Update (10:32 PM): Christy Hammond has a brief post up on the game with some great accompanying pictures. My favorite: Al twirling the octopus in the zamboni pit. - Matt
Update (10:22 PM): Apologies to Joe Sakic: it was Andrew Brunette who turned the puck over along the left wing boards just prior to Johan Franzen’s second goal, not the Avs’ captain. Thanks to Justin for pointing that out in the comments. - Matt
Update (12:46 PM): George Malik’s wrap-up is here. - Matt
The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Colorado Avalanche last night 4-3 and took a 1-0 lead in their Western Conference Semifinal series.
Just prior to the game, it was announced that Peter Forsberg would not play because of a groin injury. The news had an obvious effect on Colorado’s morale. For more on that, see Adrian Dater’s post.*
The Wings came out strong, with the top line of Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, and Tomas Holmstrom looking particularly good. From the onset, it looked like the Avalanche did not have an answer for those three.
Andreas Lilja and Niklas Kronwall laid on a couple big hits in the first five minutes as the Wings looked more physical than their opponents, for once.
The Avs scored first, despite the fact that they were being outplayed for the bulk of the first 10 minutes. With the Wings only partially changed from their fourth line to their second line, Paul Stastny, Ryan Smyth, and Milan Hejduk gained the Detroit zone and began to grind it out. A quick centering pass by Smyth from behind the net led to a lightning-fast goal by Stastny. He got the puck up over Osgood from close range and put his team up 1-0 at 8:53.
The Wings responded 53 seconds later. Zetterberg carried the puck into the Colorado zone on the left wing and, met with Cody McLeod just over the line, dropped it off to Datsyuk behind him. McLeod then released Zetterberg and took Datsyuk, who sent the puck up to a free #40. Hank fought through a hold from Adam Foote and put the puck through Jose Theodore to tie the game up at 9:46.
Following the goal, the Wings looked strong. Their physical edge continued with a Kris Draper hit on Tyler Arnason at the Colorado blueline and the top line continued to wreck havoc in the Avalanche end. The fourth line of Jiri Hudler, Darren Helm, and Darren McCarty, put on a nice shift just prior to an Avalanche penalty at 11:04.
The Wings took a 2-1 lead at 13:48 off a fortunate bounce. Johan Franzen began the play as he carried the puck into the Colorado end. He was sandwiched by two Avalanche players and just managed to get the puck up to Dan Cleary. Cleary’s shot was stopped by Theodore, but the puck disappeared. Watching it live, it looked as though Franzen was the first to find it and knock it in. Replays, however, showed that the puck hit Theodore and bounced 20-30 feet straight up in the air. After a delay, it landed to Theodore’s left and bounced into the net.
Not long after the goal, Ben Guite had a big scoring chance for the Avs, but Chris Osgood made the save.
The Wings extended their lead at 17:23 while on the power play. Following the faceoff, Niklas Kronwall and Jiri Hudler played catch for a little bit before Kronwall unleashed a blast toward the net. Johan Franzen, coming across the front, got his stick on it and redirected it down to the top of Theodore’s right pad and in.
At 18:48, the Avs returned to the penalty box as the Eurotwins+Holmstrom cycled in the Colorado end. Those three then skated circles around the Avs until the period ended.
The Wings began the second on the power play, but couldn’t convert. They did, however, score within the first two minutes of the period. Joe Sakic Andrew Brunette turned the puck over to Mikael Samuelsson along the far side boards in the Colorado end. Sammy then slid it across to Valtteri Filppula, who dropped a no-look pass to Johan Franzen 43 feet out. Franzen’s one-timer beat Theodore over his left pad at 1:13.
Of the four goals Theodore allowed, this was the worst, but the blame rests mostly with Sakic Brunette for the turnover. In any case, Joel Quenneville saw fit to pull Theodore at this point. Peter Budaj came in and Theodore went to the bench, though he eventually changed into street clothes and left the arena because he was “ill.” If he was so sick, why did he start in the first place? I wonder if he wasn’t pouting.
The Avs seemed to wake up a bit after the goalie change. They had a couple solid scoring chances not long afterwards and scored their second goal just over four minutes after the Wings’ took their 4-1 lead. It ws a simple enough play: JM Liles broke in down the left wing and took a shot that beat Osgood five-hole. Chris Chelios dove across in an attempt to block the shot, so it may have been tipped. If it wasn’t, it was a weak goal to give up. 4-2 at 5:17.
