First: The two highlights of the night.
Kronwall’s Hit: Kronwall’s hit. Clean, textbook standing a guy up. Perfect.
Bertuzzi’s 2nd: Bertuzzi’s 301st. Made this guy look like a pylon. Beautiful. Now if someone could just make Andy Sutton look like a retired hockey player…
The Game: In summary, this was a classic Red Wings trap game against a lesser opponent. They came out flat and the Oilers took advantage. They gradually improved over the course of the game and were able to mount a successful comeback in the third period, which was slightly off script.
But they wrote that new script into a blown lead in the final minute. So, they got a point that didn’t seem likely after a 1-3 first period, which is great. But.
Conklin: They may have blown any chance they had of relying on Ty Conklin in Howard’s absence. Conklin appears to be a goalie bereft of all confidence and being hung out to dry by teammates that can’t be bothered to play from the first whistle is not going to help.
Neither is his being yanked one period into his brief tenure as emergency starter. I get that in the microcosm of this one game, pulling the goalie is a way of shaking things up and maybe the best choice. But I wonder if it didn’t just put the icing on the Conklin-is-shot cake. We’ll see.
MacDonald: Meanwhile, Joey MacDonald acquitted himself quite well and looks like a goalie that can handle being hung out to dry by his teammates, because he still has some measure of confidence in himself. He kept the game close and made a number of strong saves that boosted my confidence in him, and from what I saw on Twitter, I was not alone.
It would not be surprising at all to read that Babcock is going with Ty Conklin again tomorrow night, but Joey MacDonald probably should be the guy. At least in a test capacity. Conklin has had time and time again opportunities to show he has what it takes to spell Howard with a competent outing, and he’s so fair failed to do that more than about once. Without that background, I’d say it’d be unfair to leap to conclusions on MacDonald after just one game, but it’s hard not to. Joey just looked better.
The Shootout: I was afraid MacDonald would be a bust in the shootout, because he hasn’t looked good in them while in GR, but he showed up pretty well. The Oilers have some real skill, so I’m not going to hold those goals he did allow against him. I will, however, hold Cleary’s attempt against him. What was that, Danny? The Wings are used to winning these things in just a few rounds, so maybe it’s to be expected that when other guys are put on the spot, it won’t turn out well.
Thug Oilers: What a bunch of children. The Kronwall hit elicited the trademark sign of a dumb team, then Smid runs Zetterberg into the boards like a donkey.
The Power Play: Remains pathetic. The Potter/Smid sequence should have been an automatic goal or two, but they came up completely empty-handed. It’s seriously embarrassing.
I’m going to try to make it a policy to stop complaining about missed calls that would have given the Wings a power play, because it’s not like they would have done anything with it anyway.
And I added a new entry to my new site/Twitter glossary. See “PP”. Right?
Breakaway: Helm had a breakaway that he totally Helmed in the first period. Of course.
Where Confidence Meets Arrogance: I tend to think these trap games that we can so easily predict are a sign of an attitude problem. The Wings know they’re better than just about anybody and they know they have the talent to pull victory from the jaws of defeat on short notice. The old “slow start, frantic finish” model we see. So. Often.
I don’t know if last night is specifically a case of that, but another, related angle on this is the fatigue excuse. I say related because I’m starting to wonder if some of these nights where the storyline can be “they’ve played x games in y nights, they’re out of gas” are really nights where the storyline is “they’ve played x games in y nights, so they’re proactively holding back until late because they know they can.” See the difference?
I love a Wings team that’s confident and has swagger. What I don’t love is a growing suspicion that they’ve crossed over to at least a mild form of arrogance that says they don’t have to take anyone but the most skilled opponents seriously. As Babcock himself has pointed out, teams these days are far closer than they’ve probably ever been before. I guess it would be great if the Wings could play like they believe that more often, even against teams as far back in the standings as the Oilers.
Because that “slow start, frantic finish” model? It doesn’t always work.
The Race: The one point put them at 72, which is 4 over Nashville (regulation winners at home vs. St. Louis), 5 over the Blues and 7 over the flagging Blackhawks. They’ve got a buffer and can afford a game like this in terms of The Race, but they need to get their defensive house in order around the current goaltending situation as soon as possible. Meaning, tomorrow night in Phoenix.