Round 1 Series Preview: Wings VS Coyotes

You saw this coming. ...Well, maybe not this specifically, but you must have known that I had to get a friendly jab in toward the competition at some point, right?? I mean, come on! It is playoff time, am I right?? Okay okay, all kidding aside I'd like to sit down and go over this series from a standpoint of overall team "grades" and how I personally feel the Wings and Coyotes stack up against each other.

First off though, let's look at some concrete numbers:

Records

Detroit (44-24-14), Phoenix (50-25-07)

Season Series

10/22/09 - DET 2-3 PHO (OT)

12/14/09 - PHO 2-3 DET

01/02/10 - DET 4-1 PHO

01/26/10 - PHO 5-4 DET (OT)

Now upon initial review, the two teams look quite close, but before we get any further in, let's get to the grades as The Geek sees them:

Detroit

Team Defense - B

Team Offense - B+

Goaltending - A+

Special Teams - B+

Overall - B+

Phoenix

Team Defense - B+

Team Offense - B

Goaltending - B+

Special Teams - B

Overall - B+

Team Defense - I give Phoenix a slight edge in this category, mostly because Detroit has suffered from a severe loss of man-games, and we're only just getting a peek right now at what the D-Corps are really capable of. Based on what we had most of the season, though? The Coyotes did keep their Goals Against lower than Detroit's and also won more of their games, so it's fair to say that Phoenix is a little more defensively sound.

Team Offense - On the other hand, through all the man-games lost from both defensemen and forwards, the Red Wings still netted more goals than the Coyotes. Considering some of the forwards that were on the IR and for how long, this definitely speaks volumes for how much more offensive firepower Detroit holds.

Goaltending - I give Detroit the better marks here, for two reasons really: First, I know Easy Bryzy has more wins than Jimmy, but if you gave Jimmy 8 more starts, you think he couldn't win 5 of them...? GAA and SV% are almost identical, so the second factor here is the fact that Jimmy is a rookie with a seasoned vet on his back. Howard is getting sage advice from a goalie who's been there and done that: Chris Osgood. Even if Howard gaffs, we know what Playoff-Ozzie is capable of. What does Bryzgalov have behind him? Jason Labarbera. Shall we move on...?

Special Teams - Looking at the numbers, the Red Wings have more powerplay goals and more shorthanded goals than the Coyotes, and this again is despite the man games lost throughout the middle of the season. If Detroit can really get on the horse and work their PP units well, Phoenix and every team after them will dread going down a man. The Wings' PK, though stout, was actually barely dwarfed by Phoenix this season. Phoenix only gave up a goal 49 times out of 317 short-handed situations. Detroit surrendered 43 goals out of 267 chances. This brings the PK percentages to PHO 84.5% - 83.9% DET.

Overall - To me, the Red Wings are more of the total package needed to reach the Stanley Cup Finals. The big thing for Detroit is to stay healthy while playing at Playoff-levels of intensity. The numbers are close, but again I can't emphasize this enough, the Wings lost a lot of games from a lot of players, so the team stats are very skewed from what they could have been. Of course, had the Wings been healthy all year, we may not have been evaluating the Coyotes at all, we could have potentially won the damn President's Trophy. That's neither here nor there, though, and what you've read is what we have. Phoenix is a good team by all rights, but I don't feel they're the great team that you need to be to go far in the post-season.

So, there you have it! These are my thoughts on the matchup, and I suppose a fitting end to this little study would be a prediction of the final outcome. Before looking into the figures, I had it in my head that Detroit would take this series 4-1, but I'm going to be cautious and change my thinking to Wings in 6. Phoenix will be loathe to just lay down and die, so I think they'll put up a decent fight, but I just don't see them overwhelming the Wings, especially not in the first round when the whole team is at 100%.

Game one is tomorrow night, Wingnuts!! Let's Go Red Wings!!!

Round 1 Schedule: Wings VS Coyotes

Oh yeah, it's Playoff time!! Screw the nay-sayers and laugh at the haters, we're back and ready to fight for the Cup for the 19th straight year. Detroit opens the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a matchup against the Phoenix Coyotes, and the schedule for the first round has already been released.

