Archive for the 'Game Reports' CategoryPage 4 of 21

Wings 3, Canucks 2 (SO)

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 18, 2008
in 2007-2008, Canucks and Game Reports
. 0 Comments

The Wings halted their three-game skid with a 3-2 shutout win over the Vancouver Canucks last night. We won’t know for sure until tomorrow night’s game in San Jose, but it looks like we saw something of a return to form. The game wasn’t perfect, but their performance was better than anything they’ve put on since the win over Colorado last week.

Some thoughts:

… I thought Dan Cleary was the best player in red-and-white. His level of individual effort all night was incredible and would have made him a star in my book even without his two goals.

… In spite of myself, I was impressed with Roberto Luongo last night. He played a heck of a game and made a number of incredible saves that weren’t necessarily a direct result of his physical size combined with large padding. The Wings kept him working hard all night and he was nearly the difference.

… At the other end of the ice, Dominik Hasek was strong as well. He wasn’t tested nearly as much as Luongo, but he was forced to make some good saves. He could have controlled the rebound on the Sedin goal better, perhaps, but he had no chance on Naslund’s goal as the puck went in off Rafalski’s skate.

… Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg were kept off the scoreboard, but I thought they played fairly well. Still the occasional  bonehead pass by Hank, but that’s not the end of the world. It’s interesting that Babcock will put a slumping forward with one of those two in order to get them going, while he’ll put them together if they’ve both hit a bit of a dry patch. If they continue to play on the same line, we can expect a breakout game sometime soon.

… Valtteri Filppula fell inexplicably at least three times last night. I’m thinking it’s time to keep track. And for someone to convince him to try different skates.

…  Still not sure about the Kronwall/Lidstrom, Rafalski/Lilja experiment. The latter two have some complementary flaws in their game that you’d think Babcock would want to avoid.

… Is it just me or does Datsyuk only use one move in the shootout?

… It was good to see Hank try a move other than the Peter Forsberg Deke™.

… I think this was a game that would have been a relative positive, even if the Wings had lost. They put forth a strong performance and have something to build on as they head into San Jose tomorrow night.

Links

Wings 1, Thrashers 5

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 16, 2008
in 2007-2008, Game Reports and Thrashers
. 0 Comments

Update (7:13 PM): Missing “Highlights” link added below. - Matt

I don’t have much to say about this game. There isn’t much to say.

I hope that was the low point of the season, because it sure felt like it.

I have to give the Thrashers credit for playing such a great game. We shouldn’t get so hung up on the Wings’ performance and forget what Atlanta did. Marian Hossa was a stud. Kari Lehtonen was a wall. Ilya Kovalchuk was only barely kept to a single point. They knew what was at stake and got the win they needed to vault Carolina for the Southeast Division lead and third place in the Conference. Compare that to what a win would have meant for the Wings: 72 points, 10 ahead of Ottawa and 15 ahead of San Jose. That’s the game in a nutshell: the Thrashers had something to play for. The Wings? Not so much.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and start riding Chris Osgood for his play since the contract extension and being named an All Star. I was guilty of that kind of thinking last night. The fact is, though, he hasn’t had a team playing in front of him and he can’t be expected to completely stone guys like Marian Gaborik and Marian Hossa. I did think maybe last night would be the night Dominik Hasek took over the #1 spot on a more official basis, but I suspect the goaltending rotation will continue.

By the way, I’m not so sure about Babs’ decision to pull Osgood there. Was it really worth sending out Hasek cold? They are fortunate he wasn’t tested much early on. I suppose it accomplished the goal of causing the Wings to pick up their play and tighten their defense, but it seemed like an unnecessary risk.

I’m going to go ahead and call out Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg here. Since this slump started in the Colorado game, the Eurotwins have combined for two goals. Zetterberg has three assists over that span, and Datsyuk has two. Contrast that with just about any four-game stretch during the season and you won’t get a favorable result, for either player (though more so for Zetterberg). The Wings best players have been anything but over the past four games.

They have one game to get things back on track before they head to California. If they can’t at least put up a good fight Thursday night, it’ll be a long trip. According to Bruce MacLeod, they got a “loud refresher about the penalty-kill” at practice today. That’s a start.

This isn’t the end of the world by any means. They’ve built up quite a buffer zone between themselves and the rest of the League and can afford some slipping. Some adversity would probably even do them some good. But that doesn’t mean letting this develop into a 4-6 game losing streak is advisable. They’d obviously like to pull out of this before it becomes a full-on nosedive and I’m confident they will.

Links

Wings 2, Senators 3

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 13, 2008
in 2007-2008, Game Reports and Senators
. 0 Comments

Some folks, such as Sherry at Scarlett Ice, and Jes Golbez at AOL Fanhouse, are writing that the game lived up to the hype. I have to disagree and it’s not because the Wings lost. Had they played at a level on par with that the Senators played and still lost, I would, of course, be disappointed, but I’d be right there with the people saying it was as good a game as advertised. But they didn’t play at the same level as the Senators, not for much of the game, anyway.

