Update (6:35 PM): I neglected to mention that the Wings can only pass Nashville with a win if the Predators lose to Toronto tonight. The Leafs are riding a 4-game win streak, while the Preds are 1-3-0 over their last four, but that win came at home and that’s where the game is, starting at 8:00 ET. Keep an eye on that one, folks. - Matt
Update (6:05 PM): Ansar Khan reports that Danny Markov will sit out tonight’s game with an “undisclosed upper body injury,”suffered when Jeremy Roenick hit him into the end boards in the third period last night.
I wrote below that it looked like a rib injury and Khan concurred in an email, though it looks like we may be wrong: Markov was supposed to have an MRI today, which seems to imply there was something to Ted Kulfan’s speculation about the injury being to his left shoulder. As Megan pointed out to me in conversation, if it was his ribs they’d just do an X-ray. For a shoulder injury, they’d check it out with an MRI just like they would with a knee. So, it may be safe to assume that for “upper body” you can read “left shoulder.”
In any case, the Wings aren’t too worried about it and expect Danny back soon, as this quote from Mike Babcock indicates:
“Markie’s tough as a rattlesnake, he’ll bounce back.’’
Andreas Lilja will be in the lineup tonight after being a healthy scratch since Schneider returned on February 2nd. - Matt
The Wings extended their win-streak to five last night as they beat Phoenix 4-2 at home. It honestly wasn’t much of a contest, as the Wings controlled the greater part of the play, but the Coyotes were kept in it by the great goaltending of Curtis Joseph. The former Red Wing made 44 saves, many of which were high-quality, and gave his team a chance to win before Detroit pulled ahead in the third.
Dominik Hasek was in net for the Wings and looked solid. He made 20 saves and didn’t have to work too hard, though he did have to make a good save occasionally. He was the victim of the Wings’ chronic inability to clear the crease on the first goal and of the team’s offensively opportunistic doctrine for defensemen on the second, and can’t really be blamed for either one, though he made a bad gamble on the latter and compounded the problem.
The Wings controlled play from the start, with their early shifts being mostly in the Phoenix zone. Joseph was sharp and made the necessary saves, including a great one on Pavel Datsyuk on a give-and-go with Josh Langfeld before the 4:00 mark. The Coyotes brought the puck the other way and nearly scored when Hasek missed on one of his wandering pokecheck attempts. Chris Gratton sent the puck just wide, however, and the score remained 0-0.
The Coyotes had a light 1-man forecheck going early in the game, but seemed to be dangerously opportunistic. Fortunately, the Wings’ defense was up to the task, as they generally diffused any Coyotes offensive chance.
Pretty early on, it was clear that Henrik Zetterberg had brought his “A” game and was set to have a big night. He had a good scoring chance around the 6:45 mark and continued to create plays for the rest of the game.
Phoenix took a 1-0 lead at 9:06 when Owen Nolan walked out from behind the net and got off a shot on Hasek, which was stopped. There was a rebound, however, and Nolan kept whacking at it as Danny Markov ineffectively pushed him with his arms. Ladislav Nagy ran interference on Mathieu Schneider as Nolan got his stick on the puck, spun, and backhanded it into the net just before Hasek fell on his back to close off the post. It was one of those plays were Nolan would have been on his back had he tried that against most any other team. It was a little sad that even with Markov out there, they couldn’t clear the front of the net. Maybe Dom could have held on to the puck better on the initial shot, but he should have had to.
Henrik Zetterberg had a nice shift following the goal as he kept the puck away from three Coyotes, but nothing came of it. Owen Nolan forced Hasek to come up big soon after with a quick shot in the high slot that was more dangerous than it looked.
Around 13:50, Pavel Datsyuk made a nice takeaway at the Phoenix blueline (just as they got away with having too many men on the ice) and carried the puck into the zone. He centered it to Zetterberg, who had a nice scoring chance as a result, but Joseph stoned him.
The Wings went on the power play at 14:17 and had a couple good opportunities to tie it up, but Joseph was too sharp and they couldn’t get it past him. After the penalty expired, the Coyotes switched to a hard forecheck and forced the Wings on a carry-out attempt that ended up taking maybe 45 seconds as a result.
All in all, the first period wasn’t overly exciting. The Wings looked a little off and the Coyotes looked to have a little more desire, but they didn’t necessarily have the ability to do much with it, despite their lead.
The Wings began the second period with some chances in the first minute or so, but Joseh was equal to the task. Granted, the Wings did a pretty good job of blowing chances, as in the first four minutes, they failed on at least three big ones: first, Cleary’s slow cross-ice pass meant Joseph arrived at the other side of the net long before Lang could one-time the puck; second, Jiri Hudler sent a shot high over the net 40 seconds later; third, Kirk Maltby had a goal on his stick but couldn’t get a shot off before the defense closed in on him.
They did finally score at 4:51 on a nice give-and-go between Lang and Lebda. Robert carried the puck down the right wing and sent it across to Lebda, who took it deep before making a great pass across the goalmouth to Lang at the right post. Slam-dunk into a wide open net. 1-1 game.
Nik Kronwall really stood out a couple minutes later with a few nice shifts as he got involved offensively. On the first, he forced a faceoff on a chance sneaking up and on the second, he made a smooth manoeuvre around the defense before getting off a shot, and the rebound was almost knocked in by Lang and Cleary.
