Archive for the 'Ducks' CategoryPage 4 of 4

4/7 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on April 7, 2007
in 2006-2007, Avalanche, Blackhawks, Chris Osgood, Dominik Hasek, Ducks, Flames, GameDay, Henrik Zetterberg, Nick Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi
. 2 Comments

… Since we’re seeing Chicago for the second time in a row, there isn’t much need for a full preview. As far as the things covered in the preview for Thursday’s game, not much has changed, except for the obvious things like the season record (6-0-1 Wings) and the Hawks’ win streak (4 games), etc. Other than that, much is the same, such as Chris Osgood’s status. He’ll be starting, apparently, as Dominik Hasek will sit out with a sore thigh.

The biggest situational difference is the Wings’ place in the standings, which was frozen with Anaheim’s shootout loss to Dallas last night. The Wings will take first place in the West no matter what happens today and tomorrow. The only questions now are who they will play in the first round and whether they’ll claim the top spot overall.

The first question can be answered tonight if the Flames beat Edmonton, which would give them the 8th seed and the opportunity to play the Wings in the first round. If they lose and Colorado beats Nashville in Denver, a major showdown will be setup for tomorrow when the Avs and Calgary make up the game which was canceled due to the blizzard earlier this season. In that case, the winner of that game would take 8th.

As for the second question, it looks like the answer is “no.” The Sabres have two more games and both are against non-playoff teams, as Ansar Khan points out, though they are on the road (Washington and Philadelphia). The Wings can max out at 113 points, but Buffalo can finish as high as 115. In the event of a points tie, Buffalo would win because they’ll have more wins than the Wings in any case. So, forget about the President’s Trophy if you haven’t already. I can’t say I’m disappointed.

The most important thing for the Wings today in this essentially meaningless game is to keep their focus. It would be great for them if they could end the season on a high note and go into the playoffs well, rather than on a losing streak. They don’t seem to flourish in afternoon games, but I’d like to see them show up to play a full game today so that they can get out of the rut they’ve been in lately.

… Helene St. James has some updates on the injuries:

Nick Lidstrom (back) and Todd Bertuzzi (neck) are listed as questionable (”may play”) for today, though they both practiced yesterday. Ted Kulfan, by the way, is a little more positive about Nick and Todd’s chances, saying both are “expected to play.”

Both Dominik Hasek (thigh) and Henrik Zetterberg (back) practiced, and she says they “should be ready for playoffs.” I’d like a little more certainty there, but whatever.

… St. James also has a piece about the Datsyuk signing, which goes over much of what was said at the press conference yesterday and focuses on Steve Yzerman’s role in the whole thing. Lastly, IwoCPO has something to say about that role.

GameDay: vs. Anaheim (44-19-12, 100 Pts) 7:00 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on March 26, 2007
in 2006-2007, Blog, Ducks and GameDay
. 6 Comments

Update (7:40 PM): Correction on the post title, the game started at 7:00, not 7:30. My bad. - Matt

Unfortunately, I’m still swamped with work for school, so I won’t be able to do a preview or full recap for the game. I’ll be working on stuff tonight with the game on in the background so I may have a couple comments tomorrow, though.

Let’s treat this post like a game day thread again. If anyone has comments during or after the game, post them here and let’s see if we can’t get a bit of a discussion going.

Be sure to check out Gorilla Crouch for coverage leading up to and following the game.

Wings 2, Ducks 4

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 8, 2007
in 2006-2007, Ducks and Game Reports
. 0 Comments

Update (5:05 PM): I meant to include this earlier: apparenty, Mathieu Schneider’s “lower body injury” is really a “slight knee sprain.” His status for tomorrow night’s game in Colorado was unknown last night and hasn’t been reported yet today. It seems likely, though, that he’ll sit out a game, at least.

Earlier in the trip, the talk that Chris Chelios would re-join the team in Denver came with the acknowledgement that he’d need a day or two of practice to ensure being in game-shape, meaning his actual return to the lineup wasn’t supposed to be until Thursday. It doesn’t look like Cheli and the Wings will have the luxury of waiting now. - Matt

The Wings lost their third in a row last night, 4-2 to Anaheim, falling to 0-3 thus far on their 5-game road trip. They played a good game, relative to the other two games, but the Ducks played better and had the bounces go their way. Aside from the overall improvement in their play, another positive was that they did not blow a lead this time. They actually fought back once and nearly twice. Still, as with any loss, there was a few negatives.