Whereas Ottawa came out of the gates in all three periods flying, the Wings were flat when they needed life the most. They were able to make it a game in the third period, but they couldn’t keep up in the end. Usually it is Detroit that has the opposition standing around, watching them play. Last night, for too much of the game, the Wings were the observers.

Some scattered thoughts:

… Despite their even strength reunion, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg were all but invisible. I think the fact that Ottawa’s CASH line often seemed to have their way with the Wings’ defense while the Eurotwins were by and large silent may have been the most disappointing aspect of the game. They and Tomas Holmstrom remain one of the top lines in hockey, but it’s obvious that there is some separation there.

… I’m thankful Dominik Hasek played as well as he did.He made a number of huge saves and kept his team in the game when they were busy doing pylon impressions for the speedy Senator forwards.

The first Alfredsson goal was screened, so there can’t be much blame there. Mike Fisher’s goal was the result of a bad turnover and while you’d like to see Dom control the rebound better, there wasn’t much he could do. Fisher’s acceleration on that play was incredible. He was screened on the game-winner as well, though of course he could have held the post better. Can’t really blame him for it, though.

29 saves should be enough to win a game.

… The Wings have become much more physical than they used to be, but the fact that they were knocked around by Ottawa, of all teams, is pretty embarrassing. I found myself thinking more than once that it would have been nice to have had Aaron Downey in the lineup. Perhaps he could have awakened his teammates. Perhaps not. I don’t know. But when Chris Kelly gets away with knocking Dallas Drake in the back of the head, you know something is wrong.

… With the exception of the setup leading to Brian Rafalski’s goal and maybe one or two other man-advantages, the Wings’ power play was pathetic. At times even embarrassingly so. Their inability make a decent pass was a problem in all situations, though.

… While on that topic, I should just mention that part of the Wings’ problems may have stemmed from the fact that the first period was so broken up by chintzy penalty calls, on both sides. Why officials feel they have to ruin a perfectly good hockey game between two highly skilled and generally clean teams is completely beyond me.

… Early in the third, Dany Heatley initiated contact with Dallas Drake at the endboards, but ended up taking the brunt of the damage, as he went down shoulder first. He didn’t return to the game and will be out 4-6 weeks with a separated shoulder. Unfortunate for the Sens, of course, but I’m more concerned with the fact that the Wings only somewhat took advantage of his absence.

… Rafalski’s goal gave the Wings the life they had been lacking most of the night. Prior to that, I had started to wonder whether they’d score at all, with their offensive opportunities boiled to a bare minimum and with Ray Emery making all the necessary saves. When Rafalski found himself wide open in the slot, it seemed ordained, but at the same time I thought, “Wouldn’t it be typical if he got stoned or sent it wide?” Then he scored and we had a game.

… Somehow Jiri Hudler found a spot in the corner to put the puck a little over four minutes later, tying the score at two. If the game was ever a nail-biter, it was after that. I was thinking my prediction for the Fanhouse could come true.

… Then Alfredsson made it 3-2 with just under three minutes left. So much for that.

… End verdict: the Senators took this game seriously and earned the win. The Wings evidently took it somewhat more lightly and were lucky to escape with a respectable-looking score. I’m sure they’d make a better showing in a rematch, but they’d be better off worrying about getting back on track now or else there won’t be a rematch.

They have games against Ilya Kovalchuk and Roberto Luongo (otherwise known as Atlanta and Vancouver) this week before a three-game trip around California starting Saturday. Tuesday is as good a time as any to halt this skid.

… I leave you with a quote from the Senators’ coach, John “Adolf” Paddock, via Hockey Capital:

“[C]ome on! No more questions? MVP of the league this year? Votes? Hand up for Zetterberg? No? Alfredsson? Yes?”

I won’t relate my initial reaction to reading that. This is meant to be a family blog, after all.

I will, though, say this: I think the fact that the Wings didn’t miss a beat when Hank was out last month effectively took him out of Hart consideration. He’s one of the top players in the League (who just happened to have a bad outing last night, Paddock, no doubt due to having come down with the flu), but even calling him the Wings’ MVP would probably be a stretch because of Pavel Datsyuk.

Personally, I’d rather have it that way. The Wings, I’m sure, are concerned with Zetterberg’s health, but they also have the consolation that, if he does go down, they have a wealth of depth to help make up for his absence. On the other hand, members of the Senators organization should be developing ulcers and seeing psychiatrists due to stress over whether or not Alfredsson will go down.

So, you can have your Hart Trophy candidate, Paddock. I’d take a team over a single player any day. That may seem like an empty point the day after the Senators beat the Wings, but tell me what the score have been without Alfredsson’s tallies.

Links

Wings 5, Wild 6 (SO)

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 11, 2008
in 2007-2008, Game Reports and Wild
. 2 Comments

Not much to say about this one. Despite the fact that they hung in and kept it a game, the Wings didn’t deserve to win this one anyway. It was one of their weaker defensive performances of the season, to be sure, and was all the more disappointing in that it came against the imposters from “Farber’s Hockeytown.” Fortunately, the Wings will have the chance to cleanse themselves of this on February 5th.

