On the Wings

Update (6:25 PM): George Malik has posted his wrap-up for the game. - Matt

Update (4:33 PM): I should point out that last night was the first time in the Wings’ history that they had two penalty shots in the same game. - Matt

The Wings notched their eighth win in nine games last night with a 5-2 decision over the Florida Panthers. It was an exciting game, but also a strange one, with two own-goals and two penalty shots to go with continuous action and a good pace. It was definitely a different game than I expected.

Chris Osgood got the start for the Wings and played yet another solid game. He essentially had a shutout, as the Panthers were unable to beat him on their own and required the help of two of the Wings’ defensemen.

The game was not fast-paced and exciting from the start, as the Panthers managed to ice the puck three times in the first four minutes. For their part, the Wings were pretty sloppy in their own end and had trouble linking up passes. They turned the puck over a few times, but the Panthers only manged to lob it toward the net, where it either went wide or was blocked.

Gradually, the Wings got it together, however. Around the 4:20 mark, Dan Cleary had a glorious scoring chance from Pavel Datsyuk while Tomas Vokoun was without his stick. He nearly managed to stuff it in 5-hole, but Vokoun got his right pad in front of the shot and made the save. Following that play, the top line of Datsyuk, Cleary, and Henrik Zetterberg finished out their shift with some solid pressure.

At 5:03, the Panthers  took a penalty just after Vokoun made a big save with Johan Franzen right in his face. On the ensuing power play, the Wings set up well while Florida played an aggressive penalty kill. Nick Lidstrom, left wide open and found by Zetterberg, had a great chance to score, but sent it high and wide.

At 5:48, Florida took another penalty and handed the Wings 1:15 in 5-on-3 time. Although the first power play unit had been on the ice 45 seconds already, Babcock chose to keep them out rather than put fresh legs in. After Dan Cleary tipped the puck wide of the net twice, the Wings set up their first goal of the game.

Brian Rafalski, on the right point, sent the puck down to Zetterberg to Vokoun’s left. Hank sent the puck through the crease to Datsyuk, who put it in the net off Vokoun’s left skate. Pavel’s fortunate Vokoun’s skate was there, as the puck would have gone back through the crease rather than into the net without it. 1-0 Wings at 6:18.

Because the goal was scored while the Wings were still on a 5-on-3 power play, they continued to have the man-advantage. The only noteworthy thing that occurred before the Panthers killed off the penalty, however, was a nifty move by Nik Kronwall to fake out a defender at the blueline. It led to a Mikael Samuelsson chance, but not, unfortunately, to a goal.

By 7:30 of the first period, the Wings were leading 13-0 in shots.

Following the 5-on-3, the Wings continued their dominance. Johan Franzen nearly scored around the 9:10 mark when he sent a shot off a rebound through the crease. The fourth line did a great job of holding the Panthers in their own zone as they cycled the puck well and generated a lot of energy. Pavel Datsyuk made a nifty between-the-legs pass to Henrik Zetterberg, who promptly squandered a chance to drive to the net by wheeling around behind it, leading to nothing.

Throughout the first two-thirds of the period, the Panthers had little or no offense. They managed  their first shot at 8:14, but did not get a second until five minutes later. Chris Osgood earned cheers for making saves on both, as the fans were happy to see him get some work. Florida did eventually get going in the final 7 minutes of the period, though.

Richard Zednik nearly beat Brett Lebda around the 15:00 mark, but Brett managed to recover and make a nice defensive play at the last minute. That was the Wings’ defensive mode of choice in the final minutes of the period. The Panthers would get a great chance only to be stopped at the last second by the desperate play of a Red Wing, such as Valtteri Filppula, who broke up a sure goal with a well-timed poke-check.

The Panther’s surge came in the midst of an eight minute stretch of play in which there were no whistles. Chris Osgood finally froze it at 2:46, however, but that only led to a couple Florida chances after the faceoff. The last couple minutes of the period were fairly even, though .

Twenty seconds into the second period, Datsyuk stole the puck and somehow got it through to Zetterberg, who ended up running out of real estate, so the chance came to nothing.

At the other end, Olli Jokinen threw the puck  out front of the net and Nick Lidstrom, in an effort to clear it, ended up putting it in himself. His first swipe knocked the puck up in the air and when it came down, it bounce toward the net off his shoulder. Nick then tried to knock it out of the air, but only managed to knock it into the net. It looked worse live than it did on the replay, but it was still a shock. I don’t think he’s ever made a mistake like that in his career. 1-1 at :46 of the second period.

