on-the-spot dunk in. It was an important 2 goal swing with the Legace save leading to the Wings’ goal. Important for the Wings’ later lack of defense.
Just 1:17 later, the Wings got another, this time from Jason Williams - his 19th of the season. On the play, Yzerman was patient behind Denis and fed it out to an open Williams between the circles, who rocketed it top corner to make it 4-1. On a side note, Williams is one goal away from reaching 20 goals and becoming the 8th Red Wing this season to reach that mark, which would be the first time in Red Wings history for that to happen. Yzerman also extended his points streak to 13 points in now 10 games.
This is where the Wings reach the dreaded 3 goal lead versus Columbus and the game goes sloppy. We’ve had plenty of examples of the Wings giving up the big lead to Columbus. Just a few weeks back, Columbus rallied to score four goals against the Wings in 7:30 during the third to win it 5-4 in the SO. Even Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond were joking about how fast the Wings’ 3 goal lead could evaporate. And it did.
At 11:02, Columbus started their comeback with a goal from Hartigan off a Corey Cross turnover. On the play, Cross attempted a dangerous pass to Lang in the Wings’ zone, and paid the price with Hartigan capitalizing on the broken play. 4-2 Wings. That’s 3 goals in 3:11 of play.
At 13:10, a Lilja giveaway led to a Malhotra chance that hit the post, nearly making it a one-goal game. The Wings had their own missed opportunities, with the puck bouncing on Yzerman’s stick in what would’ve been a great bang-bang feed from Lang. Soon later, Williams had a sure-goal with a backdoor opportunity on Denis off an Yzerman feed, but couldn’t handle the puck quick enough and was denied by Denis on the shot and rebound.
At 16:42, Fritsche scored for Columbus to make it 4-3. It was the result of a Lang giveaway, with a quick pass from Chimera to feed Fritsche on the doorstep. That makes for 2 Columbus goals off of Wings turnovers in their zone, something that had to bug Babcock going into the third. With 10 seconds left, Cleary charged the net hard and had to leap over Denis to avoid crushing contact. The contact was still enough to knock Denis down and draw a few slashes, but surprisingly went uncalled.
The third started with a great chance from Lang on a breakaway at 1:15, but he hit the post. A delay of game penalty on Fedorov at 1:57 gave the Wings their second powerplay. Lang played well during the man advantage, with some redirects and carrying the puck to the net. This is when Ken Daniels notices Zetterberg’s absence from the Wings bench, as it is always strange to see Draper out on the powerplay. The Wings later released a response that Zetterberg had left the game late in the second with an “upper body injury,” and went to Detroit Medical Center to have it checked out.
At 4:21, Columbus tied it literally on a tic-tac-”toe” play with Nash shooting it off the left skate of Woolley near the backdoor to make it 4-4. Nash’s second goal on the night. At 9:16, Draper put the Wings ahead 5-4 with his 8th goal of the season. On the play, Shanny fed Draper on a breakaway, and Denis committed early leaving Draper room to score. Lang got a holding penalty right after the goal, but it was later nullified by a Vyborny hooking call.
The Wings handled the puck well late in the period, and were in the Columbus zone up to around 1:10 left. Columbus was able to gain the Wings’ zone and get Denis pulled for an extra skater. Kronwall attempted a clear, but the puck was turned over and Nash threw it at the net, capitalizing on Legace’s inability to follow it. 5-5 tie.
The overtime period was pretty uneventful, and it was inevitable that the game was going to end with the shootout. Williams, Yzerman, and Lang were the Wings’ three shooters, up against Balastik, Nash, and Hartigan. Legace was a monster during the shootout, and made some pretty impressive glove and kick saves. Williams missed the net on his attempt, Yzerman hit the post, and Lang gave a pretty lousy no-deik attempt to send it to the sudden death rounds.
Next up were Letowski and Samuelsson, who both were denied. Vyborny was stopped with a glove save along the post, setting the stage for a Holmstrom opportunity to seal the win. He came across center ice weaving and stick-handling like I’ve never seen him do, and he scored to make it a 6-5 shootout win for the Wings.
All in all, positives I took from the game included Holmstrom and Legace’s strong outing during the shootout, Yzerman continuing his point streak, and Draper scoring what should’ve been the game-winning goal. Negatives are much more obvious. Giving up the 4-1 lead, and giving up the 5-4 lead with 30 seconds left. This is not exactly unprecedented stuff, and the Wings shouldn’t be letting this happen this late in the season. Also, the “upper body injury” to Zetterberg late in the second is no small matter. Though we don’t know whether it’s just because he has the flu or if it is really an injury we should be worried about.
Giveaways proved painful for the Wings, with Kronwall, Lang, and Cross all making mistakes leading to Columbus goals. Another negative is Lidstrom playing 31 minutes, with Schneider out with a groin injury. Lidstrom definitely deserves some rest.
Losing a lead like that at home, and the fact that the Wings are on a 9 game road winning streak with 28 road wins makes me believe that having home ice advantage may turn out to not be worth its cost in injuries with this team. Seriously, with the way 8th seeds come in hot and the fact that the Wings are an old team in areas, why not sit some guys out and take the 2 seed if it comes down to it? Is the 1 seed worth it if it means injuries in these final few games? I said it after the Wings’ loss to Columbus on March 25, and I’ll say it again, sit the key players and don’t worry about the President’s Trophy. We are guaranteed the 1 or 2 seed either way!
Do the math. The Wings and Dallas both have 6 games left, and the Wings lead Dallas 114 to 105. The Wings win one of their last six games, and Dallas would need to win out to pass the Wings. Dallas is 6-2-2 in their last 10, and has had a 6-game win streak twice this season, but I still say its a stretch. Let’s all hope the Zetterberg injury turns out to be nothing and serves as a reminder to Babcock to not push this team too hard in these final, meaningless games.