A few thoughts:

… I’m not sure what happened to the team defense last night, but the Wild had 28 shots  and though it’s an exaggeration to say that 20 of them were excellent scoring chances, that’s how it seemed. The Wings had little or no presence in front or behind their own net, as the Wild were setting up plays from Wayne Gretzky’s Office™ all night. It got so bad that frickin’ Todd Fedoruk scored from the slot on the setup from Matt Foy.

… Marian Gaborik showed over and over again last night why he’ll be on All Star teams for years to come (as long as he stays healthy). He’s an electrifying player and when he had the puck on his stick in the Wings’ zone, I was sure something was going to happen.

… Chris Osgood didn’t have much of any chance on the Wild’s goals, but it was still unusual to see him get shelled like that. I don’t think he’ll pull a Miikka Kiprusoff and start tanking now that he’s signed an extension, but last night wasn’t exactly an auspicious beginning to the last stage of his career.

… Seeing the Wings tie it up a little over a minute after the Wild went up 1-0 was encouraging. I’d love to see Brett Lebda make more passes like that.

… Valtteri Filppula scored one of the best goals of the year to bring the Wings within one late in the second. He may have fanned on his initial shot, but his individual effort leading up to that point and the goal scored on the second try ought to have the play on the end-of-the-year highlight reels.

And didn’t I say he’d break out of his slump spectacularly?

… Dallas Drake’s goal? Talk about coming out of nowhere!

…  After Niklas Kronwall’s goal made it 4-4, I was skeptical of Jacque Lemaire’s decision to pull Nicklas Backstrom. After seeing Josh Harding’s performance in a relief role, I understand. That kid has to have the Fastest Glove in the West. And the Wings kept shooting at it, which was maddening.

… Dan Cleary’s go-ahead goal at 18:52 was quite awesome. The relief was short-lived, however, as Eric Belanger scored at 19:11 to tie things up. Just after Ken Daniels said, “And we’re headed to overtime,” the Wild took a long shot on Osgood and I thought, “… he scores!”  because it seemed like that kind of night. Fortunately or unfortunately, it didn’t happen and we had to sit through a tense overtime period.

… The shootout was frustrating. Datsyuk tried a glove-side deke and failed. Demitra sent the puck off the side of the net, but probably had Osgood beat. Zetterberg  tried that idiotic Forsbergian deke (one of his his two shootout moves) and Harding was with him the whole way. Complete failure, Hank. Rolson’s blast startled Osgood. Hudler proved the only Red Wing with a shot faster than Harding’s glove as his snapper ripped through to set up the final showdown with Gaborik. Osgood didn’t really have a chance.

… Congratulations to the Wild for the win. Just don’t let it go to your heads.

… Let’s all hope the Wings’ performance in this game was a one-time thing because they’ll get lit up on Saturday if it wasn’t. If you don’t already know, they’re traveling to Ottawa for a showdown with the #2 Senators. It would be a very bad time to hit a slump.

Links

Wings 1, Avalanche 0

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 9, 2008
in 2007-2008, Avalanche and Game Reports
. 6 Comments

Update (9:07 PM): I should also point out that Brian Rafalski had a great game defensively, perhaps one of his best in the Winged Wheel. - Matt

I’m between shifts at work and don’t have a lot of time, so, once again, this will be brief. I apologize.

… This was perhaps the closest-fought game the Wings have played this season. They weren’t playing their absolute best hockey, but they were playing well enough to beat just about anyone and Colorado stuck right with them. There were stretches of play that were as exciting and tense as any I’ve seen this season and there were plenty of times where I was sure the Avs would score.

The Avalanche countered the Wings by playing a puck possession style rather than throwing fits and dumping it in like some teams, and, to their credit, they did a darn good job. It didn’t make the game more enjoyable, per se, since I was concerned about a comeback until the final seconds, but it certainly kept things interesting.

It was good to see the Wings pull out the win, in spite of the Avs’ strong play.  They still don’t look like they’re slowing down.

…  Although the Wings outshot Colorado 25-19, I thought the Avs had the better scoring chances. Hasek had to be real sharp on a number of occasions and not just by making a save; he was sharp with his stick as well and made a few timely poke-checks to cut a chance short. There were more than a few times where the Wings’ D was hanging on by a thread only to just clear the puck away.

… At the other end, the Wings had a lot of good cycle shifts, but it did not seem as though they tested Theodore as much as they often test other goaltenders. The team’s in-zone passing was strong, though in their own end and at center their passes were frequently intercepted.

… The Wings were forced to hustle a lot more than they usually do, I thought. Most games, they make everything look so easy, but last night they had to really work for it.

… Tomas Holmstrom had a fair outing in his return from a knee injury. He was a trooper on the Wings’ goal as he took a Niklas Kronwall shot off the upper inner thigh and managed to get a swipe the puck without falling over in pain. Pavel Datsyuk picked it up and scored his 17th as a result.

