On Red Wings

Homer needed a little company in the scoring column Wednesday.

Let’s be up front about this. I’m tired, I have a headache and I blame Gary Bettman. This is a blog. It’s supposed to be passionate. I can say that.

I woke up around 11:30 p.m. ET last night and caught the entire third period. Thanks, again, Gary Bettman for putting an Eastern Time zone team in the Western Coference, which means 10 and 10:30 p.m. ET starting times.

That’s why I’m tired and have a headache (although the latter could be caffein withdrawal or the pollen in the air).

But enough about me. The Wings lost their opening-round Western Conference playoff game in Phoenix to the Coyotes, 3-2.

The Wings trail the best-of-7 series, 1-0.

Game 2 is Friday (10 p.m. again, thanks Gary Bettman) in Phoenix.

What I didn’t like about the game: I only saw the third period (have I thanked Gary Bettman?), but three things pissed me off big time. You know the first (hint: Gary Bettman).
On the Coyotes’ winning goal, which came with 17 seconds remaining in a power play, the Wings failed to win a single faceoff. The goal came on a shot from inside the right point by defenseman Derek Morris. He also assisted on the first two Coyote goals, both on the power play, which should tell you a lot about this game even if you were sleeping — thanks Gary Bettman) — and didn’t see all of the game.
The third was a high stick by the Coyotes’ Vernon Fiddler — even I could see it! — to Nick Lidstrom‘s mouth (now how is NBC going to interview him before Sunday’s game?) that drew blood and took 5-stitches to close. The idiot ref said it was a Wings stick that did the damage. It wasn’t. “The (referee) would have been better off telling me he missed it,” said Lidstrom, who last complained about something a couple decades ago. The Wings were already on a power play. They should have been on another one for 4 minutes.

What I (grudgingly) liked about the game: That said, I was impressed with the way the Coyotes limited the Wings’ space. There wasn’t any. And Phoenix outshot Detroit 20-10 in the third period and was 3-of-4 on the power play while Detroit was 1-of-6. So the Wings had their chances, even without the phantom stick to Lidstrom’s face. The Wings outshot the Coyotes 30-15 through two periods and 20-7 in the first period. But if those periods were anything like the third, the chances likely came from the periphery. I didn’t see a lot of great Wings scoring opportunities in the third period.
If I had picked a score for every game this series, it would be 3-2 — first team to 3 wins, so to speak. I don’t see the Wings beating Ilya Bryzgalov four times in a game. I can see the Coyotes beating Jimmy Howard four times in a game, however.

The BIG question: The Coyotes were 28th in the league on the power play during the regular season. The Wings penalty kill was the league’s best the last half of the season. So what happened Wednesday night? The Coyotes won this game on special teams; the Wings lost it on special teams.

Good for the ‘Yotes: I thought they moved the puck fast (faster than the Wings) with speed and skill. And they really banged the Wings, a lot like Calgary or Edmonton always does in the playoffs. This was their first playoff victory since 2002, and they earned it.

I need to see: Goals by Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen. They had 11 shots between them.

Quote I: “The second we ran out of position totally and the third one should have been an interference penalty. That’s the way hockey goes some times, but the bottom line is their specialty teams were better than ours tonight.” — Mike Babcock

Quote II: “There’s a message for all of us. If you want to win at this time of year, then you’ve got to have a lot of determination and a lot of will. You’ve really got to compete hard. I thought that was a message that they sent tonight, that they’re willing to do that. Now, if we want to win the next game, we’ve got to dig in.”         — Mike Babcock

Mood meter: Pissed at Gary Bettman. But the Wings needed one of the first two games on the road in Phoenix. They get a second chance Friday night at 10 p.m. ET. Thanks again, Gary Bettman.

Happy Wings come flying home for Sidney.

What is it that Lance Armstrong says? Every second counts.

It’s a 60-minute game, or 65 when you play regulation overtime. That’s 3600 and 3900 seconds, and the Red Wings have needed every last one of them the past two nights to pick up 3 of a possible 4 critical points in the standings.

After Brian Rafalski scored with .02 seconds remaining in regulation to save a point against Edmonton, Henrik Zetterberg did the same in OT to give the Wings 2 points.

Score: Red Wings 4, Canucks 3, OT

Game #71 (11 games to play, 22 points), 83 points, 8th-place, 2 points ahead of Calgary, 3 behind 7th-place Colorado (which has a game in hand — hi, Avs),  4 behind Nashville (but a game in hand) and Los Angeles (which has a game in hand).

The good news: If the Wings keep winning, 5th and 6th places could come into play.