Head over to Abel to Yzerman for coverage on Zetterberg. Apparently there’s word that he had been suffering from flu symptoms before the game, but it’s still odd to me that a hospital trip was necessary. Let’s hope for the best, and more word should come before gametime tomorrow night. Also, the Letsgowings forums are always a good place to read fan reactions. They remind us that Zetterberg had been pounded during the Calgary game on Monday, barely avoiding a knee-to-knee courtesy of Marchment.
The Wings were luckily to get a point tonight, losing to Chicago 3-2 in overtime. They seemed to run out of gas during the second and third periods, and being without the services of Mathieu Schneider and Daniel Cleary (still sore from the Scott Walker hit) didn’t help either. Chris Osgood got the start for the Wings, and Mowers filled in for Cleary. Even on the 78th birthday of Gordie Howe and with Vladdy Konstantinov in attendance, the Wings just didn’t show the jump you’d expect from them.
Lucky because Pavel Datsyuk tied the game at 2-2 with Osgood pulled at 46 seconds left in the third. But Chicago’s Patrick Sharp made a great individual play at 1:29 of OT, deiking Lidstrom and Kronwall before beating Osgood near the mouth of the crease. The bright spot of the game was Yzerman getting his 691st goal, now 8th all time (and three away from Messier). Yzerman is now on a 7 game point streak. The Wings were fortunate to get the overtime loss point and make it 108 points, all but locking up the Central Division and lengthening the Western Conference lead on Dallas to 7 points. Khabibulin, previously 0-4 against the Wings this season with a 4.98 GAA, was strong in net on the Wings 41 shots.
The first period opened with 4:23 of play without a whistle, with Osgood making a save on a knuckle-ball shot from Canton, MI native James Wisniewski. The Wings’ penalties from Shanahan at 4:51 (hooking) and Lilja at 7:53 (interference) prevented them from establishing much offense, as they were held without a shot until 10:56. The Lilja call drew the ire of Mickey Redmond, as he explained how Lilja was simply holding his ground in front of Ozzie, and merely bumped shoulders with Calder to draw the interference call.
At 10:56, on the Wings’ first shot on net, Yzerman scored off a great pass from Williams to make it 1-0 Wings. On the play, Williams stole the puck streaking up center, and cut left waiting for the trailing Yzerman, who took the pass in front Khabibulin and tipped it in. It was Yzerman’s 691st career goal, passing Lemieux for sole position of 8th place all time. He is now three goals behind Mark Messier at the next position at 694, with nine regular season games remaining.
The Mowers-Holmstrom-Zetterberg line brought a lot of energy to their play around 4 minutes remaining, the Wings only having taken 5 shots up to this point. At 2;38, Osgood made a save on a Calder point shot, and lost track of the puck as it bounced off his chest above his head. It was a tense few seconds until Ozzie caught sight of the puck and was able to get a glove on it.
At 1:12 remaining Shanny was called for interference, and the Wings got a great chance off a faceoff turnover, leading to a Kris Draper chance on Khabibulin. It hit iron, and a few seconds later Maltby had his own chance on a 2-on-1, but was stoned by Khabibulin. Franzen got a chance before the end of the period too, beating the Chicago defense on the near side to get a quasi-break on Khabibulin. The period ended, and Chicago was luckily to be down by only 1 goal.
During 1st intermission, Jason Williams talked of his excitement for having serious play time in this season’s playoffs, and Vladdy was shown on camera.
The second period started with a penalty kill, the Wings killing it without allowing a shot. A few minutes in, Wisniewski was hit in the mouth by a shot in front of Khabibulin. He fell to the ice, and it was a scary minute as he covered his mouth with his gloves. Being a Canton, MI native, his family was in attendance, so it was fortunate that he was able to continue playing the rest of the game. At 14:08, Zetterberg was called for holding the stick, and while the Wings killed it off, Chicago scored at 16:16 on a backdoor pass from Calder to Cullen. 1-1 tie. Osgood didn’t have a chance on the play. Shots in the period were 17-14 Wings, a pick-up in shots but definitely less energy than the first.
During the 2nd intermission, John Keating interviewed Jiri Fischer, with some clips of it shown. The full interview will be shown pregame Sunday and Monday.
The Wings opened the third sluggish, but got a great power play chance at 6:04. On the play, Datsyuk passed to Holmstrom in front, but Khabibulin was as strong as ever on the stop. It was a funny moment when Mickey Redmond started singing lyrics from his favorite Billy Joel song, “It’s 9 o’clock on a Saturday!” Ken Daniels had to remind him it’s still Friday.
At 14:31, the Blackhawks broke the tie on a goal from Lapointe. On the play, Chicago converted on a 3-on-1 with Lidstrom the only man back, and former-Wing Lapointe notched a goal. 2-1 Chicago. The Wings were desperate with a minute left and the score still 2-1. Osgood was pulled, and the Wings converted on the 6-on-5 advantage with a goal from Datsyuk. On the play, Holmstrom did a great job of getting the puck from behind the net to Shanny, who directed it to Pavel in front. Regulation ended 2-2 with shots 40-32 Detroit.
In overtime, Chicago controlled the pressure and Patrick Sharp made a great individual play on his game-winning goal. On the play, he deiked Lidstrom and Kronwall before beating Osgood near the mouth of the crease. 3-2 Chicago, who definitely deserved the win. The Wings were very lucky just to get their point, and better rest on Saturday before their Sunday matinee versus the Wild. Remember to turn your clocks forward an hour Saturday night! The Wings definitely won’t enjoy that, in addition to their 4 games in 5 nights!