After the goal, the Wings’ second line of Jiri Hudler, Valtteri Filppula, and Mikael Samuelsson, together with Chris Chelios and Brett Lebda had a solid pressure shift, until Lebda fanned on the puck at the blueline. Not long after that, Dallas Drake had a couple scoring chances, but couldn’t capitalize. The Wings were looking a bit sloppy at this point.

Chris Chelios put the Panthers up 2-1 at 4:59. Radek Dvorak carried the puck in on a rush and took a shot that was stopped by Osgood. Chelios, following up on the play, took a swipe at the rebound in an effort to clear the front of the net, but he fanned on it a bit and it hit his skate and headed toward the net. He tried to knock it away again, but only managed to stuff it just inside the left post. Needless to say, Cheli was less than impressed with himself. Osgood could only shake his head.

Almost immediately after the Chelios goal, Zetterberg nearly scored on Osgood, too. I missed that one because I was still writing notes on the last own-goal, but it came on a flurry and disaster was only narrowly averted.

At this point, despite not having actually scored a goal, the Panthers were looking quite confident. They took a delay of game penalty at 7:35, however, and ended up giving up a goal as a result.

With Rostislav Olesz down on the ice after blocking a shot with his ankle, the Wings effectively had a 5-on-3 power play. Kronwall sent a shot/pass to Jiri Hudler to Vokoun’s left, but Jiri’s shot went through the crease and missed the net. Johan Franzen picked it up and stuffed it into the net with Vokoun’s help as the latter fell backward into the net with his hand on the puck.  2-2 at 8:58.

At 10:40, Valtteri Filppula took a holding penalty and put the Wings on the penalty kill. Florida’s power play did not last long, however, as Ruslan Salei was called for tripping Dallas Drake at 11:19.  It was easily the worst call of the night, as Drake was already falling when Salei got mixed up with him at the blueline. For 1:21, the teams skated four-a-side, but nothing much of note happened. Pavel Datsyuk managed a couple shots on the Wings’ abbreviated power play, but that was all.

Chris Osgood made a great save on a dangerous Florida chance following a bad bounce in the Detroit end. Olli Jokinen and Nathan Horton were in on that one. Not long after that, Tomas Kopecky had a solid scoring chance of his own from Johan Franzen. Dan Cleary nearly scored off a feed from Datstyuk at 16:44, but Vokoun made a huge save on the tip.

The Wings went back on the power play at 18:00 after Richard Zednik slashed Datsyuk’s stick in half in the Detroit end. It was an incredibly dangerous play, as it would have easily broken  Pavel’s hand had it landed anywhere other than the stick. Fortunately for the Wings, however, Datsyuk was not injured on the play, though he was bowled over Branislav Mezei before the play was whistled dead.

On the ensuing power play, the Wings’ second unit cycled the puck very well and generated a couple strong chances. The power play was cut short by another Filppula penalty at 19:18, however. It was another weak call, but may be seen as a make-up for the bad call on the Drake trip earlier.

With the teams skating 4-on-4, Pavel Datsyuk had a breakaway, but ran out of real estate and put the puck in Vokoun’s chest. He stayed with the play, however, and fed the puck to Lidstrom, who got off a shot that didn’t go in. The Panthers took it the other way, with Jokinen carrying, and had a great scoring chance developing when Zetterberg made a diving play to knock the puck away from the Florida captain. The play did not stop there, however, Nathan Horton managed to get his stick on the errant puck as it flew across the net and deflected it just wide.

At the start of the third period, the Panthers controlled the play, with Radek Dvorak wrecking havoc in the Detroit end. Gradually, however, play evened out as the Wings regained their feet.

Dan Cleary broke the tie with his 10th of the season at 5:40. Andreas Lilja lobbed the puck at the net and forced Vokoun to make a save, and Cleary picked it up from around his feet, knocking it in 5-hole. Brian Rafalski extended the Wings’ lead a 1:04 later with a blast from the blueline that beat Vokoun high glove side. It may have been deflected by a Panther on the way to the net, but it was not a screened shot at all and probably one Vokoun would like back.