… I thought Andreas Lilja had a solid game. The more he does that, the harder it will be to complain about him.

… Chris Chelios took a roughing penalty at 16:40 of the first period, but it was worth it. While coming in on an offensive flurry, Cory McCormick had needlessly cross-checked Nick Lidstrom only to find himself swarmed by the the Red Wing captain’s teammates, including Dominik Hasek. Chelios, however, came around behind the Colorado punk and hauled him to the ice with one arm. When he was pulled off McCormick, Cheli dropped his gloves and started motioning at him, but was taken to the penalty box instead.

It was a great reaction to see and one I found completely understandable. When I saw the play live, I wondered what all the commotion was about, but as soon as I saw the replay, I was incensed. The game was probably too close for it, but I would have liked to have seen Aaron Downey go after McCormick and teach him something about respect, were he in the lineup.

… I said it after Dom’s shutout in Dallas on Saturday, but I’ll say it again: it’s time for the talk about concerns over Hasek’s goaltending to stop. He’s gotten back on track and comments like that just demonstrate a lack of understanding of what’s actually going on in Detroit these days. That kind of talk comes out of a desire of those who don’t like the Wings’ success to find a chink in their armor. However, it’s safe to say that, if this team has a weakness, it certainly isn’t goaltending.

… The team practiced today with the same lines as last night, so it’s possible that there won’t be any changes to the roster for tomorrow night’s game against the Wild.

Links

Wings 3, Blackhawks 1

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 7, 2008
in 2007-2008, Blackhawks and Game Reports
. 0 Comments

Update (09. Jan, 3:55 PM): Corrected Denis Savard’s name below. - Matt

Unfortunately, I don’t have much time today, so this will be brief.

… It was good to see the Wings exorcise that demon last night. You could tell from the onset that the game wasn’t going to be a repeat of their four losses to Chicago. They came out looking determined to put to rest any doubts about their ability to take care of the Hawks and looked nothing like a team that had played a pretty hard-fought game the day before. They had an energy normally reserved for games following a two- or three-day rest.

… Henrik Zetterberg’s goal at :50 of the first period was a thing of beauty, as was the play that set it up. However, you have to wonder what the heck Chicago was thinking to let Hank sneak in completely uncovered like that. I mean, he dishes the puck off to Jiri Hudler at the blueline and suddenly all eyes are on the little Czech. Then Jiri passes it across to Andreas Lilja and all five Hawk skaters turn to watch the most defensive defenseman in Detroit, while Zetterberg skates in completely unmolested. A nice Swede-to-Swede pass later and Hank is netting his 26th.

… Chris Osgood was strong once again and very much deserved the shutout. It’s a real shame he didn’t get it.

… Dan Cleary’s looking like a goal-scorer again. I hope he can keep it up when Tomas Holmstrom returns and he’s not a lock to play with Zetterberg or Pavel Datsyuk.

… Who knew Nikolai Khabibulin was so vicious? Tomas Kopecky joined Tomas Holmstrom and Martin Lapointe in the ranks of Red Wings who’ve had goalies freak out and attempt to make them eunuchs. How Khabibulin didn’t get booted is beyond me.

… Valtteri Filppula has returned to his habit of falling to the ice inexplicably. He also seemed to have trouble carrying the puck in open ice last night. Put him in a crowd and he’s suddenly a stickhandling genius, but give him space and the puck just falls off his stick.

… The Hawks never gave up last night, but the Wings never took their foot off the pedal, so it didn’t matter. Khabibulin was pulled late in the game and the Wings came close to putting it in the empty net twice before Chicago iced it with 30 seconds left. They then pulled Khabibulin again with 14 or so seconds left. Not sure what they were trying to accomplish there. Two goals in 14 seconds? It’s been done, but wasn’t exactly likely. Maybe it had something to do with Denis Savard’s idiotic comments yesterday.

… Again, it was good to see the Wings do what they should have done four times before: beat the Chicago Blackhawks. Now they can turn their attentions to another injury-depleted team, the Colorado Avalanche.

Links

Wings 4, Stars 1

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 3, 2008
in 2007-2008, Game Reports and Stars
. 2 Comments

Update (11:56 AM): Mark Stepneski of Andrew’s Dallas Stars Page NHL Blog comments briefly on the game here. - Matt

The Wings made to 30 wins fastest in team history last night, setting a pace that is ahead even of the 62-win team. Of course, as Bruce MacLeod points out, if you take away shootout wins, the Wings are behind the 95-96 squad.

However, lets not detract from the team’s accomplishment here. At the halfway point, the Wings look like one of the most dominant teams in the last decade, shootout wins or not. They still have a long way to go and will be hard pressed to match the 62-win squad’s four losses in the second half, but they’re showing few signs of slowing down.

A few thoughts on the game:

… The first period started slowly, but picked up after a big hit by Niklas Kronwall on Loui Eriksson. Unfortunately, it took place off camera and I never saw a replay, but I could tell from the reaction of the crowd (loud cheers, people standing up) that it was a monster. Just nine seconds later, Dan Cleary scored 13th of the year.