Dominik Hasek, FSN reported before the game, was 8-0-1 with 3 shutouts since 2000 in the game after being pulled. Images in the lockerroom indicated typicak Dominator derminination and I began to have some confidence in the game. Dom looked very strong throughout the first period, as the teams traded chances and pressure (with the Ducks getting a slight advantage, I think). In the second period, however, it didn’t matter how well Dom was playing because the Ducks got bounces and there was no way he was going to stop them.

Immediately following a carry-over Red Wings power play from the first, the Ducks took the puck the other way. Travis Moen, streaking down the right wing, let loose a shot from 56 feet out with only Danny Markov between him and Hasek. It should have been an easy stop, but it glanced off Markov’s outstretched stick before changing direction once or twice more after bouncing on the ice. It beat Dom to his right and put Anaheim up 1-0 at 1:15 of the second. That’s two games in a row in which a goal has gone in off Markov. I know he was just trying to do his job to the best of his ability, but still.

The Wings came back to tie it two minutes later while on the power play. A wide shot by Niklas Kronwall bounced off the backboards right-to-left and Mikael Samuelsson slam dunked it as Ilya Bryzgalov sprawled across. 1-1 at 3:18.

The tie lasted 7:18. With his teammates needing a change, Markov decided to hold the puck behind his goalie until it was completed. Once the new line was over the boards, he dished the puck to Robert Lang at the blue line. Lang made a brilliant pass to Teemu Selanne, who in turn dished it to Bjorn Melin. Melin streaked down the right wing in a 2-on-1. He passed the puck to the slot and Brett Lebda scored a perfect tip in goal to make it 2-1 Ducks. Hasek had no chance.

Okay, perhaps I’m being unfair to Lang. Selanne is a great player and just made a great anticipatory play on a not-so-smart pass by Robert. I know I’m being unfair to Lebda, who was making the right play in trying to intercept the centering pass. It just went badly and ended up looking like a goal we’d be praising him for had it happened at the other end of the ice. It was one of those unlucky plays. The best thing about it is Brett didn’t let it get in his head.

The Ducks extended their lead two minutes later on the only bad goal Dom allowed, a 51-foot slapper by Ryan Getzlaf that wasn’t tipped at all. Hasek admitted after the game that he should have had that one:

“I had good look at it, I sort of misplayed the puck,’’ Hasek said. “It’s one of those goals you want to take back. If I see that shot 10 more times, I make 10 more saves. It was a good shot, but still a shot I should have saved.” (via A2Y)

Considering the Wings would score again, a save on the Getzlaf shot would have been nice.

Perhaps the biggest negative of the night, however, was the first period loss of Mathieu Schneider to a “lower body injury.”

So, turnovers, an injury to a defenseman second in importance only to Nick Lidstrom, and a penchant for scoring on themselves - negatives.

Continue reading ‘Wings 2, Ducks 4′

GameDay: @ Anaheim (28-9-6, 62 Pts) 8:00 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 7, 2007
in 2006-2007, Ducks and GameDay
. 0 Comments

Tonight is the third of four games between these two teams this season. The series is tied 1-1, with the Wings winning the most recent meeting 2-1 on January 2nd in Detroit. The Ducks won the first game, 4-1 on October 18 in Anaheim. The fourth and final game will be on March 26 in Detroit.

Like the Kings going into last night’s game, Anaheim has played only one game since losing to the Wings on the 2nd, a 4-3 loss to Columbus on Friday. The win extended a three-game skid to four, but the Ducks still lead the Western Conference with 62 points.

They’ve run into some injury trouble, with key players such as Chris Pronger (broken foot) and JS Giguere (groin) out as well as Todd Marchant (abdomin) and Franchois Beauchemin (spleen). They remain a dangerous team, however, with 24-goal-scoring star Teemu Selanne and defensemen Scott Niedermeyer remaining in the lineup, not to mention goalie Ilya Bryzgalov.

The Wings have a loss streak of their own going, having dropped their last two. The first was a supremely embarrassing 9-4 loss to the Sharks on Thursday, a game in which the Wings gave up 9 unanswered goals after jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first. They also set a team record for most power play goals allowed in a game with 6. It was the most goals the Wings have given up since 1993.

Last night in LA, they scored a quick goal in both the first and second periods before losing their 2-0 lead by the 10:31 mark of the latter. They would go on to lose 4-2. It was their first loss to the Kings since October 12, 2002. It’s as though they’re set on setting bad records and snapping good streaks on this road trip.