Henrik Zetterberg made a nice play at center when he tipped the puck to himself and took it in on a rush around 8:50. Pavel Datsyuk was doing similar things and was putting in a good effort, but almost looked to be trying too hard, as he often went one deke too far or attempted passes that were too pretty. Still, Hank, Pavel, and the rest of the Wings were dictating play around mid-period and beyond.
Zetterberg put the Wings ahead by one at 16:27 with a nice personal effort. He carried the puck down the right wing 1-on-1 with Derek Morris covering him. He threatened a backhand shot from that side and faked Joseph into commiting before taking it around the back of the net and coming out the other side. With Joseph down and out, he got underneath the puck and roofed it in the top right corner with a backhander. Great play by Hank, and kind of a sequel to his goal on Manny Legace last week.
Soon after the goal, the Wings went on the power play. They had a couple chances, but couldn’t quite click, and before long, they were called for a penalty themselves and we went to 4-on-4 hockey. This stretch was uneventful and soon the Wings were killing off a short power play.
Things were going pretty well until Datsyuk turned the puck over in the Phoenix zone after getting hooked slightly by Keith Ballard. Chris Chelios had pinched up, hoping to pick up a drop pass from Pavel, but Michael Zigomanis got to the puck first and sent it up ice to Yanic Perreault at center. Perreault just tipped it to the left wing just as he got nailed by Danny Markov and Shane Doan was away as Chelios skated as hard as I’ve ever seen him skate in trying to catch up. Dominik Hasek chose this opportunity to come out of the net and challenge Doan, but the Coyotes’ captain deked just before Dom got to him and, though he was tripped up, managed to maintain possession as he fell. He got off a shot and the puck slide into the gaping net to make it 2-2 with one second remaining on the power play, at 19:43. In hindsight, it was not a great decision by Dom, but that’s his practice on breakaways and it’s worked more often than not until recently.
The Wings still had jump as they started the third period and they scored again within three and a half minutes. The play began with Holmstrom getting nailed before a Zetterberg takeaway and subsequent Lidstrom shot off the post. Zetterberg picked the puck up off the rebound along the boards and sent it back to Lidstrom, who returned it to Hank right away. Zetterberg stepped up and took a snap shot that ricocheted off a Coyote skate before beating Joseph glove side at 3:22. It was Hank’s 100th career goal.
Not long after the goal, the game hit a patch of penalties. First, the Wings went on the power play at 5:07, then they got a 5-on-3 at 5:43. Once the initial penalty expired they had a short 5-on-4 powerplay but it was cut even shorter by a BS goaltender interference call on Holmstrom, who had been irritating the Phoenix defense all night and was in serious danger of having his head taken off. Following a faceoff, Homer headed to the net while Ballard did the same, only he was gliding backwards. He bumped into Holmstrom and pushed him back toward the net, but Homer ended up at the side of the net rather than out front and Ballard bumped Joseh ever so lightly. Joseph, however, decided he wanted an Oscar nomination and threw up his arms before falling like a sack of potatoes. The ref, unfortunately, fell for it and slapped Homer with the penalty. Fortunately, the subsequent stretch of play was uneventful, mostly due to Lang’s casual disruption of a Phoenix near-breakaway by slowly putting his stick out to knock the puck out of reach.
After their power play, the Coyotes showed some life and the Wings narrowly avoided a possible tied score when Derek Morris’ stick betrayed him by breaking on a slap shot. Dom had to make a couple big saves in sequence around the 9:30 mark and by then, the Wings had regained control.
Kris Draper, aggressively forechecking as usual, was called for hooking at the transition point from fore- to backcheck when Ballard either lost an edge or took a page from Joseph’s book at center. Danny Markov was hurt on the resulting Phoenix power play when Jeremy Roenick nailed him in the end boards following a clearing shot. At first it looked as though it was his right arm, but based on the way he was laying, I think it may be his ribs. Roenix hit him with his elbow or shoulder and may have cracked something. Markov skated off eventually, and the Wings killed off the rest of the penalty.
Soon after the power play ended, Pavel Datsyuk had a nice break down the middle. He a shot from pretty far out in order to get something before the defense closed on him, and its surprising quickness forced Joseph to be sharp.
The teams traded penalties again before the period ended, with some 4-on-4, 4-on-3, and 5-on-4 play resulting. Finally, with a minute left, the Coyotes pulled Joseph. He had hardly even made it to the blueline before Perreault’s pass was intercepted by Zetterberg. Hank took a couple steps before sending it to Datsyuk, who skated in the middle and sunk it in the empty net at 19:00. After the formality of the last minute, the Wings won 4-2.
According to Ken Daniels, Wayne Gretzky said before the game that Henrik Zetterberg is the most underrated player in the NHL. Hard to disagree after seeing how much he dominated the game last night. He was easily the #1 star, though Joseph should be thought of as a solid #2.
It was a pretty complete win for the Wings, unlike their recent comeback victories. It put them one point behind Nashville and gave them a chance to pass the Preds tonight with a win in St. Louis. The Blues have lost their momentum a bit and have won only one game in their last five. They are 12 points out of the playoffs and have very little chance of making it now. A loss tonight would make it even more difficult. However, they’ll be certain to fight hard and that means the Wings could be in trouble, having played a game last night.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to watch the game tonight. So, no game report tomorrow. Sorry about that.
