Red Wings / Ducks series preview: Ducks vs Dynasty

The Red Wings have made it into their 22^nd playoffs in a row by playing their best hockey in their last 5 games of the season, they’ll have to play the same dominating hockey if they want to win against the Ducks.

Since April 12^th, the Red Wings have gone 5-1-2 for 12 points out of a possible 16 points. But the most important stats for me is the goaltending: Jimmy Howard played in 13 games in the month of April and finished 7-3-3 with a 1.44 GAA (2^nd for goalies who played 10 games or more, only behind Elliot who had outstanding results) and .942 SV% (3^rd for goalies who played 10 games or more), plus he had 3 shutouts. In other words, Jimmy is on the top of his game at the right time, and so is the Red Machine. Special teams are firing on all cylinders, with the PP firing at 21 % and the PK stellar, with a 91 %. The standard for special teams is supposed to be PK + PP = 100 %, so the Wings are going strong. And most importantly, the Red Wings outscored their opponents 23 to 11 along these 8 games.

Now enough about the Wings, what about the Ducks?

Since April 10^th, the Ducks have gone 4-3-1 for 9 points out of a possible 16 points and were outscored 19 to 17 over that span. The Fasth and Hiller duo did respectfully well, with Fasth starting 9 games and going 4-3-1 with a 2.02 GAA and a .925 SV% with two shutouts. Hiller went 3-2-0 with 1.94 GAA and .931 SV%. Getzlaf (11 points), Perry (8 points) and Palmieri (8 pts) did ok in April, but Selanne and Ryan have been cold.

But enough about the un-sexy stats, what about the head-to-head stats? The Red Wings won 2 out of the 3 meetings against the Ducks this year, with Miller notching the game-winner on the 1^st Red Wings win and Datsyuk getting the GWG on the second one. Andrew Cogliano got the GWG for the Ducks on the first meeting of the season. For the all-time stats, Detroit has won the playoff series three times (1997, 1999 and 2009) while Anaheim has won two times (2003 and 2007)

The two teams are evenly matched and have animosity, with the Datsyuk – Perry fight being the best part of it. I really think Detroit's depth matches Anaheim's goaltenders and Detroit wins this one in 6. Here's hoping.

Code Red!!! Detroit Playoff Bound after Clinching 7th Seed

A legendary streak found itself extended on the shoulders of an amazing performance.

The Detroit Red Wings, who were becoming slotted as playoff no-shows as little as a week ago, defeated the Dallas Stars 3-0 tonight to clinch the 7th seed in the Western Conference and extend their active postseason appearance streak to an awe-inspiring 22 years.  It is the first trip to the playoffs for Detroit with Henrik Zetterberg as the Wings' captain.  He is only the third captain to play for the club since the streak began way back in 1990.

The past week for the Red Wings has been, as one analyst called it, a week of Game 7's, as each and every game was critical. A single point over the last four games would have cost the Wings their shot at the Cup, as at this time, the Columbus Bluejackets and Minnesota Wild have both won their final game.  Their victories would have eliminated Detroit from playoff contention in almost every scenario.  This team needed to win, and when it counted the most, that is exactly what they did, and did, and did, and did again.

The evening started off quite tense, as the Wings did not come out with as strong a start as in previous games, allowing Dallas to maintain most of the early pressure, but goaltender Jimmy Howard was tall to the task, keeping Detroit in the game.  Then, with less than 2 minutes left in the 1st period, Zetterberg put in a phenomenal effort in the corner against the Dallas defense and swept the puck in front of the Stars net.  It initially looked as thought Justin Abdelkader may have gotten a stick on the puck before it went in, but upon closer review, the goal would go to Hank, and the Wings led 1-0 going into the 2nd.

The play in the following period was much more back-and-forth, with Mike Babcock calling it a 'track meet' with all the up-and-down the ice play.  Again, Jimmy Howard was solid in net and protected Detroit's tenuous lead.  The score would remain unchanged as the two teams went to the dressing room and prepared for the final frame.

Finally, in the 3rd, the floodgates would open wide.  The Red Wings began with a chance borne of a Stars miscue on their powerplay within the first 2 minutes of the period, where the Eurotwins would pounce. Pavel Datsyuk sprang Zetterberg on a breakaway and Hank did not squander the opportunity, zipping the puck past Dallas goalie Richard Bachman and extending the lead to 2-0.  Next, just minutes later, Datsyuk would feed another teammate, defenseman Jonathan Ericsson, and his wrister from above the high-slot area would find its way to the back of the net, padding the lead to a cushy 3-0 margin.

From there, it was lockdown time.  Detroit minimized the chances for Dallas, and with the help of a late penalty to Dallas with under 2 minutes to play, the Winged Wheel cruised to its berth in the 2012-2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs.  With only the middle of the pack left to sort out positioning, it had already been determined that the Wings, sitting in 7th, will play the 2nd seeded Anaheim Ducks in the 1st Round.

Hold onto your beards, guys! Ladies, just hold onto your guys' beards, because it's playoff time in Hockeytown once again!!!

Let's Go Red Wings!!!

Wings Keep Rolling, Beat Kings 3-1

Looking back on the season the Detroit Red Wings have had this year, most all of you reading this had the same lingering thought in the back of your minds coming into the game tonight as the Wings hosted the defending Cup champ Kings: We need this game so bad...and the bottom is going to come right out of us.  You wouldn't get much argument based on the trends the Wings have followed all year, they haven't been a great team like in years past, and have had battled inconsistency all year long.