Since Chris Osgood started last night, Dominik Hasek will be in net tonight.

Pavel Datsyuk (groin) shouldn’t be back until Tuesday night in Colorado.

Mikael Samuelsson should in the lineup tonight, though he had to leave the game early last night after taking a Nick Lidstrom shot off the knee in the third period.

A West Coast trip is usually a recipe for disaster with the Wings and playing the day after a loss is likely to just add to the mixture. They do have something going for them in that the Ducks are playing without a couple of their stars. However, I still can’t say that makes me very confident, not after watching them blow leads in two straight games.

Remember, the game is at 8:00 PM ET tonight, not 10:00 PM or 10:30 PM, thankfully.

Off topic: I’ve been meaning to do this for a few days now, but I keep forgetting: Welcome to the 21st century, Freep.com! I like the snazzy new look, but I like the RSS feeds even better. I love being able to get the headlines in Google Reader rather than having to go to the site and wait for it to load (especially since I’m at home and on dialup … for another week). The same goes for DetNews.com, though the site design could use an update.

(If both sites have had feeds for a while, I apologize, but I only noticed this week.)

The Captain’s #19 to be retired January 2nd, 2007

Published
by
Matt Saler
on August 30, 2006
in Ducks, Steve Yzerman, The Team and Tickets
. 4 Comments

The CP is reporting that the one-hour jersey retirement ceremony will take place before the Wings’ Jan. 2nd game versus the Anaheim Ducks. Steve Yzerman’s jersey will be the 6th to be retired by the Wings and will join Terry Sawchuk’s #1, Ted Lindsay’s #7, Gordie Howe’s #9, Alex Delvecchio’s #10 and Sid Abel’s #12 in the rafters of Joe Louis Arena. If you want tickets to that game, camp out on your computer the night they are released because they’ll be gone very quickly, I’m sure. It’s either that or take out a loan in order to buy them off someone. By the way, does anyone know the ticket release schedule?

Wings 3, Ducks 1

Published
by
Matt Saler
on March 16, 2006
in 2005-2006, Ducks and Game Reports
. 1 Comment

Chris Osgood took, perhaps, a step toward taking over the #1 goaltending job in Detroit and the defense stifled a Ducks team that needed to win, as the Wings beat the Ducks 3-1 last night at the Joe.

Osgood, who made 25 saves, has won his last four games, a stretch that includes two shutouts (including one against the Ducks earlier this month) and one single-goal game. He has not allowed more than three goals since December 13th, when he gave up four to Atlanta after relieving Jimmy Howard in the Thrashers’ 7-6 victory over the Wings in Georgia. He looked good last night, making some very sharp saves when necessary, and very nearly, I think, had a shutout. The goal he allowed on Selanne was absolutely the fault of his defense, who left the Finn wide open to his left. Osgood was way over on the other side of the net and very nearly got over and set in time to make the save. I actually thought for a second that he had and was a little surprised when the goal light went on.

I’m not part of the Osgood hating camp and because of this, I would like to see more of Osgood as the Wings head down the stretch. He is a goalie that gets better the more he plays and when he is “on,” he is very good, providing a good reason to play him more. I know Babcock has named Legace his playoff goalie but he can obviously change his mind. Unless Manny gets it together and gets it together fast, I want Chris Osgood in the net for the postseason, if for no other reason than that he has experience and a very heavy ring to go along with it.

This game was fairly closely contested and, based on that, I am not very interested in facing the Ducks in the first round of the playoffs. They are not a bad team at all and could very easily, I think, pull off a major upset in the playoffs once again. I’d just as soon the Wings not be the team they beat.

It was the first time I’ve seen Cory Cross in the Winged Wheel and I was satisfied with his play. He was hammered in the corner early in the first but came right back with a strong, if messy, defensive play to disrupt a strong Ducks scoring chance, somehow without taking a penalty (though Kronwall was called on the same play). I didn’t notice any glaring mistakes and wasn’t conscious of his presence on the ice most of the time. For a player like him, that is a good thing. I don’t want to be noticing him often because that means it’s more likely to be due to a mistake rather than doing something right.

Henrik Zetterberg had another good game. His first period goal was impressive and he was solid, as usual, throughout the rest of the game. He has better offensive forays by himself than another other Red Wing and very often makes something out of great individual efforts, such as he did last night. He was aided by Jeff Friesen’s stumbling and losing coverage but Hank’s quick shot is what beat an unprepared JS Giguere. The goal came as a bit of a surprise, just a minute into the game, despite what we’ve all seen Zetterberg do all season. It didn’t seem like a very harmless play and that shot is one goalies generally stop. Nice to see him continue his tear.