At 7:47, Pavel Datsyuk got a step on the Panther defense and broke in on Vokoun. Although he got a shot off, he was hooked by the Florida defenseman and was awarded a penalty shot as a result. For those wondering whether or not that was the right call, Rule 25.8 says that four conditions must be met in order for a penalty shot to be awarded:

(i) The infraction must have taken place in the neutral zone or attacking
zone, (i.e. over the puck carrier’s own blue line);

(ii) The infraction must have been committed from behind;

(iii) The player in possession and control (or, in the judgment of the
Referee, clearly would have obtained possession and control of the
puck) must have been denied a reasonable chance to score (the fact
that he got a shot off does not automatically eliminate this play from
the penalty shot consideration criteria. If the foul was from behind and
he was denied a “more” reasonable scoring opportunity due to the
foul, then the penalty shot should be awarded);

(iv) The player in possession and control (or, in the judgment of the
Referee, clearly would have obtained possession and control of the
puck) must have had no opposing player between himself and the
goalkeeper.

Obviously, the play met conditions i, ii, iv. As for condition iii, the official must have decided Pavel would have had a better chance to score had he not been hooked.

So, Pavel Datsyuk got the Wings’ second penalty shot in three games. Unfortunately, he tried the same move he used in the shootout Thursday (backhand to forehand deke) and was stopped by Vokoun.

At 11:14, Valtteri Filppula picked up the puck following a Franzen chance and drew another penalty shot, as Vokoun threw his stick in order to stop another scoring chance. Fil used the same move he used in his first penalty shot, a deke to the backhand, and beat Vokoun over his left pad. Vokoun tried to poke check the puck away, but failed miserably. 5-2 Wings at 11:17.

The Wings took a penalty at 13:14, but put on a good kill as the Panthers managed only a scattered power play.

After the Florida power play, Mark Hartigan rang a shot off the post. Ken Daniels chose that time to inform us that the Wings needed one more shot to set a season high with 46. I thought, “And now they won’t get one.” For the next few minutes, it looked like I would be right, as they stopped forechecking and settled back into a defensive posture. They did finally notch that last shot with 40.6 seconds left , but it was a harmless long shot that Vokoun stopped easily. The game ended with Osgood freezing the puck after a late Florida push.

It was Mike Babcock’s 200th career win, but he won’t get the last game puck as Chris Osgood threw it into the crowd as he left the ice.

Overall, a solid game by the Wings and a much better one than I was expecting. I figured the Panthers would slow things up so much that they’d lull Detroit to sleep and win because of a garbage goal or two. I never dreamed I’d see Lidstrom and Chelios score own-goals like that and I never expected to see two penalty shots in the same game. I was impressed with the pace at which the game was played and enjoyed the long stretches where there were no whistles. I have to say, I like Dan Cleary with the Eurotwins, but I’ll be glad to see Tomas Holmstrom return to that line.

Hopefully the team will be ready to play a similarly active game against Washington on Monday.

Links

• Highlights
• Boxscore
• Official site recap
• LetsGoWings recap
• Red Wings TV post-game interviews
  • Pavel Datsyuk and Dan Cleary
  • Chris Osgood
  • Mike Babcock

The Wings’ road trip isn’t turning out so well. With last night’s 3-2 overtime loss to Florida, the best they can hope for is a total of three points out of a possible six on this Southeast Division swing.

In complete reversal of the high scoring Atlanta game on Tuesday, last night’s game was tied at zero until 15:37 of the second period, when Gary Roberts scored for Florida. The goal followed a long stretch of domination by Detroit in which the same Florida line was on the ice for about three minutes. The Panthers finally got it out of their zone when Andreas Lilja broke his stick (again). Ken Daniels mentioned that the broken stick didn’t lead directly to a great Florida chance like it did for the Thrashers on Tuesday in the third period. You were right, Ken, it didn’t lead to a goal on the same play but it did soon after, when Roberts’ line came off the bench. Defenseman Sean Hill sent the puck to Roberts who ended up wide open in the slot. He ripped the shot past Osgood and put the Panthers ahead 1-0.

The Wings had been pretty dominant on the power play all night but Roberto Luongo was a wall and they couldn’t get it past him despite a number of glorious chances. Until the third period, the only times the Wings beat Luongo was during their first power play when Mathieu Schneider’s shot went off the post. Chris Osgood was very steady as well and didn’t have much chance on the Roberts goal. He made some very good saves, including one on Olli Jokinen at 4:25 after the Wings screwed up at the blue line.

