On the Wings

Update (6:27 PM): Helene St. James has a little more on the botched line change that lead to the game winner a little further down here. Nice of Nick to hang his former defense partner, Andreas Lilja, out to dry there a little. - Matt

Update (1:16 PM): George Malik’s wrap-up of Game 3 is here. - Matt

Update (1:01 PM): George Malik notes that splitting up Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk did not work all that well. They ought to play together tomorrow night, in my opinion. Take Nashville head on. - Matt

Update (12:42 PM): IwoCPO reacts to Steve Schrader’s suggestion that the Wings pull Hasek every time the Predators score so that Osgood can play for a few minutes as a way of curbing these quick-hit goals.

Given that Steve Schrader is sort of the Freep’s resident funny man, I’m guessing the suggestion was a joke, but you should still read what Iwo has to say. - Matt

Update (12:31 PM): BS Fest of the Day: “The best moment in Predators franchise history.” Wow, why don’t we just give the Predators the Cup now? - Matt

Update (12:15 PM): Some further reactions:

Abel to Yzerman

Bruce MacLeod - touches on something I meant to mention below: Brad Stuart. He’s not having a very good series and the break he deserves for playing hurt doesn’t quite cover it.

Steve Ovadia

The Forechecker

PredJoe

- Matt

Update (10:21 AM): HockeyTownTodd has some points about the game that are worth reading.

I don’t buy that last assertion, though. There’s no way last night was a bid for another home game. It was simply a poor effort from the coaches down to the fourth line. - Matt

Update (10:03 AM): Megan has pointed out to me that responsibility for the botched change leading to the game winner could also lie with Chris Chelios. Cheli may have just made a bad decision to leave at that point, independent of Babcock, leaving Lilja to cover two halves of the ice on his own.

Obviously, Babcock wants Lidstrom on the ice against Nashville’s top line, and rightly so. The timing on that instance just didn’t work out.

It also did not help that Draper lost the faceoff, of course. - Matt

Because of class, I only had the pleasure of watching the Wings’ two-goal meltdown, one-goal recovery, and second two-goal meltdown last night.

The Red Wings team that I saw in that period and a half was not the same one that won Games 1 and 2. They couldn’t pass efficiently, they made stupid decisions on attempted hits, and they looked frazzled. This experienced group let the crowd noise and Nashville’s exuberance put them off their game.

Still, Pavel Datsyuk managed to crack a as-yet-unimpressive Dan Ellis after the Wings blew a two goal lead and put them within a period of going up 3-0 in the series. It was just a matter of holding out, as they had in the previous two games. But they couldn’t do it.

Suter’s goal, like Radulov’s before it, was one Hasek had little or no chance of stopping. A beautiful Brad Stuart screen made sure of that.

It’s the goal that came nine seconds that still makes me angry after that pathetic excuse for what passes as a night’s sleep in college. Andreas Lilja is getting a lot of flak for it already, but why not lay some blame at the feet of Mike Babcock? At the time of the face-off following the Suter goal, the defensive pairing is Lilja and Chris Chelios. By the time Arnott streaks into the Detroit zone, Chelios has gone to the bench and Nick Lidstrom has just gotten on the ice.

Was it so necessary to make a change there?

There’s also the question of calling a time out. In Game 2, Babcock used his timeout at a key moment and helped changed the game back in the Wings’ favor. Why not call a timeout just after Suter’s goal?

Those questions are secondary to my real beef, which is this: when his team needed him to make what should have been a relatively routine save, Dominik Hasek let them down. Arnott is no slouch, his performance to that point in this series notwithstanding, but that’s a save most goalies make nine times out of ten.

I missed Hasek’s performance in the first period, so my perception of him last night is colored by that one play, but I can’t just brush it aside. The blame for the meltdown rests on the whole team, but Hasek is supposed to be the fire insurance.

It’s just one loss, of course. It’s a bad one and a frustrating one for a lot of reasons I won’t elaborate upon at risk of being labeled a hypocrite. But it’s just one and I didn’t really expect a sweep. I just hate to see them lose like that.

Wednesday is a must-win game for both teams. For the Wings, they have history going both ways. In 2004, they lost both games in Nashville, but won the next two to take the series in six. In 2001, however, the Kings took them in six after a Game 3 stunner pulled the rug out from under them. Right now, the pessimist in me has taken over and you can bet that I’ll on edge all day tomorrow.