Pavel Datsyuk was not as impressive last night, finally having his point streak broken.

Nicklas Lidstrom assisted on all three Red Wing goals and continues to put himself well ahead of any competition for the Norris Trophy. It is a contract year for Nick, though, and that could mean this is his last season in Detroit. Fortunately, it was reported last week that Lidstrom and the Wings are in talks. Update (17. Mar 06 - 12:13 PM): IwoCPO has posted news from a Swedish report that is a little disturbing: “According to the article, Lidstrom’s agent Tom Meehan is reportedly asking Detroit for the league maximum which could turn out to be between 8.9 and 9.2 million.” It does sound like Nick would be willing to sign before the summer, though, and wants to stay two more years.

The only guy, I think, who could perhaps challenge his claim to it would be his teammate and frequent defensive partner, Mathieu Schneider. He scored his 21st goal last night, a career high, on the power play with the sort of inevitability that comes with a Schneider shot these days. The Ducks were foolish enough to give he and Lidstrom about half the offensive zone to operate and he had a completely clear lane down which to send the puck and plenty of room to use for stepping into it. Of course, it helped that Tomas Holmstrom was screening Giguere but it was Schneider’s goal the whole way into the top left corner of the net. He leads all defensemen in goals scored (Bryan McCabe is next with 19) and his 31 assists aren’t bad either. Good thing it’s not a contract year! The Wings’ll have #23 for one more year.

I thought The Captain looked good out there last night. He had decent jump and showed some flashes of his old ability on a few occasions. He certainly wasn’t a dead weight on his line. In the first period, he pulled his classic move (skating down the wing with the puck, then slamming on the brakes and looking to the slot for a pass or shot) and centered the puck to a streaking Jason Williams. The puck flew wide of the net though but it was still a good chance and something we’ll hopefully see more often as the playoffs get closer.

Mark Mowers continues to fill in well for the injured Mikael Samuelsson, who may be back this weekend after missing six games with a mysterious sore wrist. It’s unfortunate that Mower is only a replacement player for now because he has shown an impressive work ethic recently and also has some decent skill, which comes out every once and a while (.mpg).

It was good to see Draper finally score a goal. It was just his 6th and though it was an empty netter, he has to feel a bit better now. Maybe that’ll get him going again.

The Ducks now have just two games in hand on Edmonton and three on Vancouver. Both teams are just two points ahead of Anaheim, meaning fans and players alike were definitely glad the Wings won last night since it will make it that much harder for the Ducks to catch either of them.

According to James Mirtle, the Wings have clinched a playoff berth now, having reached the 95 points threshold. Woo hoo. Now, who will they face first?

It’s likely that it’ll be one of the two teams they face in back-to-back games this weekend: Edmonton on Saturday and Vancouver on Sunday. Even better, the games are away, which completes the playoff simulation. The Wings will need to win in Western Canada if they want to do anything in the playoffs and this weekend is a great time to start (Okay, they could just go to seven games and win all four at home but that’s not advisable for a team with such old legs. Or for the hearts of Red Wings fans.).

GameDay: vs. Anaheim (31-20-12, 74 Pts) 7:30 ET

Published
by
Matt Saler
on March 15, 2006
in 2005-2006, Ducks and GameDay
. 0 Comments

The Wings will finish up their regular season series with Anaheim tonight with their fourth game against the Ducks this year. Detroit has won two of the three games between the two teams, with the first coming on October 21st (3-2) and the latest on March 1st (2-0). Their only loss to the Ducks this season came on November 25th, a 3-1 decision on the first game of a West Coast road trip.

The Wings have won their last three since dropping their first home game after the Olympic Break to Phoenix last Tuesday. The rebounded from that loss with a commanding 7-3 win over LA two nights later and then rolled over Chicago twice, 6-4 on Saturday and 5-3 on Sunday. The Sunday game had such highlights as Cory Cross‘ first goal as a Red Wing and Pavel Datsyuk’s breakaway goal on Nikolai Khabibulin (.mpg), which resulted in the Russian goalie’s second yanking in two nights.

The Red Wing penalty kill was a perfect 7-for-7 over the two Chicago games, a nice improvement over allowing two power play goals three straight games. Still, they have allowed 15 goals in their last four games, as the News points out. Despite the fact that they have won three of those games, that is something they cannot do in the playoffs if they want to survive. And they know it.

