Wings: Red In Tooth and Claw

By Adam W Parks

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 Red Wings 5 @ Canucks 4

Any behavioral biologist will agree that in the natural world, that of the beasts, nature can be violent and unsentimental when it comes to survival. One does not need to read a Richard Dawkins book to know that animals will fight, bite, scratch and claw their way to the top in order to survive in a competitive environment of limited resources. When facing oppression and adversity, human beings are just as capable of the same savage acts as any African lion or American grizzly. With their backs against the boards and facing an early deficit, Detroit played its most desperate game of the season against a confident Vancouver team and won in an evolutionary way.

Warning: Do Not Corner An Injured, Desperate Hockey Team

Losing games after leading by two goals has become a recent and nasty habit of the Wings having already lost three games in such a manner, but last night they found themselves on the opposite end of the two-goal curse. Vancouver scored just 30 seconds into the game when Henrik Sedin picked up his fifth goal of the year as he took a loose puck in front of the net and slid it underneath Chris Osgood. Ozzie was left pinned-up on the clothes line, finding himself out of position after a bad bounce along the boards. There have been several goals this year that Osgood could do nothing about, but there have also been several bad-angle shotes that he has neglected to stop as well. Several minutes after Sedin's goal Christian Ehroff sent a shot from along the boards, on a bad-angle, through Osgood’s gaping five-hole. A bad play by the Wings followed by a bad play by Osgood and Mike Babcock did not make any hesitation to give his starting goaltender the hook in favor of Jimmy Howard.

A Goalie Change Gives The Wings A New Perspective And A Reason To Fight

Howard skated onto the ice as all in attendance at the General Motors Place in Vancouver taunted Osgood. When a goalie gets yanked in the first period it usually is meant as a message to the entire team to wake up and get into the game. After three straight disappointing yet hard-fought losses, the Wings looked wasted and ready to get blown-out in Vancouver. Riding a three-game win streak, Roberto Luongo had only given up three goals during that stretch and five in his last six games. In his tenth season in the NHL, Luongo has been one of the elite goalies of the decade and was coming in off his 48th career shutout, a 2-0 blanking of the Oilers in Edmonton. Making his 12th consecutive start of the season, Luongo looked unbeatable early in the first, especially after a kick save off a Henrik Zetterberg break-away, and then preceded to stop everything thrown his way during a barrage of shots shortly thereafter. But the story of this game was Howard as he looked sharp and confident after his strong performance in the loss at Colorado. He was soon on call with about eight minutes left in the period when Brett Lebda tripped over Sedin and knocked the net off its moorings. It was a much-needed delay of game penalty as the Canucks smelled blood around the net, swarming for the kill. Howard and the penalty-killing unit did their part and the Wings were able to reverse the momentum of the game. Tomas Holmstrom’s goal shortly after the power play expired was the first allowed by Luongo in 99 minutes dating back to the second period of a 3-1 win over the Maple Leafs on Saturday. A precision tic-tac-toe play from Datsyuk to Zetterberg to Holmer resulted in a nifty backhand one-timer into the back of the net. It was Holmstrom’s team-leading sixth goal of the season and fifth in his last seven contests against Vancouver. It gave new life to his team while also proving Luongo to be beatable.

The Battle Rages On/There Will Be Casualties

Brad May continues to keep the opposition’s tough guys off of Detroit’s skilled players. With both teams throwing bodies at each other all around the rink during the second period, he squared off with Tanner Glass behind Howard. May has 15 penalty minutes this season: all five-minute fighting majors. Three fights in five games played. Awesome! This is what the Wings have needed the last few years. Hopefully the 37-year old does not wear himself out too early this season. Minus the fight there was only one other penalty called in a very clean, yet physical second period: a roughing penalty on Shane O’Brien. Despite a lack of scoring, it was an entertaining period of hockey to watch as both teams picked up the checking. However, a scary moment came early when Vancouver’s Ryan Johnson nearly broke his neck. In an attempt to chase the puck into the Wings’ zone, a full-speed Johnson was knocked off balance by Nicklas Lidstrom. He could not regain his balance and barely ducked his head before exploding into the boards. He could have easily been paralyzed on the play. Luckily his shoulder took the blow, but his entire body went motionless immediately after. Johnson left the ice on a stretcher but was alert and had movement in all his limbs. He was taken to a hospital for precautionary measures and was considered not to be seriously injured. A terrifying moment and a reminder that this is, all metaphors aside, just a game.