From around the time of Cleary’s goal, the game’s tempo was good.

… The Stars “scored” at 5:34 of the second period, but it was immediately waived off. Replays showed that Chris Connor had knocked the puck in with his glove while falling. Nice awareness on the ref’s part there.

… The Wings were looking pretty sloppy for most of the first 7 or so minutes of the period. Their passing was overly cute and, as a result, they didn’t connect as often as they should have. Things turned around after their second goal.

… Aaron Downey had a great shift leading up to the Franzen tally. He took a hit from Mark Fistric along the left wing boards in the Detroit end and seconds later, he notched his first point as a Red Wing with a beautiful pass that found Johan Franzen free a step behind the Stars defense.

Johan made good use of the open ice and deked Marty Turco out of his jockstrap on his way to his 7th goal.

I noticed in this game that, while Turco is a great goalie, he gets deked rather easily.

… You can tell Valtteri Filppula has been paying close attention to Pavel Datsyuk. His puck handling mannerisms are looking more like Pavel’s all the time. He even tried Datsyuk’s patented half-spin-pull-the-puck-between-the-feet-while avoiding-a-hit move (you know what I mean. Must think of a shorter name) at one point during the second period. It wasn’t quite as successful as Pavel generally is, but it was nice to see him try it.

… I love Henrik Zetterberg and have since before he first donned the Winged Wheel. But his tendency to take the puck down the wing and around behind the net drives me nuts. So rarely does that play develop into something worthwhile. I know he doesn’t necessarily have the size, but what I wouldn’t give to see him drive to the net like this!

And yes, I know it was his first game back from an injury, but it’s something he’s done all season.

Aside from that little quibble, I thought he looked stronger as the game went on. He certainly made his linemates better once Mike Babcock started throwing him together with guys like Matt Ellis and Tomas Kopecky.

He made a great pass to Dallas Drake to set up the Wings’ third goal, though Drake benefited more from Turco’s puzzling slowness to get across  and close his 5-hole. It was Drake’s first goal in his return to the Wings.

… Chris Osgood was stellar last night. He’s bailed the Wings D out a couple times and earned a chant from the JLA crowd  for a diving “save” on a shot that followed an odd bounce off the boards. It was probably going wide, but he recovered nicely from his expectation that he would be able to intercept the shoot-in behind the net.

… About seven and a half minutes into the period, Steve Ott knocked Nick Lidstrom down while the latter was already off balance at center.  Seconds later, Dallas Drake stood up for his captain and got Ott to fight. It was a short match and a relatively easy win for Ott, but it reinforced the message the Wings have been broadcasting all season: they aren’t going to stand for shots at their stars.

… Unfortunately, the result of the fight was that the Stars got somewhat rejuvenated. Immediately after the fight, the two teams looked  pretty even. As the game neared the halfway mark of the period, however, the Stars began to take over. One shift beginning around 10:00 held the Wings in the zone for a good 50 seconds.

… Despite the Stars’ improved play, however, the Wings took a 4-0 lead at 13:13. Valtteri Filppula carried the puck into the zone and it ended up on Cleary’s stick after Fil’s shot went off the side of the net. Cleary dished it off to Nick Lidstrom at the point while Pavel Datsyuk headed to the net. Lidstrom faked a shot and waited for the crowd in front of the net to clear before shooting toward the left side of the net. Datsyuk got his stick on it out front and it changed direction to the upper right corner.

… At 13:59, the Stars got on the scoreboard and ruined Osgood’s shutout. The play began with an unfortunate turnover by Aaron Downey, who worked hard to make up for it in the subsequent seconds. Unfortunately, he just missed intercepting a pass down low from Fistric, and the Wings were inexplicably caught out of position. The initial shot was blocked and had Osgood well out of the net on the left side, leaving the road open for Eriksson to pick up the puck and score on a wrap-around.

… To their credit, the Stars did not give up as the game wound down. The game remained exciting, if not in doubt, to the end.

… The JLA crowd was louder than usual, I noticed. While that may not be saying much, as it is generally about as loud as a restaurant, they went beyond mere cheering and actually began various chants. The game ended to the sound of “Ozzie! Ozzie!”.

… One general comment: the Wings’ defensive effort was quite strong, I thought. There was nearly always a Red Wings standing ready to clear the puck from the front of the net after Osgood made the save, so that the Stars rarely had an opportunity to follow up a shot.

As pointed out by Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond, their strategy of having one defenseman grind out the puck along the boards while the other stood in the slot worked very well. The guy on the boards would sent the puck out to the slot and the slot man would send it up ice to start the breakout.

… They announced later in the third period that Tomas Kopecky had gone down with a hand injury. His last shift ended at 13:59 (the Dallas goal), but I don’t remember anything in particular that would shed light on how he got hurt. It’s possible that the team will need to call up Mark Hartigan again.

… One more general comment: I thought the Wings did a fair job of taking it to the Stars physically. Kronwall and Lilja had a few big hits, though none of them made the NHL’s Highlight Reel.