It’s possible that we may see a lineup change or two, though Babcock seems to be a guy that sticks with what he’s got until he has to change. That said, what could change? The popular choice, no doubt, is to dump Lilja in favor of Brett Lebda. That has its positive points, namely Brett’s speed. However, Lebda had, in my mind, an off season and also lacks size, an essential element in this series. Lilja brings size and a physical element the Wings will need to pull out a win in Game 3. Just pair him with someone other than Chris Chelios. The two slowest players on the team? Come on.

Another possibility is sitting Mark Hartigan in favor of any one of Aaron Downey, Justin Abdelkader, and Darren Helm. Downey brings size and physicality that will help deter the Predators from taking so many liberties (read: charges and boardings) with our stars. However, he has no offensive upside.

Abdelkader brings size and speed, but has zero experience at this level. That could be an asset in the form of pure youthful exuberence, but I’d hate to see him make a rookie mistake that turns this series on its head.

Helm brings speed and offensive ability, but he’s small. He’s also inexperienced.

It’ll be interesting to see if any lineup changes are made. If not, there are certainly strategic changes that must be made. This team will make the necessary adjustments, but tomorrow night we’ll find out whether or not they’re enough to pull out a win on the road.

Game 4 is not going to be fun.

Highlights

Update (2:03 PM): Just after I published, I saw the latest from Bruce MacLeod. Basically, Babcock told him the Eurotwins will “start together” in Game 3. As MacLeod points out, that doesn’t mean they won’t be split  up later, after Trotz’s strategy with regard to the two stars has been determined. - Matt

The Detroit Red Wings took a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference Quarterfinal series with the Nashville Predators with a 4-2 win yesterday afternoon.

The game was uneventful for the first minute and a half or so. Around 1:40, however, the Predators entered the Detroit end on a rush and Alexander Radulov forced Dominik Hasek to make a save. Meanwhile, Radek Bonk tumbled toward the net due to contact with Brad Stuart. Radulov picked up his own rebound and slipped it past Hasek’s left shoulder in what appeared to be a goal just before Bonk knocked the net off.

It was immediately waived off, however. The referee ruled that he had lost sight of the puck prior to Radulov’s second try and although the whistle did not sound until after the puck had gone in, the play was dead (Rule 78.5 xii). Obviously not a great move by the official, since the play was nowhere near over at that point.

There is also the matter of the net. On the first replay I saw, it looked as though the puck went over the line just before Bonk knocked it off. On the overhead replay shown later, however, it looked like the net was in motion as the puck went over the line. That, however, doesn’t matter, apparently. Rule 78.5 x says

The goal frame is considered to be displaced if either or both goal pegs are no longer in their respective holes in the ice, or the net has come completely off one or both pegs, prior to or as the puck enters the goal.

Neither condition was met in this case. Had the official not deemed the play dead prior to Radulov’s second shot, the goal should have counted, though it probably would have needed review per Rule 39.4 ii.

To add insult to injury from the Nashville perspective, the Wings scored about 30 seconds later. Brad Stuart kicked off a rush with a pass up to Mark Hartigan just prior to being hit and going to the bench. Hartigan, standing still at center, dished it off to a speeding Dallas Drake, who chased it into the Nashville zone and chipped off a backhand shot as he caught Suter and Zidlicky flatfooted. Ellis made the save but sent a big rebound to left side where Darren McCarty had an easy slam dunk into the half-empty net.

Mac was definitely Johnny-on-the-spot there, but the play never would have happened without Stuart’s quick disposal of the puck prior to absorbing a Hordichuk hit. Hartigan’s feed was obviously key as well. The goal came at 2:26 of the first.

The Predators spent the rest of the period taking it to Detroit offensively. They managed 15 in the first and plenty of them were very good scoring chances. The Wings matched them fairly well when they attacked in the other end, but their defense was on its heels for much of the period. Hasek had to be stellar and was. At the other end, the Wings made a point of getting in Ellis’ face.

Nick Lidstrom put the Wings up 2-0 at :39 of the second period with a blueline bomb while the Wings were on the power play. Tomas Holmstrom screened Ellis perfectly and the puck beat the goalie high stickside after hitting Smithson out front.

The Predators cut the Wings’ lead in half 1:40 later when they got a lucky bounce off a shoot-in. Hasek came out to stop the puck going around the boards, but it hit a stanchion well before getting to him and he was helpless as Radulov put it in the empty net. Bad decision by Hasek to leave at that time, for sure.

