Monday, November 30, 2009 Stars 1 @ Red Wings 4
There were many redeeming qualities about this game, both personally for several of the Red Wings players and for the team as a whole. Roughly two weeks ago I was in Detroit to see the band Phish play at Cobo Arena while the Wings hosted the Dallas Stars. As I jammed out in Cobo, the Wings were upended at the Joe. That loss would begin an unsettling four-game losing streak for Detroit at home...and I blame myself. I should have been there for my team instead of rocking out with my friends, drinking $9 beers from the concessions, and second handedly inhaling from an atmosphere that was 80% ganja. For that I apologize.
The Wings had not endured a five-game losing streak at home since 1986, way back when Stevie Y had a fresh-looking face and two fully functioning knees. As if this season has already been screwy enough, Mike Babcock and his team really did not need this on their minds, and I did not want it on my conscience. In that game against Dallas back on the 18th of November, Brad May had a goal disallowed that might have changed the complexion, and possibly the outcome, of the game. The lynch-worthy miscall made headlines around the NHL and even was talked about on ESPN, the Worldwide Leader in Sports (besides hockey). Fortunately for the Wings, they did not have to wait too long to seek redemption, and they got a whole lot of it on Monday.
Wings Get Another Bad Bounce To Go Their Way: Good Luck or Good Hockey?
Luck, or fate, or whatever that intangible thing is has not been on Detroit's side much this season. From untimely injuries to poor refereeing to the inexplicable bouncing of the puck, the Wings just seem to be on the wrong end all too often. Perhaps they have been on the karma payment plan for past successes, or perhaps all that luck stuff is just a big pile of poop.
Whether it was a crap-goal or a fortunate bounce of the puck, Drew Miller picked up the first goal of the game and his second of the season by deflecting it off of two Stars players. Now one might say that it was a lucky play, a prayer of a shot as Miller had a very slight angle to shoot from. A slightly more logical approach would be to point out that Miller hustled his way to the puck and lifted the stick of Dallas defenseman Karlis Skrastins to negate an icing call, turned to face goaltender Marty Turco to set up his forehand, and did what every hockey player is taught to do when in a pinch: shoot the puck. The puck careened off the stick of Tom Wandell and deflected off the elbow of Trevor Daley and into the net past Turco. The play was similar to the previous Detroit goal scored in regulation time by Henrik Zetterberg against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. Hank, from behind the Blues net, backhanded the puck towards the front of the goal and was aided by a gracious elbow from defenseman Barrett Jackman. The goal tied the game late in the third and forced overtime in St. Louis in what was one of the more exciting regular season games of the season. Good things happen to those who work hard and try their best.
A Case of Good and Bad Timing On a Bad Goal That Could Have Been Worse
Dallas was able to tie the score with less than 15 seconds left in the game when Stephane Robidas sent a slow wrister towards the net and Brendan Morrow deflected the puck underneath the pads of Jimmy Howard. It always breaks the back a little to give up a late goal in a period, especially when you have a one-goal lead. It kills all the positiveness that your team should have had and instantly shifts momentum in the direction of the other team.
Yes it was a bad goal to give up at a bad time of the game, but it could have been worse. Tomas Holmstrom had just stepped out of the penalty box seconds before Morrow got the tip-in, avoiding a power play goal for Dallas. A goal is a goal is a goal, whatever. The Stars scored twice with the man advantage in their victory over the Wings on the 18th in what resulted in a 3-1 game. Detroit's penalty kill has been as porous as a shower drain this season and was ranked third in the league at just 75.6%. So even though they gave up the goal at even strength, the Wings went on to be a perfect four-for-four on the night and only allowed five shots with their penalty killing units. A small but moral battle won despite a late first period goal.Third Time's the Helm
Darren Helm may never get a better look at an open net than he did during the overtime session in St. Louis on Saturday. In fact, he had two chances to win the game in about the same amount of time that it takes to say his name. How appropriate that the guy who missed out on a dramatic game-winner against the Blues in overtime got the eventual game-winning goal against the Stars.The goal was an absolute thing of beauty, a true team effort that would have met the approval of the Russian Five. The puck was exchanged eight times with six different Wings touching the puck before Helm finally buried a wrister on the stick side of Turco. Pavel Datsyuk passed the puck back to Nicklas Lidstrom who moved it up to Kris Draper who then dropped it back to Lidstrom who sent it across to Jonathan Ericsson who dished it forward to Todd Bertuzzi who halted at the blue line to give it back to Draper who carried it deep into the Dallas zone before sending it bouncing towards the front of the net. The puck got by Bertuzzi, who had his stick lifted, but it found its way to Helm who was undefended on the play, and this time he made sure to bury it in the back of the net. In the past two games Helm has a goal and an assist and a plus-three rating in over 33 minutes of ice time. He has greatly stepped up in the wake of the injury tsunami: he has three goals, seven points, and is a plus-three. Pretty good for a guy who figured to be spending time this season driving back and forth on I-96 to and from Grand Rapids.