… The Wings get a couple days of rest and practice now before they face the Stars again on Saturday for a matinée game.  The Stars, on the other hand, will play tonight in Minnesota. Hopefully we can expect a result similar to this one this weekend.
Links

Wings 4, Avs 2

Published
by
Matt Saler
on December 28, 2007
in 2007-2008, Avalanche and Game Reports
. 3 Comments

Just a few thoughts on the game:

… We’ve definitely established that the Wings don’t play their best hockey the second night of a back-to-back. Last night was no exception. They’ve had better games. They looked pretty lethargic in the first period and though they seemed to pick it up as the game went on, they never really struck that note of pure efficiency that has marked their best games.

… The difference between the October/November Valtteri Filppula and the December iteration is enormous. Although Fil has been a strong defensive player all season, his offensive forays earlier on ended comically more often than not: he inexplicably fell down, fanned on a shot, sent the puck wide of an open net, or failed to finish in some other way. Now, he’s a force out there and everything is going in for him. He’s become very strong with the puck, as his play on his first goal last night demonstrated, and looks like he’s picked up Henrik Zetterberg’s mantle in his absence.

This is the Valtteri Filppula we’ve been waiting for and if he can keep it up when some of the pressure to produce is off him at the return of Holmstrom and Zetterberg, the Wings are going to be even tougher to stop.

… I love it when Jiri Hudler breaks out his cannon of a shot as he did on his goal last night. He gives the impression of being strictly a wrist-shot-after-a-deke type of player, but he has that brute force side that will make him one of the team’s better finishers. He’s fun to watch because he has no idea just how small he is relative to nearly everyone else .

… Brian Rafalski: Please be more aware when you make a cross-ice pass.

… The problem with putting in a rookie like Derek Meech when Chris Chelios is a healthy scratch is that the kid has no veteran to play with. I don’t really think Meech should be paired with Lebda, but I don’t know what else Babcock can do. He can’t exactly put him with Lidstrom or Rafalski.

… It’s amazing to me that the Avs only managed to take one penalty last night. I know they’re the least-penalized team in the League, but how can a team with Ian Lapierre take only one penalty? I know I saw them get away with a lot last night, though, to be fair, so did the Wings. I guess it was just a case of the officials deciding to let them play.

Still, the Lidstrom tripping call in the third was as bogus as they come, and the referee missed a blatant penalty just before Samuelsson scored the empty netter. The Avs hauled Pavel Datsyuk right in front of the official and there was no call. At that point, it didn’t really matter, but you’d still like to see a penalty there.

… Peter Budaj is a strange goalie. It’s hard to describe what I mean. Maybe this example will help: on the Wings’ second goal, Nik Kronwall started things off with a nice play at the blueline followed by a shot. The rebound went to Filppula at the right side of the net, behind Budaj. From his knees, Budaj looked back, saw the puck on Filppula’s stick, and stood up, effectively conceding the goal. Sure, it was inevitable, but most goalies would have tried to dive back or something. Budaj often seemed to freeze or otherwise react strangely after shots like that.

… A win over the Avs always feels good. Especially when they have such an intense finish.

… To end on a personal note, I’ll be out of town this weekend (leaving southeast Michigan and heading to West Michigan) and won’t be posting again until January 1st at the earliest. I’ll probably be watching Saturday, but I’ll miss the New Year’s Eve game because I’ll be at Van Andel watching the Griffins.

This coincides nicely with the onset of a mild case of Blogger Burnout Syndrome that I’ve been feeling lately.

I hope everyone has a good weekend and a Happy New Year!

Links

Wings 4, Wild 1

Published
by
Matt Saler
on December 23, 2007
in 2007-2008, Game Reports and Wild
. 4 Comments

The Wings once again put the Wild in their place with their second dominant performance against the boys from “Farber’s Hockeytown.”  The Wild stayed roughly competitive for a little over a period and a half, but the Wings pulled away in the final five minutes of the second and never really looked back. It was a return to the “A” game.

A few thoughts on the game:

… Dominik Hasek got the start for the Wings and made 18 saves. He  didn’t have to make many big stops, but he was there when required and improved to 9-0-2 in his career against the Wild. He looked a little out of position on the lone Minnesota goal, but it was deflected in off Chris Chelios so it may not have made any difference. With the Wings dominating the puck, Dom was mostly along for the ride, anyway.

… At the other end of the ice was Niklas Backstrom and I think he deserves a good chunk of credit for stopping 47 shots, many of which required monster saves. He robbed a couple Wings, including Jiri Hudler and Valtteri Filppula, though the Wings scored a split second later on that latter chance. Backstrom is the only reason this game wasn’t a rout on the scoreboard as well as just about everywhere else.

… As I wrote above, the Wings’ first goal came just after a glorious Filppula chance was denied by Backstrom. Fil had the whole right side of the net to shoot at, but Backstrom managed to knock it down with his glove and stick as he dove across. He didn’t control the puck, however, and Pavel Datsyuk immediately followed up by knocking it into the net. You can’t fault Backstrom for that one, as the puck squirted out to Filppula after coming at the net from the left point and Datsyuk was left unmolested in front of the net.