11 seconds later, Jordin Tootoo tied the game up. Jiri Hudler turned the puck over at center and Andreas Lilja blew it when the bouncing puck evaded him in his feet. Tootoo picked it up and beat Hasek 5-hole, as Greg Zanon made sure to tell him after celebrating with his teammate.

After that, the Predators really took it to the Wings. The swarmed the Detroit zone and had at least three huge scoring opportunities. The first was a blown chance on the open net by Jan Hlavac. The others were a couple shots off the post by Bonk and Suter.

At 4:46, Mike Babcock called a time-out. He got the Wings to settle down and 14 seconds later, they regained the lead. Jiri Hudler carried the puck into the zone and was knocked down. Mikael Samuelsson picked it up and dropped it off to Kris Draper, who sent it in the general direction of the net. The puck went in off Greg Zanon’s skate. Call that payment for his earlier taunting of Hasek.

After that, the Predators were somewhat deflated. The Wings began to knock them around, as evidenced by Tomas Holmstrom’s hit of JP Dumont into the center divider between the benches, and Chris Chelios’ hard hit of Rich Peverley into the endboards not long after that. Dumont remained on the bench for quite a while before finally returning.

The end of the second period was a crazy one. A Kris Draper chance was countered by a Dumont solo rush in which Hasek came well out of the net to take the puck away. It bounced high in the air and the Wings narrowly avoided a tied game when the Predators couldn’t follow up.

The Wings regained two-goal lead at 10:03 of the third period. Following a passing clinic between the defense and the forwards, Pavel Datsyuk took a shot on Ellis while Zetterberg headed to the net. Ellis made the save but kicked the rebound right to Tomas Holmstrom in the slot, handing #96 an easy goal.

The game ended with the Wings on the penalty kill and the Predators with an empty net. They made a good push, but the fact that Detroit could ice the puck made defending somewhat easier. Hasek was strong on the couple chances Nashville had.

All in all, it was a wild game. The Predators had control of it in the first period and into the second, but they lost their grip following the Draper goal. The Wings, veteran group as they are, kept their composure into the third period, where they elevated their play when the game was on the line. That’s what you expect from an elite group.

The Predators are upset over the officiating yesterday and given the facts on the waived-off goal, I guess I can’t blame them. However, guys like Barry Trotz and David Poile should be more upset with the effort of guys like Jason Arnott and JP Dumont, who were just the worst of their teammates. The Predators as a whole lost the game when they couldn’t maintain their focus. In this case, blaming the officials is a cop out. As Ansar Khan put it, “[w]hen Jordin Tootoo is your best player through two games, you’ve got a major problem.”

The Predators, for one thing, have to find a way to stay out of the box. They took too many ill-advised penalties yesterday. The two that stand out in particular were Dumont’s roughing of Nick Lidstrom while Nashville was on the power play in the second period, and Arnott’s interference at center when he was too lazy to move his feet. Those calls and others came at bad times for the Predators and were indicative of their lack of focus.

The Wings haven’t been perfect either. Their defense still leaves much to be desired, though their third period performances somewhat make up for that. I would prefer that they keep the game that tight from start to finish, however. The first period was far too wide open.

I’m a little ambivalent about these breaks the Wings have been getting. In neither game were they the sole reason Detroit won, but they figured a little too much in the final result for my taste. I can’t help but suspect that the outcome would have been different had the first Predators “goal” counted. I’d like to see the Wings tighten up their game and win without these officiating disputes. But I’ll take the breaks as long as they come.

Going in to Game 3 on the road, the Wings will have to prepare for the Predators’ best. Nashville simply has to win tomorrow night and I don’t doubt that they’ll do whatever it takes to do so, even if it comes to thuggery.

I doubt Babcock will consider a lineup change after the success of the current one, so don’t expect to see Aaron Downey come in. I suspect that Darren McCarty will have to answer the call at some point in Game 3 as the Predators look to take liberties with the Wings’ stars. Given that the Predators have the last change, it will be more difficult for Babcock to keep the Eurotwins away from Jordin Tootoo. That’s why it’s likely we’ll see the two split up, as shown by today’s practice.

The Wings are poised to take a stranglehold on this series. They just have to tighten up defensively and pick up where they left off offensively.

Links

Highlights

Gorilla Crouch

Abel to Yzerman

Snapshots wrap-up

BjJ liveblog