Valterri Filppula, wearing #41, got his first NHL point at 6:45 when he assisted on Daniel Cleary’s goal. Filppula, skating at the blueline on the right side, sent the puck diagonally across the zone into the corner - obviously meant as an indirect pass. The puck bounced nicely off the backboards and Cleary picked it up, shooting immediately, a low sharp-angle shot that beat Luongo, who wasn’t quite set. Brett Lebda got an assist on the play, making it an all-rookie/newbie goal. That in and of itself shows the change that is taking place in this organization.

Filppula spent most of the night playing with Cleary and Mark Mowers. He got a penalty in the first but I thought it was a bit of a weak call. Other than that, he didn’t make any glaring mistakes and he showed some real hockey smarts with that assist on Cleary’s goal. He didn’t play a lot, however, with ice-time totaling 4:05 but he got one shot and an assists. According to the shift chart on NHL.com, he only played two shifts per period but did not play at all in overtime. A sidenote, he is the first Finnish national to wear the Winged Wheel. (Tomas Sandstrom was born in Finland but is a Swede so he doesn’t count).

At 10:39 of the third period, Rostislav Olesz pulled a Bobby Orr and scored a classic but rarely seen truly coast-to-coast goal. Olesz started behind his own net and built up speed carrying it out of his zone through center. By the time he reached the Wings’ zone, he had a lot of momentum and any collision would have been pretty spectacular. Andreas Lilja had a chance to hit him but missed and Olesz entered the zone pretty much un-molested. It’s funny because, at the time, Ken Daniels and Larry Murphy were talking about Olesz, who was drafted #7 overall in the 2004 draft (etc.). Just as Daniels said something about the Panthers not projecting him to be a big goal scorer, he ripped a shot past Osgood from the top of the left circle. The irony was lost on Ken, I guess, since he still held to his line about Olesz being less of a shooter and more of a passer. Not on that play! That one hurt and was the fault of everyone on the ice, not just Osgood. 2-1 Panthers.

After that, the Panthers shut down and worked to curtail the Wings’ efforts at a comeback. Babcock shortened the bench and had some guys double-shifting but it wasn’t until Juraj Kolnik closed his hand on the puck in his own zone at 17:39 that the Wings finally got a break.

The ensuing power play was a little slow to get going but they finally got set up in the Panthers’ zone and pulled Chris Osgood for the sixth man. At 18:58, the Wings tied it up. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg passed the puck back and forth once or twice before Hank got the opening he needed. He walked in on Luongo and, getting right in the goalie’s face, put the puck around him inside the left post to make it 2-2. Brendan Shanahan did a good job of sealing off Mike Van Ryn away from Zetterberg but couldn’t stop Chris Gratton from cross-checking the heck out of #40 after he scored. For some reason, the refs missed that one, despite Hank’s practically ending up deeper in the net than the puck.

With that, the teams headed to overtime, the sixth time they have done so in their last seven meetings. The Wings controlled much of the first minute or so but Mathieu Schneider was called for tripping at 1:23 and the balance shifted. From one angle, it looked like it was just a good hip check but from another, Schneider’s knee was out just enough to be a penalty. Not a very good play.

The Panthers soon capitalized, scoring at 1:36 to win the game. Olli Jokinen, playing at the point, sent a blast that beat Osgood cleanly. Gary Roberts was screening Ozzie nicely and it’s likely he never even saw the puck. 3-2 final. And we Wings fans still haven’t seen a shootout.

It was the Panther’s first win over Detroit since 96, on their 8th try.

Next up, the Wings travel to Tampa Bay to face the Lightning, 7:30 ET Saturday the 17th.

Update (7:44 PM ET): More on the shootout comment: According to NHL.com’s enormously useful stats page, the Wings are the only team not to have been involved in a shootout this season. They won’t let you do a direct link but if you go to the site and find the drop down box labeled “Report view” under “Team Comparison Reports,” you’ll see an option called “Shootout Summary.” Select that and click “Run Report.” The report that comes up shows 29 teams.

The Wings are 2-3 in OT this year and have not lasted more than 2 minutes in each of those losses. They made it to 4:09 of overtime on October 17th against the Sharks when Jiri Fischer scored the game winner but other than that, we haven’t come any closer than three minutes and nine seconds of playing time from a shootout.