Wings Waste Game 1 with Sloppy Performance

The Detroit Red Wings may have misconstrued the phrase, "What happens in the regular season doesn't matter in the playoffs".  I say this because we sure as hell did not see the team of last week on the ice for Game One of Detroit's opening playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks,  What we got was garbage, from top to bottom: a lackluster, undisciplined showing that was not in line with what one expects of a team in the playoffs.

One of the biggest concerns of the night had to be the penalties.  Terrible decisions made at the worst possible times hampered any chance Detroit had to get any sort of early rhythm going, and made it impossible to really turn the tide as the game went on.  Anaheim opened the night's scoring on a powerplay goal spawned from a moronic cross-check by Jordin Tootoo in front of the Wings' net, literally seconds after we dodged a massive bullet where Detroit should have been called for a penalty, but wasn't.

The Red Wings' only goal of the night followed, on what can only be described as a 'lucky bounce', Jakub Kindl, in what may have been the only smart thing he did all night, shot the puck toward the net, and the puck deflected off of Dan Cleary's body and past Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller.

From there, it was much of the same: Bad passes, terrible exits from the defensive zone getting stymied in the neutral zone, one-and-dones once the Wings finally DID breach the O-zone.  No sustained pressure. At all.  Even Detroit netminder Jimmy Howard was off his game tonight.  Don't misunderstand me though, he did his job and gave Detroit a fighting chance, but almost every stop that Howard made looked forced.  He fought the puck all night long, it seemed, and never truly got settled in, which may have further unsettled the skaters in front of him.

The young guys played like young guys tend to in the Playoffs: trying too hard, trying to force things that weren't there, and just generally not making smart, simple plays.  Take Kindl for example.  With a chance to hammer the down down the ice, he decides to get cute and try to bank the puck off the glass in his own zone...and totally misses the glass.  Delay of game penalty ensues, Ducks take the lead on another PPG early in the 3rd.

Everything kept slipping downhill from there, with the Wings gradually losing what little grip they still had on the game.  A few chances cropped up here and there, but Hiller was square to the task of shutting our minimal offense down for the rest of the match.  Add to that an empty netter from the Ducks' own zone, and it was the icing on the suck-cake.

So with the first game squandered, it's now up to Detroit to learn what they may from the loss, adapt, and move on.  They can still split the road pair and come out strong at home in Games 3 and 4.  This series is far from over, but Detroit needs to make performances like the one tonight disappear from their future matches.

Don't Believe the Odds, Detroit will be Dangerous

The Wings begin their quest toward the Stanley Cup tonight in Game 1 of their first round series against the Anaheim Ducks, but while Detroit's late-season push to make it in was extremely impressive, many analysts and odds-makers obviously don't believe that means much.  The majority of the hockey world sees the Red Wings as longshot to win the Cup in comparison to teams like Chicago and Pittsburgh, but I wouldn't count out a team whose last-second revival was of sleeping-giant-proportions.

Let's take a look at the last week, shall we?  Over the course of four games, Detroit decimated each and every team they faced, starting with the Phoenix Coyotes, who at the time were hot on Detroit's heels looking to overtake the Wings for a playoff spot.  They were pounded 4-0 for their efforts.

Next came the defending champs, the Los Angeles Kings.  LA jumped out to a 1-0 lead and everyone expected the worst.  Instead, Detroit rallied back, roaring past the Kings with three unanswered goals to win 3-1.

Then, it was the Nashville Predators, a team out of playoff hopes, but still with a chance to play giant-killer to a hated division rival.  The game was fiercely contested for the first 20 minutes, but after that, it was all Detroit, exploding for four goals to go from down 2-1 to winning 5-2.

Finally, in the critical final game of the season, Detroit faced another would-be dream killer in Dallas.  The Stars could also potentially crush the Wings hopes for Playoff glory by so much as taking a single point from the Wings.  The Red Wings weren't interested in that, however, and came to win, dominating the Stars 3-0 to lock up the 7th seed.

And now, here we are opening the 2012-13 playoffs against an Anaheim team we took to task in a back-to-back showdown just over a month ago.  In the Stanley Cup Playoffs, anything is possible if you work for it.  But go ahead, lay the odds against the Wings.  I'm sure they're just fine with that, and they'll let their play determine the real odds.

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!!!