A Low Moment Amidst A High Time Against the Lightning

By Adam W Parks

Thursday, December 17, 2009 Lightning 0 @ Red Wings 3

Mike Babcock got his 300th career victory as an NHL head coach, Jimmy Howard got his first career shutout as an NHL goaltender, and the Wings got their season-best fourth straight win against the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday night...but all milestones came at a mighty cost. Henrik Zetterberg is now the most recent casualty in an already depleted and decimated Detroit roster.

I have never seen Zetterberg get popped so square and so hard like he did on Thursday. Lightning defenseman Mattias Ohlund dropped a shoulder into Hank that stopped him, lifted him, and dropped him down upon his own shoulder. Boom goes the dynamite, Zetterberg out at least two weeks with a slightly separated shoulder. Babcock said after the game, "He’s probably upset with himself...he shouldn’t have got hit like that." Wings color commentator Mickey Redmond immediately pointed out that Z left himself open for the hit as he was reaching for the puck.

Nicklas Lidstrom made a similar assessment: "I can't say it's a bad hit. It's just that Hank was a little bit out of balance. He was reaching for the puck, trying to get it by and Ohlund was making good contact and hit him real solid."

Zetterberg knows he made himself vulnerable for the check: “It was a clean hit. I reached for the puck instead of going for his body, and he made a good hit. Next time I won’t do the same thing.’’

During the replay of the hit Redmond admitted, "I literally could hear that hit through my headphones. If that did not knock the wind out of him I don't know what will."

So What Now?

It has appeared as if nothing can hold the Wings down of late. They came back from an 0-2 deficit against Anaheim, survived a 2-0 comeback from Nashville, and won both games by a 3-2 final in overtime. They then dismantled Ilya Bryzgalov, arguably the best goalie in the league this season, and a good Coyotes team 3-1 before goose-egging the Lightning. But these victories came sans some recently injured players in Dan Cleary (shoulder) who was lost in the game against St. Louis, and Jonathan Ericsson (knee) who went down in the Phoenix game. And now without Zetterberg it will be interesting to see if the Wings can continue winning on a regular basis.

The way that this team has persevered and kept getting victories through these tumultuous injuries has been nothing short of amazing, as is the job that Babcock has done in keeping his players focused and positive. But this latest cataclysmic loss may prove more than even the Wings can endure. Hank leads the Wings with 32 points and is second on the roster with ten goals despite only scoring once in his last 15 and none in the past nine (including Thursday). That kind of production, albeit erratic, is simply impossible to replace.

Detroit has gotten this far this season largely in part from the skaters on the lower lines and not relying solely on the big guns like Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Nicklas Lidstrom. It has worked well this far, but take a look at the centers that Babcock has left to work with now (besideds Datsyuk): Darren Helm, Justin Abdelkader, and Kris Newbury.

Helm missed Thursday's game and the one before with a strained tendon in his wrist and is still experiencing pain, so it remains to be seen how effective he will be. He was a borderline Griffin before the season started but has become one of the best skaters every night for the Wings. Abdelkader was deemed not quite ready for a full role in Detroit and was expecting a stint in Grand Rapids, but like Helm, he has been one of the hardest workers on both ends of the ice. Newbury, Helm's replacement, had a fantastic debut with the Wings against the Coyotes, but was only supposed to be in the lineup for a couple of games. Now he will probably be relied upon through the New Year until either Zetterberg or Valtteri Filppula can return.

These three centers have played hard and have been essential to Detroit's success this season, but between the three of them they have scored a combined seven goals and 15 points. How much more do these guys have to offer? How much more can be asked of them? Is Helm ready to be a #2 center? Can Abdelkader become more of an offensive option in his rookie season? Will Newbury be able to continue his aggressive style of play in the NHL without drawing bad penalties?

Pav's Pressure

Perhaps a better question is will Pavel Datsyuk be able to handle the duties of being the true #1 guy without the assistance of so many weapons? Even with Zetterberg in the lineup, Pav has seen the ice shrink in front of him without weapons like Filppula, Johan Franzen, and Jason Williams, and he has struggled to score and create plays with all the added attention he has been receiving. Pav has just seven goals in 31 games this season with just one in the last 13, and now he will have to face every top defender and every top line in every game while Z is on the shelf. If necessary teams will be able to double up on him as the lower lines will not pose nearly as much of a threat.

As the Tampa game progressed without Hank on the ice it was obvious that Pav was not getting much room to work with, but he was able to make a fantastic defensive play that set up a great goal for one of his wingers.