… It doesn’t appear in the play-by-play, but early in the second period, while on the power play, Brett Lebda put the puck in the net at the tail end of a flurry that included the bowling over of Johan Franzen by a Wild defender into Backstrom. Backstrom ended up essentially on his back with the puck between his legs. The down low official stepped up, into the crease, to see if it was still live. It ended up getting picked up by Lebda, whose shot glanced off the officials calf on it’s way in. That ref signaled it was a goal, but the play went immediately to review because of the ref at center ice.

At first, the consensus was that something was being called on Franzen for having fallen into Backstrom. However, that theory was soon ruled out as it was noticed that the puck had gone in off the ref. The goal was waived off because of Rule 85.4:

If a goal is scored as a result of being deflected directly into the net off an official, the goal shall not be allowed.

Okay. I can accept that. I just want to know what the heck the ref was doing in the crease. That was a major brain cramp on the part of that official (I’m not sure if it was Chris Lee or Dennis LaRue).

… At 15:14, Johan Franzen made it 2-0 with a nice individual effort. Jiri Hudler intercepted a Wild outlet pass sent it to Mikael Samuelsson, who dropped it Franzen along the left wing boards. Johan carried the puck around behind the net and back out front on the right side. For whatever reason, Backstrom didn’t hold the post and Franzen roofed it on what should have been a fairly routine save. The goal pretty much came out of the blue.

There has been some debate in the media about the value of second assists and I have to say that Hudler’s was deserved on this one. Had he not made the play on the Minnesota pass, Franzen never would have had a chance to make Backstrom look foolish.

… The Wings scored again 45 seconds later. This time, it was Dan Cleary, who benefited from a beautiful long pass by Nick Lidstrom and broke in on Backstrom all alone. He put a quick blocker-side wrister into the net  with Brent Burns trailing to make it 3-0 Wings.

Brett Lebda got the second assist and this time I think it was a bit of a crock, since the puck did nothing more than glance off his skate when the Wild shot it into the Detroit end. Lidstrom’s great pass was all the assistance Cleary required. Nick’s awareness that Minnesota was going through a line change, which was well-outlined by the FSN crew, and the accuracy of the pass made it all happen.

… At 18:27, Valtteri Filppula was called for holding. I don’t recall ever seeing a holding penalty called when neither of a player’s hands ever left his stick, so this was new to me. Fil was trying to split a pair of defenders and used his right arm in a battle for the puck, the possession of which he had only just lost. I believe it was the official behind the play that made the call, which may explain it. It looked like an innocent battle for the puck from the front, but perhaps from the back it looked like that most heinous of all hockey penalties, the offensive-zone hold.

What made the penalty even more unfortunate was the fact that the Wild scored on the subsequent power play. The really unfortunate part of that sequence of play was that a Red Wing clearing attempt was masterfully blocked by the linesman. The puck stayed in the zone and it wasn’t much later that the Wild got within two. The puck went in off a diving Chelios and left a somewhat out-of-position Hasek with little chance at stopping it.

… Given that they scored at 19:51 of the second period, you would have thought the Wild would have had a boost going into the third.  Whatever they had hoped to do, however, was thwarted by  one of the Wings more impressive defensive performance of the season. Minnesota managed just two shots in the first eight minutes of the period and five total in the third. They had managed just seven in each of the first two periods. The Wings put up 16, 17, and 18 for a total of 51, dominating offensively while maintaining a high defensive standard.

… Tomas Kopecky rounded out the scoring at 9:59 with a gritty goal right on the doorstep. He seems to be getting better every night.

… In the absence of Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom, Valtteri Filppula and Dan Cleary really stepped up their play as they saw time with Pavel Datsyuk. Fil has been on the verge of breaking out all season and it appears we are finally witnessing his transition from a somewhat bumbling second-year  player to a mature two-way dominant force. Cleary is showing once again that he can both grind it out on the third line and skate with the stars.

… Another strong win for the Wings, who enter the Christmas Break on a high note despite uncertainty about two of their stars. The Wings obviously want Hank and Holmstrom back as soon as possible, but they showed last night that they can still win if other guys step it up. The Wings demonstrated their depth last night and showed why they have to be considered the best team in the NHL at this time.

That’s especially encouraging given the chance that Zetterberg’s back could keep him out of some games in the future. Personally, I’d like to think about that contingency as little as possible, but you know the Wings have considered it. If the trade deadline were tomorrow and the playoffs started the day after that, I wouldn’t change a thing about the team as it stands now, but with the news that Hank’s back isn’t always fine, trade (or free agent) possibilities  are on the table. Over at Abel to Yzerman, IwoCPO looks at some options.

There is, of course, always the chance that Hank’s back could turn out to be nothing to worry about and he may return to the lineup right after the Break, seemingly none the worse for wear. We can only hope.

… Other than the Links, I have just one more thing to point out. After the game, Kris Draper was asked where he was going. His answer?