The bad news: Nashville keeps winning, too. … Dan Cleary and Patrick Eaves missed the game with injuries, forcing Mike Babcock to dress eight defensemen.

What I liked about the game: The Wings didn’t give up a power play goal in two tries and now have allowed just 3 power play goals in the last 17 games. … Valteri Filppula‘s shorthanded goal gave the Wings a 3-2 lead against the Canucks. Filppula had a goal and 2 assists. … Todd Bertuzzi scored his first goal in 18 games. … Jimmy Howard stopped 29 of 32 shots. … Wings took 54 shots at Roberto Luongo.

What I didn’t like about the game: The Wings didn’t show up again, falling behind 2-0 and not scoring for more than 32 minutes into the game before scoring 3 goals in 5 minutes.
NOTE to Gary Bettman, who I’m sure doesn’t read this blog: Why does an ET team have to play so many 9:30, 10 and 10:30 MT and PT games as a member of the Western Conference?

The BIG question: Are you ready for Sidney Crosby and the Penguins Monday night in Hockeytown? I’m surprised Gary Bettman didn’t change the game to Sunday afternoon for NBC. Why would the Wings playing a third-straight game and the night before in Vacouver be a problem, right, Gary?

Mood meter: Sleepy from waking up at 12:30 p.m. to catch the end of the game. Worth it, but NOTE to Gary Bettman …

Quote: “I didn’t know how much time was left, but it was enough.” — Henrick Zetterberg

The goal scorers.

So, I wake up with about five minutes to go in the Wings-Flames game and the score 1-1.

(NOTE to Gary Bettman, who I’m sure doesn’t read this blog: Why does an ET team have to play so many 9:30 and 10:30 MT and PT games as a member of the Western Conference? Heck, the Bruins and Devils were done by the time this game started. Talk about a built-in time zone competitive advantage.)

But I digress.

At the start of the season, I would have told you that this was Tomas Holmstrom‘s last season with the Wings, that he was injury-plagued and wearing down from the constant beating this brave warrior takes every game in front of the net.

But it was Holmstrom’s goal with 1:19 to play in the game that gave the Wings this critical 2-1 victory; it was his screening presence in front of Calgary goalie Mikka Kiprusoff that helped, if not assisted, Pavel Datsyuk score on a power play with 50 seconds left in the second period to tie the game at 1.

Score: Wings 2, Flames 1

Game #69 (13 games to play, 26 points), 80 points, 8th place, 3 points ahead of the 9th-place Flames, 1 point behind 7th-place Nashville, and — dare we think — 4 points behind 6th-place Colorado and 5 points behind 5th-place Los Angeles.

Up next: At Edmonton Friday at 9 p.m., at Vancouver Saturday at 10 p.m. (NOTE to Gary Bettman, who I’m sure doesn’t read this blog: So, the Wings have to wait three days out West to play back-to-back games?)

What I liked about the game: In addition to Holmstrom, how can you not mention Jimmy Howard, who stopped 22 of 23 shots, including a penalty shot.

What I didn’t like about the game: Waking up at almost midnight to catch the end of the game … Brian Rafalski‘s double minor for high sticking. That’s two games in a row that Rafalski has been careless with his stick.

The BIG question: Well, Todd Bertuzzi is a big man, and he carried the Wings for a few games offensively earlier this season. But it has been 17 games since he last scored a goal. To his credit — and there are many who would have doubted it possible — Big Todd is playing well away from the puck and not taking stupid penalties in the offensive zone.

Quote I: “Don’t worry about scoring goals. Worry about being a good forechecker. Worry about being physical. When you get the puck, take it to the net and if you get a chance shoot it. Look after all your defensive responsibilities, take care of the puck and everything will work out just fine. Just play.”
— Mike Babcock on Bertuzzi, Dan Cleary (no goals in 11 games) and Valteri Filppula (1 goal in 9 games).

Quote II: “It looked like (Franzen) was going to get control of the puck so I just hung around the net. He knows where I am and I was lucky to get my stick on it.”
— Tomas Holmstrom

It’s not all about the Wings: I agree with the Alexander Ovechkin suspension, and I probably would have given him more than two games (sorry, Nate Ewell). It isn’t that Ovie didn’t push the Hawks’ Brian Campbell hard, it’s where he pushed him in relation to the boards. “He fell bad,” Ovie said. Yup. And you pushed him — does Ovechkin know how strong he is? — in a bad place. Ovechkin has great ice awareness. He plays hard, with passion. The hit was careless at best, dangerous at worse.

Mood meter: Sleep deprived but happy.