From Flu To Hangover To Comeback

By Adam Parks

Thursday, October 29, 2009 Red Wings 5 @ Oilers 6 SO

The H1N1 virus has infiltrated the NHL, and Edmonton is the petri dish. Defenseman Ladislav Smid was diagnosed with the swine flu a few weeks ago and several of the Oilers have been ravaged with symptoms of fatigue, nausea, soreness, and general discomfort ever since. Sounds typical of a normal Sunday morning. The Wings came into the Rexall Place on a slight high after their comeback in Vancouver against the Canucks on Tuesday, their first road victory of the season. Looking to ride the winning wave through Western Canada back to Detroit, the Wings did everything wrong but vomit on the ice during the first period in Edmonton. They looked hungover from Tuesday's win and was unmotivated to take advantage of a sick and tired team.

Fatigue Not A Factor

Detroit had won six of the last eight match-ups between these two teams, but the Wings skated into a flu-infested snakepit of infected Oilers on Thursday and were lucky to earn a point without contracting the pig disease...hopefully. Those dirty Canadians could have intentionally contaminated them. Never trust a Canadian. Despite a locker room full of worn down skaters, Edmonton did not show a lack of energy early on. With nine guys having swine-symptoms, two players out with the flu, and five others sidelined with various injuries, the Oilers punched the Wings in the face with three goals in the first period that appeared to be a knock-out blow from the get-go. It took Jean-Francois Jacques just 42 seconds to score off a Gilbert Brule rebound to give Edmonton the lead. This was the first Oiler goal scored in over seven periods, 141 minutes, of hockey during a stretch that included two-straight shutouts (Vancouver and Colorado). Dustin Penner, a 6’ 4”, 245 pound power forward, used his stick-shaft to slap Shawn Horcoff’s rebound out of midair about midway through the period. Penner also assisted on three other Edmonton goals to give him 19 points in 13 games to lead all Oilers. A power-play goal from Ales Hemsky, in what looked like a five-on-three advantage, rounded out the scoring in the first and left all in red and white with a splitting headache and an upset stomach.

The Tragic Tale of the Two Four-Goal Lead Comeback

The duo of Hemsky and Penner combined for a total of three goals and four assists and appeared too much for the stunned Wings to handle. Things worsened when Brian Rafalski bobbled the puck at his own blue line and watched Hemsky skate away on a breakaway and score on Jimmy Howard for a 4-0 lead 58 seconds into the second period. All the wind in the Wings’ potential comeback sails was sucked out and Darren Helm’s first regular season goal of his career seemed like just a formality. A blown shutout for Nikolai Khabibulin. Horcoff’s goal to make it 5-1 should have buried Detroit, but the Wings got a lucky bounce and a luckier goal from Henrik Zetterberg late in the second. They would put up a fight in the third period unlike anything else this season, and it was the role players that brought them all the way back. Jonathan Ericsson notched his third goal of the season, Todd Bertuzzi got his second, and Patrick Eaves earned his first as a Wing to bring Detroit all the way back to a 5-5 tie with seven minutes left. Edmonton began the game with four unanswered goals and Detroit ended regulation with four unanswered goals. It was unreal. It felt like a new game had started. The ugly, beady-eyed, poutine-covered Canadian faces in the crowd looked like it was August 9, 1988 all over again. At the end of regulation, in an attempt to relieve their anger and frustration, half of the log-rolling, curling-watching, canoe-making fur traders left the Rexall Place, grabbed their axes, and ran screaming into the Alberta wilderness. Sure, the Oilers would get the win off of Patrick O’Sullivan’s shootout goal, but the single point the Wings picked up, in a game they had no business being in, was worth more. Detroit showed great composure and grit in that third period and displayed a never-die attitude that had been all-but absent.

Griffin Eggs

With six goals in 41 career playoff games, who would have guessed that Darren Helm would have to wait so long to score in the regular season? After being scratched for the Vancouver game, Helm stepped up and skated in his best game of the year and was a pivotal component to the comeback with two points.

Like Helm, Ericsson also picked up the first regular season goal of his career in Edmonton in a 3-2 Wings win on March 24, 2008. With his third period goal Thursday he now has three goals total in the Rexall Place, and three goals this season. The young defenseman was a plus-2 on the night and also dished out an assist.

Ville Leino continues to search for the back of the net. The winger took a nifty pass from Pavel Datsyuk late in the second period and beat Khabibulin, but rang off the post. He still is yet to score a goal in North America.
Jimmy Howard had a shutout in the third period.

Nugs and Notes

Adding Injury To Insult-Valtteri Filppula left the game in the second period after a check along the boards from Gilbert Brule. Brule, like the satiny-custard creamed dessert, broke Filp’s wrist, and the center will be out for six to eight weeks. The injury comes at a terrible time for Filp who had become comfortable centering Detroit’s second line, and for the Wings as another goal-scorer/play-maker will miss time. Two possible scenarios to compensate for the loss: either Mike Babcock will split up Zetterberg and Datsyuk, or he will move Draper up to the second line and give Helm and Justin Abdelkader an opportunity to center the third and fourth lines.

Scorin’ In The Wind~Apparently Zetterberg’s favorite musician is Bob Dylan...which is awesome. Z has eleven points (two goals) in eleven games.

Peace.