“I’m going back to Hockeytown.”

Thanks to Erik for posting that in the GameDay post comments.

Links

Wings 2, Blues 3

Published
by
Matt Saler
on December 21, 2007
in 2007-2008, Blues and Game Reports
. 2 Comments

Update (7:18 PM): George Malik has posted his Wings/Blues media wrap-up and post-game wrap-up. - Matt

A few thoughts on the game:

First of all, Chris Osgood is the only reason the Blues did not lead by 3-4 goals in the first period. He was extremely sharp and kept the Wings in the game long enough for them to get their feet back under them after the first intermission.

The second period was somewhat more tilted in the Wings’ favor as they came out of the locker room looking like they were ready to play. While Osgood continued his stellar goaltending, the skaters took to the task of evening the game up, something that finally happened at 10:35 of the period when Valtteri Filppula scored his ninth of the year. 30 seconds later, Mikael Samuelsson ended a 13-game slump with his fourth, giving the Wings the lead.

Keith Tkachuk tied the game at 4:22 of the third period by tipping in a Paul Kariya shot. Osgood had no chance on that one. The Blues, who had been physical all night, became downright rough after that. I thought the Wings did a fair job of adapting to the physical game, but the Blues’ size and determination to grind their opponents into a pulp wore the forwards down.

I fully understand the Blues’ strategy of playing a rough and physical game. What I don’t understand is where the officials were during all of that, as St. Louis was often outside the bounds of legality, at least as I understand the rules. There are many examples, but the three very obvious cross-checks by a Blues defender on Johan Franzen near the end of the game stand out in particular. Franzen is the second largest player on the team and is one of the tougher Red Wings, but he was knocked down at least twice a couple vicious high cross-checks - while the ref was watching.

Another blown call that hasn’t gotten a lot of press was the kneeing that resulted in Holmstrom’s injury. I don’t recall the name of the Blues involved, but  Holmstrom was effectively tag-teamed by two of them, with one taking him down from behind and the other, who had been covering Zetterberg, sticking his knee out as he came in. Although Holmstrom made it off the ice on his own, he could have something of a serious injury.

The worst blown call, however, had little to do with exceptionally rough or nasty play on the part of the Blues. It was a clean-cut case of goaltender interference that somehow went unpenalized on the game-winner. While Lee Stempianak was busy winding up for his shot, Jeff David Backes was backing into Osgood. By the time the shot was on it’s way, Backes was making contact with Osgood and clearly interfering with his ability to make the save. Had it been at the other end of the ice, with Tomas Holmstrom doing anything like the same thing, the goal would have been waived off in a second, probably because the whistle would have blown before the shooter would have had a chance to release the puck.

I can stomach losses. I have to, because the Wings aren’t going to win them all. This one goes down badly, however, particularly because of that game-winner. There was no way the Wings were going to be able to tie things up after that, with the Blues playing pre-Lockout defense like they were and the officials letting them get away with it.

I hate complaining about officials because it is so often a cop out and an excuse for poor play. However, it’s difficult to ignore a blown call on the game-winning goal. The officiating for the rest of the game was bad, I thought, but I suppose the Wings could have overcome it. That task would have been made easier if they weren’t in the second game of a back-to-back, though.

Personally, I thought they held up fairly well, given that they had played the night before and were facing a rested and highly motivated team. Their final push to tie things up was great to see, but in the end, it wasn’t enough. I suppose the Blues deserve credit for breaking out of their slump with a win over the League leaders, but they aren’t going to get it from me.

Instead, I’ll give credit to Pavel Datsyuk for standing up to the Blues, who singled him out all night and ran him multiple times, with each instance becoming more dangerous as they became emboldened by the indifference of the officials. Rather than becoming gun-shy, Pavel did his best to stick it to the Blues right to the end of the game. It’s quite unfortunate that he wasn’t able to do more than create chances for himself and others.

One last thing: I hate Barret Jackman and have ever since his first year, when he won the Calder Trophy over Henrik Zetterberg. The guy represents all of the dirtiness of Chris Pronger without any of the offensive upside.

This has nothing to do with his on-ice play, but I think it illustrates Jackman’s character (or lack thereof): Late in the game last night, while the Wings were pressuring in the St. Louis end, the Blues iced the puck. While the puck was going heading to the Detroit end, Jackman went to the bench and got off. The ref went over to pull him back onto the ice, as the rule stipulates, but the linesman, for whatever reason, decided that Jackman wasn’t on the ice after all. Jackman, rather than doing the honest thing by going back out voluntarily, let the officials talk it out, which gave the Blues a rest they never should have gotten. In the end, Jackman was allowed to stay on the bench. The smirk on his face as he sat down told it all. He knew exactly what he was doing. Some might call it smart of Jackman, but I call it cheap.

Anyway, the Wings fortunately get to rest today. Hopefully they’ll be ready to face Minnesota and Marian Gaborik, who was the first player to score five goals in a game since Sergei Fedorov did it in 1996.

Links