Top Line Rolls, Howard Hurls, Wings Lose To Dallas

By Adam W Parks

Saturday, December 19, 2009 Red Wings 3 @ Stars 4

Without Henrik Zetterberg, the Wings could have used a little extra kick against the Stars. Perhaps a roundhouse would have done the trick. In what was the first game of the Zetterberg-less era of this season the Wings skated away from one they could have won against a team that has been difficult to beat.

The Stars have been playing great hockey on their own ice going 5-0-2 in their last seven home contests, and their victory on Saturday was their fourth straight over Detroit in Dallas. The season series is tilted in favor of the Stars (2-1-0) with one more game to be played in Dallas.

Jimmy Howard looked shaky in net for the first time in a long time, and the Stars took advantage and got some goals from an unlikely source. Detroit's lower lines, which need to provide some offense every night until some players get healthy, were unable to find the back of the net, but the Wings did get production from the top guys. The players that need to step up the most in this time of need did on Saturday, but it was not enough to get the win.

Wings Get Goals From Guys Who Could, Do Not From Guys Who Should

For the time being, goal-scoring will be an even bigger issue for Detroit now than it has been earlier in the season, but it was a good sign to see the top line get some production in Dallas. Until the injured players begin trickling back into the roster, Pavel Datsyuk along with Todd Bertuzzi and Tomas Holmstrom will have to produce offense every night to give Detroit an opportunity to win. Each scored a goal against the Stars.

For Datsyuk it was his eighth of the season but just his second in the past 14 games. There have definitely been prettier goals off his stick, but right now Pav will take any bounce, or tip, he can get:



Bert has shot up the Wings' scoring rankings and is now tied with Zetterberg (10) for second most goals, and is third on the team with 21 points. His goal Saturday was his sixth in the last five games:



Against the Stars the trio on the first line were like a garage fire without a tank of gasoline on the shelf. They produced a total of seven points and were a combined plus-five on the night, but the rest of the Wings failed to ignite to blow up the Stars. Darren Helm returned to the lineup after missing two games with a sore wrist and played a great game, flying up and down the ice and disrupting Dallas defensemen and forwards alike. However he, nor any other Detroit center was able to get their lines in boxscore with a goal (Helm, Justin Abdelkader, and Kris Newbury all totaled minus-four on the night).

It has become easier for opposing teams to shut down the rest of the Wings as there is nary a true goal-scoring forward left on any line other than Datsyuk's. If you go down the line of forwards that the Wings have left besides Pav, Bert, and Holmer, Kris Draper has the most goals with five. Patrick Eaves and Drew Miller each have four, while Kirk Maltby, Abdelkader, Helm, and Ville Leino all have three a piece.

Detroit Goals from the blue line have come primarily from a duo who are currently missing: Kronwall (5) leads all Detroit defensemen in goals, followed by Jonathan Ericsson with three. Both are expected to be out for at least a few more games. Brad Stuart and Brian Rafalski each have two, and Nicklas Lidstrom has as many goals (1) as Derek Meech and Brett Lebda. Hell, even Newbury and Johan Franzen have that many, and they have only played in four and three games respectively.

I am not ragging on these guys; for many of the players these numbers are higher than what was expected before the season started. I am just making the point that there is not a lot of juice left that Mike Babcock has not already squeezed out of some of the players, but these guys will have to find a way to contribute even more offensively over the next couple of weeks. Fortunately, as it was obvious on Saturday, Bertuzzi is rapidly ripening in Detroit, and Holmstrom and Datsyuk still have plenty of the good stuff to yield.

Think Howard might have been a little hungover from his first career shutout in the previous game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday? Maybe he and Grandpa went on a bender in Greektown and really tied one on to celebrate. Perhaps he and Grandma sipped too many sodas while playing the slot machines at the Motor City Casino. Perhaps not, but either way you slice it, Jimmy was not ready for the Stars on Saturday.

The Tampa game was an emotional one for Howie, what with Zetterberg's injury, Babcock's 300th win, his first ever shutout, and playing in front of family members for the first time as an NHL goaltender. He has been playing great since early/mid November and all of that momentum culminated for him on Thursday. It showed on Saturday.

I hate to blame a loss on goaltending, but he definitely had his worst statistical game of the season. Howie allowed four goals on just 21 shots, and each score came with teams at even strength. His .810 save percentage against Dallas is his lowest for any other single game this year.

He has given up four or more goals in five games this season, but he faced a minimum of 32 shots in all of those other games except for one. In that game he gave up four off 23 shots, but still got a 7-4 victory against Anaheim. Looking back to the last time he gave up four goals in a game, a 4-1 loss to Edmonton on December 3, Howard had gone 4-1-0 and only allowed six goals in his last five games. The fewest shots he faced in that stretch was 26 which came in a 1-0 loss to the Blues.

Howard has been so good at times this season that we, or at least I, have occasionally forgotten that he is in his rookie season. Chris Osgood, as much as I love the guy, has not been missed. Do not worry about him too much, though, because I believe his breakout season is not over, and this turd of a game on Saturday is just a fluke. Unless Ozzie is ready to jump back in and be the go-to-goalie, the Wings will need Howie now more than ever this season, and he should be able to bounce back to form in his next start.

Dallas's Lucky D-Bag of a D-Man

Stars defenseman Karlis Skrastins, whose last name should be properly pronounced SCRATCH-NUTS while reading this blog, tied up the game early in the second period when he scored his first goal of the season (32 games). It was his first since February 5th, and just his seventh in the past four seasons (241 games). Skrastins, 37, has only scored 29 goals in a total of 712 NHL games for an average of 0.0407 goals per game in his career. His stupid second period goal neutralized Holmstrom's not-stupid first period goal:



To make matters worse, this nut-scratcher scored again. Again it was early in a period, this time in the third, but this time it broke a tie and resulted as the game-winner. It was the first two-goal game of his illustrious goal-scoring career. Of all the weapons on the Dallas team, the Wings allowed the dullest to gouge them, twice, and to assist on another goal. That S is so W.

Peace.