The Wings didn’t immediately take their foot off the gas, as they had a number of solid chances in the subsequent minutes. They put on a decent power play beginning at 6:15 and and had some strong cycle shifts at full strength. The Avs continued to improve throughout all of this, however, and gradually the balance of play evened out for the most part.
The Avs had a big scoring chance with 6:20 or so left when Paul Stastny found himself free to take a shot from the slot. On the flurry that followed, Ryan Smyth roughed up Nick Lidstrom and got away with it. In the shift following that, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Holmstrom put on another good performance. Darren Helm and Darren McCarty had a 2-on-1 nearly develop not long after that, but it fizzled out.
At 16:29, Milan Hejduk made things interesting by scoring the Avs’ third goal. The play began as a 3-on-2 with Ryan Smyth carrying and Brian Rafalski and Nick Lidstrom back. No big deal, right? Wrong. Smyth got the puck up to Stastny and rather than fall further back, Rafalski chose to stick with Smyth, creating a 2-on-1 down low. Stastny waited until he was virtually at the goalline and then slid the puck across to Hejduk, who tipped it in just inside the right post. Osgood couldn’t get across fast enough.
After that, the Avs swarmed a little. In the midst of this, Nik Kronwall laid on another big hit, this time on Jones at center. Andreas Lilja took an ill-timed holding penaly at 17:50 and put the Avs on the power play. Colorado had a few chances with the man-advantage and put the Wings on their heels a bit. Chris Osgood, however, came up big.
I missed the first 10:00 or so of the third because I had to run an errand, but from what I can tell from the BtJ liveblog, the Wings looked decent.
When I got back, one of the first things I saw was Jordan Leopold’s running of Valtteri Filppula into the endboards around the 10:30 mark.
The second half of the third period, at least, was mostly Colorado’s game. They were much more dangerous than they had been in the first and second and forced Chris Osgood to make a number of big saves. They beat him once, but the shot rang off the post. The Wings could get little going offensively.
Budaj was pulled for the extra skater with about 1:08 left and the Avs had some trouble getting set up. When they did, however, they came very close to scoring. The play began with Smyth behind the net. He sent a pass out front to Leopold, who was covered by Brian Rafalski and stood to Osgood’s left at the post. Rafalski lifted Leopold’s stick and the puck went through to the slot, where Liles had jumped up. Osgood somehow managed to get across and make the save on Liles, who should have had a goal. Save of the game, if not the playoffs to this point, for Chris Osgood.
That came with 8.4 seconds left. The remaining time wound down and the Wings finished on top, 4-3.
The Big Three obviously had a strong game. The second line looked good as well. The third line was physical and did its job. The fourth line also did its job, but ran into a couple matchup problems that should have been avoided. See the Stastny goal.
Defensively, the Wings were pretty strong with the obvious exception of the Rafalski brain cramp that led to Hejduk’s second goal.
Chris Osgood looked steady, though the Liles goal was a little weak. He came up big in the third period, however, and saved the Wings when the Avs were creating scoring chances.
In addition to the loss of Forsberg, the Avs saw Wojtek Wolski leave the ice in the first period with what is being described as an upper body injury. It could also be a knee issue, however. That’s a big loss as he was one of their top line wingers.
Scott Hannan took a shot off the inside of his foot and though he finished the game, he may not be able to go Saturday.
Ryan Smyth looked good for the Avs. Some of their best chances were generated by his passes.
The final score was the result of a combination of two things: 1) the Avs waking up and actually playing hockey, and 2) the Wings letting up a bit offensively. In Game 2, you can bet that Colorado will come out stronger, but you can also count on the Wings to press the attack for longer.
Links
Highlights
Abel to Yzerman
Gorilla Crouch
Bruce MacLeod
No Pun Intended
FanHouse Icesheet
Jerseys and Hockey Love
Shane Giroux
In the Cheap Seats
Mile High Hockey
*Say what you want about Dater, but his bluntness is at times refreshing. Not many beat writers are so quick to be critical of the players they talk to on a daily basis.