Tonight’s game is the last of a three-game homestand. The Wings will head to Western Canada for back-to-back games this weekend and will hope to have better luck there than they have so far this season.

Chris Osgood will get start his second consecutive game tonight, the Freep reports. Babcock, who has not been impressed with Legace’s most recent outings, is sitting his declared playoff goaltender, who’ll start on Saturday in Edmonton. The Freep article has an important quote from Steve Yzerman on Legace:

“He’s gotta play well. He doesn’t have to stand on his head or anything. Everybody’s got certain expectations and responsibilities and the starting goaltender has to play well, and if that’s going to be Manny, he’s got to elevate his play over the next 20 games.”You know, he says he wants to be the No. 1 guy. Let’s see what you can do. He’s getting that opportunity. It’s a great chance for him to really make a huge step forward in his career.” (hat tip A2Y)

The Captain doesn’t often call players out in the media so this is significant. Hopefully it’ll motivate Manny to get where he needs to be for the playoffs.

The Ducks are just two points back of both the 7th and 8th seeds (with 4 and 3 more games, respectively, to play) and are a possible first round opponent for the Wings. They too have won their last three, beating two of their Pacific Division rivals, San Jose (5-4 OT) and Phoenix (5-3 and 5-2) after losing to Columbus on the 5th. They have been riding the five-game point streak of Teemu Selanne, who leads the team with 61 points and is profiled by the Freep’s Helene St. James here.

Tonight’s game kicks off a four-game road trip for the Ducks, who will face Chicago, Columbus and Dallas after leaving Detroit.

Expect JS Giguere in net tonight. Ilya Bryzgalov started Sunday but it was the second of back-to-back games and Giguere was getting a rest.

It would be nice for the Wings to make a statement defensively tonight. If Chris Osgood isn’t fired up about the chance to outshine Manny Legace, he isn’t the competitor he used to be. I expect him to have a good game.

Wings 2, Mighty Ducks 0

Published
by
Christy Hammond
on March 2, 2006
in 2005-2006, Ducks and Game Reports
. 0 Comments

The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Anaheim Mighty Ducks early after scoring both goals in the first period. The Wings have the next two days off before their game Saturday at 9:00pm against the Phoenix Coyotes.

First Period
The Wings scored two goals in the first (and the only two goals of the game). 7:28 into the period, Tomas Holmstrom scored on quick pass from Henrik Zetterberg who got it from Pavel Datsyuk. For once it wasn’t the typical Holmstrom deflection, rather a slick backhand shot. The first goal came while on even strength.

Less than a minute later, at 8:14 into the period to be exact, Nicklas Lidstrom took a shot inside the blue line which was stopped by Holmstrom upon which it fell to the ice when Zetterberg put it in the back of the net. The second goal happened while on the power play. Notice a pattern yet? All offensive points belong to the Wings who stayed in Torino until at least the semifinals. Datsyuk may not have earned a medal in Italy, but he’s helping the team offensively even with a fractured finger. He also extended his point streak to six games following tonight’s win.

Chris Osgood, the Wings goaltender for the evening, made 12 saves in the first period while the Ducks goalie, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, allowed two goals on 15 shots.

Second Period
Not much happened in the second period, but I must say that Osgood looked pretty sharp to me. Within the last two minutes of the period, Osgood made an excellent save even though the whistle was blown to call the play offsides.

With 1:23 left in the second, Mikael Samuelsson got called for roughing and sent to the penalty box. During the penalty kill, both Chris Chelios and Nicklas Lidstrom blocked a couple shots. It sure is nice to see No. 5 back in the lineup; even exhausted and jet-lagged, he’s one of the better defenders in the league.

Both teams had six shots apiece during the second, but no goals made it past the goaltenders.

Lidstrom had 20 shifts in the first two periods lasting a total of 18:04 minutes, he’s leading the Wings in ice time tonight even though there are certainly more rested Wings than Lidstrom. Zetterberg only played slightly over four minutes in the second period after playing about eight minutes in the first.

Third Period
Once more, nothing much happened. No goals scored. Only 4 penalties in the final period and the Wings were unable to convert on all four instances. Osgood made six saves in the third. With less than five seconds left, Brendan Shanahan rocketed a shot towards the empty net and hit the goalpost.