In his own zone, Lightning defenseman Lukas Krajicek attempted to move the puck past Datsyuk and failed miserably. Pav dropped a backhand pass along the boards from the Tampa Bay blue line to Tomas Holmstrom who made a Datsyukian-type deke around a sliding defender and fed a crashing Todd Bertuzzi. Bert redirected the pass past goalie Mike Smith for his ninth of the season and fifth in the last four games. Bert has been the hottest Wing during this four-game stretch, getting both overtime goals against the Ducks and Predators, but his goal Thursday night never would have materialized without the stellar steal from Datsyuk.

Defensively, he is the same old #13, but Pav's scoring struggles are likely to continue unless all of the guys around him can elevate their games more than what they already have. But goals will have to come from that top line. If Datsyuk can continue to create plays for his linemates, and if Bert and Holmer can continue to capitalize on those opportunities, and if THEY ALL CAN STAY HEALTHY, then the Wings might just be alright.

Anyway, How Bout Dem Wings? How Bout dat Goalie?

Detroit has looked more comfortable and assertive early on in recent games. On Thursday they showed more confidence in the first period than I have seen in quite a few games, despite being out-shot, out-hit, and losing their best player. Tampa Bay also had the advantage in the man-advantage department with five power plays to Detroit's two, but could just muster three shots with the extra skater. Once an area of great concern this season, the Wings' penalty killing unit has been stellar of late, shutting down 36 of the last 37 shorthanded situations over an eleven game span.

Tampa topped the Wings in shots in every period and out-shot them 30-22 for the game, but Howard was there to neutralize the Lightning. This guy is incredible! I can't imagine where the Wings would be this season without him. He has been so active around the net by challenging shooters, redirecting rebounds safely away from opposing sticks and pouncing on loose pucks in the goal crease. The shutout lowered his goals-against average to 2.27 for the season, and Howie has only allowed an average of 1.87 goals per game in the last ten. With the way he has been playing over the last month and a half, it was only a matter of time for Howard to get that elusive first career shutout.

Thursday night he had a little extra motivation as his grandparents travelled from Oswego, New York, and were in attendance at the Joe to see Howard play an NHL game for the first time. Grandma and Grandpa got a good show as their little Jim-Jim earned himself his first career shutout. "It's exciting," Howard said. "To do it in front of my grandparents is something real special. They're a good-luck charm, I guess."

A great night for the grandparents, and a great night for the goaltender.

300 With A Bullet

While Howard got his shutout, Mike Babcock got his 300th win. Babcock has been a perfect fit in Detroit, the much-needed replacement to Scotty Bowman, and his numbers reflect it. In his six full seasons as a head coach in the NHL (two with the then Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, four with the Awesome Red Wings of Detroit), Babcock's 282 victories are more than any other coach during that span, and he currently ranks 13th amongst all active NHL coaches. In each of his four full seasons in Detroit he has won at least 50 games, a feat Bowman accomplished only twice with the Wings: 62 in 1995-96, and 51 in 2001-02. Babcock's Wings have also won its division in each of his four seasons, while Bowman achieved that in six of his nine seasons in Hockeytown.

His success has come with an overabundance of modesty, which he expressed in full with regards to #300. "It just means I've coached good players and I've been in the league a while," Babcock said. "When I first started, I thought if I could coach 300 games, that would be a home run. And then after you've been in the league a while, you start to think you belong and you get to stay a while."

In his first season as an NHL head coach with Anaheim he led Jean-Sebastien Giguere and the Mighty Ducks past the Bowman-less Wings and all the way to the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals where his Ducks were defeated in seven games by the New Jersey Devils. He has coached three of his teams to the Stanley Cup Finals and has gone as far as the Western Conference Finals in four of his six seasons. Babcock won one wonderful Stanley Cup with the Wings in 2008 over the stupid Pittsburgh Penguins, proving that Detroit could still get to the promised land without Bowman behind the bench and Steve Yzerman on the ice.

However this season might be Babcock's finest as a coach, regardless of where they finish in the standings or how far they might make it in the playoffs. Think about what he has had to deal with this season. Th key free agent losses in Mary-Ann Hossuck, Mikael Samuelssuck, Ty Sucklin, and Tomas Kosucky (blah, blah, blah salary cap restrictions, whatever, if you're not a Wing, you suck). Jiri Hudler fled the U.S., his team, and his contract to chase non-taxable Russian rubles. All the injuries (you know who they are and I'm tired of listing them). He has had to deal with a goaltender situation that has seen the struggling Chris Osgood lose several starts to the more trusted and relied upon rookie. And yet, Babcock's Wings are confident, composed, and are creating more and more chemistry in the face of adversity. He has Detroit in a position where they can be seen in the playoff picture, and they could be the most dangerous team in the West if/when they get healthy.

Mike Babcock has never won the Jack Adams Award for the league's best coach, but so far this season he has been the most deserving.

Congrats on #300 coach.

Peace