But the team that hit the JLA ice tonight, same as the one that we saw on Monday, did not let the trends define them.  This Red Wings team came to play, and played to win.

Detroit saw themselves facing a 1-0 in the 2nd period of this evening's game against Los Angeles, and instead of hoping for the best and falling short, as many times this season they have, this team got angry.  This team out worked their opponents in almost every aspect of the game.  This team turned he tides of battle in their favor and came out on top, responding with 3 unanswered goals to roar back over the course of the remainder of the game and claim a 3-1 victory, and move back into the 8th and final playoff spot in the West.

Leading the charge was the resident magician, Pavel Datsyuk, with a slick move to bring the puck out in front of him around and LA defender, and sweep a backhand cleanly through Kings goalie Jonathan Quick's five-hole for the tying goal.  Datsyuk's goal would be followed in the 3rd period by Jordin Tootoo, who got a wicked deflection off a Patrick Eaves shot from the point, fooling Quick for the go-ahead goal.  Finally, Wings fans were treated to a Mule feeding, as Johan Franzen received a superb pass out in front from Henrik Zetterberg just left of the LA net.  The Kings would pull Quick in the dying stages of the game, but it was obvious they weren't as hungry for the points as Detroit, as they waited until there was only around 45 seconds left in the game to pull him.

The Wings seem to finally understand what is at stake, and are playing as if they truly want to make the playoffs.  Had we seen this type of play from them earlier in the season, we likely wouldn't be in the mess we're in now, but it's irrelevant now.  We're here, and we need to win.  So far this week, that's exactly what we've done.

One Down, Three to Go as Wings Shut Out Phoenix.

For the first time in a while, we can sleep the night after a game. The Wings leave the Joe tonight two points closer to keeping that streak alive, but still miles away. We’ll get to that in a bit, though.

Finally we saw signs of life. We saw Jimmy give his all for the Wings again, but we saw a team in front of him willing to hustle and play smart as well. Brunner looked great, Nyquist was taking up the role of Helm with some brilliant bursts of speed and forechecking. Franzen chipped in on defense and offense, and for once in a great while the Red Wings weren’t Howie and Pavel and a sack of Red and White weights tied to their legs to drag them back. Heck, even Fil scored. What changed?

Well the power play was obviously brilliant. Given the Coyotes were happily giving them to us all night, it was fantastic that we were able to convert. Brunner’s shot from the point, tipped in by Franzen, was the start of something special. For long stretches this season we have been abysmal on point play and the power play, and to break through so early on both really seemed to get the morale going.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be so quick to say that. As play continued post-goal, the Coyotes seemed to remember that they, too, had a season on the line and we went quite a while pinned back in our zone. As Pierre (yes, Pierre McGuire. You may file out now as this post has now lost all credibility) put it, the Red Wings needed “to stop messing around.”   For the first and hopefully last time in my life, I agreed. Yet the pressure continued, and there was a sort of sinking feeling that came to your stomach as you thought “No…is it going to be one of these games again?” Two stupid Brendan Smith penalties added to the feeling that we’d all been through this before.Thankfully it would not come to anything for the Coyotes. The second power play goal of the period, one that turned out to be a welcome surplus, came late and certainly helped ease the pressure.

In the second, Filppula stepped up for his first goal in eleven and a half centuries. I should note at this point Pierre McGuire also stepped up, reclaiming his place as the worst person ever to commentate on the NHL by repeatedly pronouncing Filppula as Fil-pewa-la, as if he’d just eaten a very peanut-buttery sandwich. (You can all come back, the author has regained her sanity and hates Pierre once more.) It was a pretty shot from a sharp angle and immediately had people wondering: Is this what gets Fil going for the year? We all sure hope so. That was a huge plus of the game. Any time Fil can be on the scoreboard this season, things are improving.

After his goal, the game was essentially over. The Coyotes went into pure desperation mode and that almighty pillar of class, Mr. Shane Doan, proved his real mettle as an NHL captain and put his team a man down with a stupid fight. Dinner and a show for Wings fans, insult to injury for those one or two unfortunate souls..erm…Coyotes fans still watching hockey in the desert. Jimmy would have his shutout, Franzen an empty net goal, and it ended 4-0 to the good guys. One down, three to go.

Brunner had the first star, Z the second and Jimmy very, very rightly the third (play wise I would almost elevate Jimmy to the second star).  Nyquist was another that impressed, he showed quite a bit of hustle and almost got what he deserved as a shot missed by inches and caught the post. Do the same thing next game, Gus, and you will be rewarded in due time. Franzen made some solid defensive plays as well and even Quincey, yes Quincey, made some smart moves that helped out a lot. Oh, and demolished a guy. Kyle Quincey demolished a human. A human on the other team (yes, I did feel the need to specify.) Let that sink in and make you happy. Ok, let's move on.

Of mild concern was that we were still showing some of the tendencies we have all season. Bad back passes, stupid early penalties, being pinned back for long stretches in our own zone. All in all, though, this game was a vast improvement over many of our recent ones and left a much better taste in the mouth.  It isn’t over yet, however, and that’s important to remember.  We have to come out hungry again against the Kings, and we have to come out smart again. Smith needs to stay out of the box, we still need to find a way to correct our tendency to make poor passing decisions, but this was a good start. Funny, to call it a good start with four games left in the season, but it was a good start all the same. It’s something we have to build on, improve and succeed or regress and fail. Those are our choices, and let’s hope this game inspired our guys to do the former. For now, we can celebrate and sleep tight, the Wings are safe for another day!