Osgood stopped 24 shots tonight to earn his second shutout this season and his 43rd of his career. It was his first game in a month so that’s a pretty impressive performance to me at least. It was the Wings third shutout in the last six games.

Other Notes…
An NHL.com article by Doug Ward briefly mentioned that both head coach Mike Babcock and GM Ken Holland supported the 5 Swedes to go celebrate in Stockholm and miss Tuesday night’s game in San Jose. It also went on to say that the Wings can learn from the losses of Team Cananda and USA in the Olympics.

Not everyone in the Detroit locker room will be walking on air. In contrast to his gold-medalist Detroit teammates, the Wings’ Kris Draper came home empty-handed and disappointed after playing for tournament favorite Team Canada. Chris Chelios played for the United States team that won only one game in Italy.Babcock said his Wings could learn a lesson from the disappointment Team Canada and Team USA endured in Torino.

“We can have all the skill,” Babcock told the Detroit News, “but if we don’t play well as a team, we’re not going to win. These teams were good teams (in the Olympics) and showed you can’t win individually.”

The Wings were the only team, to my knowledge, that played back to back games to return from the Olympic break and the Wings had the most players participating in the gold medal game. “I don’t think any team could have had a worse scenario than us, missing five guys and the week road trip on the West Coast,” Chelios said. “It’s not an advantage, but that’s the way it is.”

Pretty good “excuse” for the San Jose loss (even though that was an awful game to watch as a Wings fan). Speaking of which, a Detroit News poll asked readers “Are you upset the gold medal-winning Swedes missed the game against San Jose and the Red Wings were blown out?”

75.72% said, “No; they deserved to go to Sweden for the celebration.”
21.14% said, “Yes; they are paid by the Wings and should have been there.”
3.14% said, “It didn’t matter as the Wings would have lost anyway.”

Datsyuk, like his fellow Olympians, had to adjust after playing in the larger Olympic size ice rinks.

“Just a little bit scared,” Datsyuk said before the game against the Sharks. “Every board is too close.”Datsyuk was referring to the ice surface at HP Pavilion. The Olympic ice sheets Datsyuk played on for the Russian team in Torino were 15 feet wider than those in NHL rinks.

Lidstrom needs four more assists (after getting an assist in tonight’s game) to reach the 600 assist milestone. Captain Steve Yzerman currently has 684 career goals, six goals shy of Mario Lemieux’s. He also needs to play in 6 more games to become the 10th player in NHL history to play 1,500 games (should happen on March 15th against Anaheim in Detroit).

GameDay: @ Anaheim (27-19-11, 65 Pts) 10:30 PM

Published
by
Brian List
on March 1, 2006
in 2005-2006, Ducks and GameDay
. 0 Comments

Tonight, the Wings play Anaheim in their second straight night in California, part of a three-game West Coast trip to welcome them back from the Olympic Break. The Wings face Phoenix Saturday night before bringing it back home for three home games next week. This is their third of four games against the Mighty Duck, with the season series tied 1-1. In the last meeting on November 25, the Mighty Ducks won on home ice as Selanne scored the game-winner midway through the third.

The Wings were on a six-game pre-Olympic win streak before losing 5-1 to the Sharks last night. They were on their heels early, as the Sharks jumped out of the gates quickly with energy and an early lead. The story behind behind the game was the absence of the Swedish Olympians (Lidstrom, Kronwall, Samuelsson, Holmstrom, Zetterberg), and it became an issue for the Wings after they allowed numerous quality chances in on Legace. Even though Legace was able to hold off the surge in offense for much of the first and second periods, the Wings’ lack of offense in Zetterberg and Lidstrom’s minutes on defense definitely showed. Legace was strong in much of the game, including notching his first penalty shot save in the third, but eventually the Sharks’ quality chances translated to goals (3 goals in the third). The Wings were outshot 32-29 on the night.

Tonight, the Wings will be getting back the gold medal crew of Holmstrom, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Kronwall, and Samuelsson. However, these players will likely be as jet-lagged as the Wings were last night in their first outing in the states, so don’t expect the Wings to have much of a better start than they did last night. I expect Chris Osgood to get tonight’s start, after Legace’s tough going last night (27 saves on 32 shots, including a penalty shot, without much defensive support).

The Mighty Ducks are third in the Pacific Division with 65 points, and are looking for a miracle to pass the Stars, who lead the division with 79 points. Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere is expected to make the start. The Wings are 19-6-3 on the road, while the Mighty Ducks are 17-8-4 at home.