So, without further ado:

Wednesday, April 14 at Phoenix, 10:00 p.m. TSN, VERSUS

Friday, April 16 at Phoenix, 10:00 p.m. TSN, VERSUS

Sunday, April 18 at Detroit, 3:00 p.m. NBC, TSN

Tuesday, April 20 at Detroit, 6:30 p.m. TSN

*Friday, April 23 at Phoenix, 10:00 p.m. TSN, VERSUS

*Sunday, April 25 at Detroit, 2:00 p.m. NBC, TSN

*Tuesday, April 27 at Phoenix, TBD TSN

* Denotes if necessary.

Stay tuned as The Geek analyzes the Red Wings' first round opponent for a series preview and breaks down what Detroit can expect to find when they enter the desert.

Till then, Wingnuts!! Let's Go Red Wings!!!

Razor Burn Never Felt so Good

And it begins, Wingnuts. We're playoff bound and regular season hairiness can check itself at the door!! New season, new beard.

It's about to get hairy over the next few months. Enjoy the ride, Wingnuts. We'll see you again on Wednesday.

Blackhawks Down, Red Wings Go Back Up to 5th

What a great day for Red Wings fans. Not only did we beat down the Chicago Blackhawks, but with the win Detroit clinched 5th seed in the Western Conference and guaranteed a matchup with Phoenix in the 1st round. There was also that little bonus of guaranteeing Chicago gets stuck with 2nd seed. Happy, happy day indeed Wingnuts.

The Red Wings played an average game for the first two periods, not great, but also not horrible. I do have to strongly comment on the errant passing and throwing away of the puck. That has to stop...immediately. Detroit threw way too many pucks away both in the neutral zone and in the defensive end. Sloppy plays also cost the Wings a lot of scoring chances, which is attested by the SOG totals (29-21 in favor of Chicago). The Wings were stifled offensively and were lucky to get the goals they did to win this hockey game.

But enough with that negativity, let's recap The Geek's Winning Formula!

1.) Win the Mirror Match - Detroit honestly failed in this department, and it damn near killed them. Chicago converted on the PP. We did not. This happens too often to the Red Wings and I will not come off my soapbox until Detroit finally fixes this!! As the Hawks showed us, you can't ALWAYS rely on your PK units to keep you out of the hole, you need to cash in on the opportunities given you, because you may not get any more! Chicago fixed one of their problems, but thankfully for us, luck was on the Wings' side today.

2.) Playoff Mode: On - As far as this goes, I would give the last period and OT the thumbs up, but the first two periods...well, can we say communication breakdown? So many stray passes, giveaways. We only garnered 12 shots after 40 minutes!! Come on!! A lot of control was given to the Hawks as well by Detroit easing up again on the physical side through the first two periods. The Red Wings visibly stepped this up once the 3rd started, exemplified by Brad Stuart's absolute manhandling of Patrick Kane near the end of regulation. That, my friends, was a thing of beauty. The Wings were able to keep the intensity in overtime and eventually caught the Hawks off guard as Stewie snuck in from the line and fed a wide open net what it so desperately wanted: black, vulcanized rubber.

3.) Play Hard, but Play Smart - Again, first two thirds of this game? Fail. But a pass to the boys from period 3 onward, and luckily the Blackhawks weren't able to take this game away from us early. Most of that credit goes to (who else?) Jimmy Howard, but also a couple of critical defensive plays, one by Danny Cleary and the other by Andreas Lilja, kept Chicago's scoring to a minimum in a game they probably should have run away with. The wings were notedly (and frighteningly) prone to penalties today, something that had better be a one-time deal, because pulling that in the post-season? Good way to get an early start to fishin'.

I could try to omit it and hope you didn't catch on, but I sadly didn't play the fortune-teller very well today either. Though Darren Helm did play a great game, Brad Stuart ended up being the real hero of the game, winning it in OT for the Red Wings and clinching that 5th spot for our boys in red.

Now: the playoffs. Yes, we're finally here! Round 1 gives us the Phoenix Coyotes, a team we've faced before in the post-season, but not for some time. We'll be back on TDG to preview the matchup (likely tomorrow) and give insight on what to expect from the desert dogs as the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs begin!

Till then, Wingnuts!! Let's Go Red Wings!!!