"What Is and What Should Never Be"
According to Stephen Davis, author of Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga, "What Is..." is a song that Robert Plant penned about a supposed love affair he had with his wife's younger sister. In the context of the Wings, I shall use it to illustrate the past few games for Daniel Cleary. "What is" for Cleary was his fifth goal of the season and the third Wings goal of the night against the Stars. "What Should Never Be" were the calls made by the referee during the game against Calgary last Friday that negated a pair of goals for the Newfoundland native. He scored twice in that game, but one was waved off due to an awful call for incidental interference with the goalie, and the other was disallowed after an early whistle. What would Plant do in a situation like that? His wife's mother?Cleary has been a regular on the top two lines for Detroit this season but has struggled, like many, to find consistency with his scoring. He got his first goal of the season during the second game of the season and then went into a slump that lasted twelve games. When he snapped that nasty streak, he went on to score three times in four games, but his goal against Dallas was his first in the last eight. Sounds suspiciously familiar of another winger who also spends much of his time on the top lines for the Wings...
Bert Scores One That Satisfies the Stats
He was the hero on Saturday when he fired a backhander past Jon Casey to beat St. Louis in a shootout, but against Dallas Todd Bertuzzi was just a guy looking to end a scoreless drought during the timed portion of a game. The shootout goal against the Blues did not go down in the stats, but his unsuspecting wrister past Turco in the third period on Monday did. Bertuzzi, like Cleary, has accepted a lot of pressure to score goals by consistently skating with the likes of Datsyuk and Zetterberg. But unlike Cleary, Bertuzzi does not get a free pass from Wings fans for prior accomplishments when he does not produce results. The goal against Dallas was Bert's first in ten games and fourth of the season; more are hopefully to follow. If he and Cleary can be a little more consistent with the scoring it will take some pressure off of Dats and Hank (both have been absolutely swamped by defenders in the past several games) from trying to do too much. Here is a clip from a post game interview with Bertuzzi. Try to count how many teeth he has. I came up with threeve, which of course is a combination of three and five.
Let's Drink One for the Goalies!
Both Howard and Turco played great for the Wings on Monday. For Howard, it was his second straight victory after Detroit had dropped three in a row. For Turco, well, let's just say he is welcome to play at the Joe whenever he feels like it.
Marty, Marty, Marty. Coming into the game Turco had a lifetime record of 1-8-2 in Detroit. Guess what it is now. If you guessed the obvious 1-9-2, then you are obviously correct. One would think that the guy whom Don Cherry dubbed as the "smartest goalie in hockey" could come up with some sort of formula for winning at Joe Louis Arena. There is no good explanation for this phenomenon (other than he has a terrible fear of octopi) as he is no stranger to the glorious state of Michigan. The guy grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, just a few locks away from the border of the Upper Peninsula and the wonderful Five-Star resort of a university that is Lake Superior State. Brady Hall, what?
He went to the University of Michigan and helped the Wolverines win two NCAA National Championships. And before he became the regular guy in Dallas, he was the puck stopper for the Stars' top affiliate, the Michigan K-Wings in the now-defunct International Hockey League. In high school, a couple of my buddies (Dart and Fox) and me had season tickets for the K-Wings and we would drive to Kalamazoo and watch Turco play. I remember wishing he were in the Detroit system. He was awesome...he is awesome...except when he is in Detroit.Back to Howard real quick. Mike Babcock said after the game that Howie will get the next start for the Wings over Chris Osgood. With Ozzie's recent struggles after coming back from the flu (0-2-1), could this be the beginnings of a change at the starting goaltender position? Babcock (sorta) addresses that topic, amongst others, during some post game questioning.
Griffin Eggs
Power MeechWith Niklas Kronwall out for a few months with a knee injury, Derek Meech has gone from the perpetual healthy scratch to a guy whom the Wings count on night in and out to support the defense, and now he is even getting some power play time. Meech played the fewest amount of minutes amongst all Detroit defenders against the Stars with just 14:45 of total ice time, but he was second to only Lidstrom (4:45) in power play minutes with 3:10. No stranger to the man advantage, Meech was one of the Griffins' most reliable blue liners on the power play during his days in Grand Rapids.
With Kronwall out, and Jason Williams also sidelined, Meech will get to see plenty of opportunities manning the point for the second power play unit, and he has a couple of experts to take notes from.
"It takes a little while, but when you got guys like Lidstrom and Rafalski to watch from and learn from in practice, it makes it a little bit easier,'' Meech said. "I'm just trying to get out there and be simple, not do anything out of my realm, just get the puck to the net as much as possible.''
He had three shots on goal against Dallas but was left still looking for his first point of this NHL season. He has played sound, responsible defense in his own zone thus far, and if he can set up a few power play goals he will further ease the discomfort of missing Kronner.
Mickeyisms
As usual, Mickey Redmond had a couple of quips on Monday night that were worth repeating. The first he uttered during the replay of Miller's goal, specifically in regards to his hustle in negating an icing call that set up the score. "Drew Miller's the guy that upset the apple cart." What does that mean?
Later, near the end of the first period, Ericsson was called for a soft penalty that lit a fire under Mickey's ass. "If we're going to get penalties on a play like just happened to Ericsson, we might as well not allow hitting. And no touching anybody in this game. It's tag football now folks. That's awful."
Peace
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