It Takes A Strong Leader For A Pack To Survive

Pavel Datsyuk is notorious for slow starts. This season he has missed two games with an undisclosed upper body injury, but had just four assists and zero goals heading into the game against Vancouver. Often times Detroit’s offense flows along with how Datsyuk is playing, and last night #13 broke out to the tune of three points with two goals. The third period was a back and forth scoring affair that started with Nicklas Kronwall tying the game early in the period with a wrist shot that beat the glove of Luongo as Alexander Edler shoved Holmstrom into his own goalie. The Canucks would answer soon after with a power play goal to regain the lead. Then Datsyuk took over. After bringing the puck in hard on Christian Ehrhoff and pulling up quick, Datsyuk ripped a wrister through Luongo’s five-hole. Approximately five minutes later, off a Kevin Bieska hooking penalty, Datsyuk struck again on the power play. He tied up his man on the face off, got a little help from Holmstrom to move the puck back to Brian Rafalski who left it for the cycling Datsyuk who then fired another wrist shot over the glove of a Holmstrom-screened Luongo. Sedin scored his second of the game on a five-on-three power play to tie it up again, but this game had that feeling that the Wings were going to find any way to win.

Closing In For the Kill

Willie Mitchell was called for a high stick on Zetterberg with about five minutes left and everyone at home, in the bar, and in the GM Place knew what was going to happen next. Todd Bertuzzi brought the puck in from the blue line, passed off to Valterri Filppula down low, who sent the puck through the blue paint in front of Luongo to Jason Williams for an easy tap-in goal just 14 seconds into the power play. Third periods have not been kind to the Wings, for the offense or the defense. Prior to last night, Detroit had been outscored in the final session 11-6. They gave up a game-tying goal in the final three minutes in back-to-back games against Colorado at home and in Phoenix against the Coyotes, the prior a loss in a shootout and the latter a loss in overtime. Against the Canucks the Wings kept the puck and the pressure in the Vancouver defensive zone and Howard came up with some great saves when he needed to, especially after Vancouver pulled Luongo for an extra skater. An exciting game and a much-deserved victory that the Wings had to fight red tooth and claw to win.

Griffin Eggs

Jimmy Howard! The guy comes in off the bench with a two-goal deficit, stops 20 of 22 shots faced, and picks up his first win as a Red Wing since his first year as a professional during the 2005-06 season. Congratulations! Now he needs to do that when he gets the start.

Ville Leino, unproductive in the boxscores but playing hard every night, went scoreless but was a plus-1 rating while skating on a new line. It is obvious that this guy has all the tools to be a potential 20+ goal scorer in the league, but he will have to start taking advantage of opportunities and finishing plays before he will even pick up his third of the season.

Justin Abdelkader was back in the lineup for Darren Helm (healthy scratch). Abdelkader is an exciting player and one that will be hard to leave off the roster as he continues to improve. He finished with and even rating, one shot on goal, two hits, but was just two of six on faceoffs centering the fourth line with Kirk Maltby and May.

With an assist on Datsyuk’s first goal, Jonathan Ericsson earned a plus-1 rating for the night. He and defensive partner Brett Lebda, also a plus-1, had been particularly suspect. The duo were a combined minus-10 coming into the game last night.

Nugs and Notes

Old Friends Now Enemies-The Canucks had a couple of former Wings on display. Mikael Samuelsson picked up an assist, his eleventh point of the season, and is tied with Ryan Kesler for second on the Vancouver roster. He leads all Wings scorers by one (Zetterberg has ten). In just his second game of the season, Mathieu Schneider ripped a slap shot past Howard for a power play goal in the third period. The shot was reminiscent of all the fond memories of the potent blue line firing range that was him and Lidstrom for four years in Detroit.

Bert: A Winged Wild Card?-Bertuzzi was all over the ice, skating on just about every line in just about every situation against the same team that both turned him into a superstar and traded him away to the Florida Panthers for Luongo. Bert’s story is well known: his animal-like behavior on the ice cost another man’s career and nearly his life. It was an inexcusable act that he will have to live with for the rest of his life. Though Detroit is a prime place for castaways, and in this case, rogues, to find a role and strive...if only to survive another season.

Peace.