Back to Anaheim on Top of the World! (A Game Four Recap)

                The naming of Samuelsson to first line was an early omen. Of what, we knew not. Many (including me) thought a miserable front line situation in which Samuelsson left with a papercut or an eyelash in his eye or some other sort of silly thing that defined our day. This was not a game we could afford to lose, though, whether or not the gamble of putting Samuelsson on the first line paid off or not.

                For the benefit of those researching the Wings in future decades and centuries, having Sammy on the first line did not pay off. Having Quincey on the team as a whole did not pay off as he was a near direct cause of the first Anaheim goal. (I’ll get to the good parts of the game later. I want to get the bad out of the way.) And as many of us, again, thought most of the game: having Smith on the team not only didn’t pay off but it brought us down. A lot.

                And yet miracles happen. I could recap the first two periods for you, but let this suffice: we were wretched. We looked like a team stuck in glue, taking shot after shot after shot that had no chance, no screen, no anything. “Hiller was god-like,” commentators from all sides remarked, and as far from the truth as that actually was it seemed plausible. Hiller was no god, we were just pathetic. We came into the 3^rd a goal down and the boo-birds emerged on Twitter to put a team down that has, if we’re all honest, shown a remarkable ability to survive when everyone leaves them for dead.

                Dead we were not, down we were not when that paragon of futility, Brendan Smith, put one past Hiller to knot the game at one and give us our first tally since 1936. Or game two. Who can tell? Maybe, just maybe, that should have marked the night as special. If BRENDAN SMITH can do it, can’t the Wings as a whole? Maybe. But at the time, the night looked dire.  And when the second Ducks’ goal went in, the perpetual fakers of twitter pulled off their Wings caps, pulled on their “I knew we’d lose all along” caps and settled in for what would surely turn into a loss. Doesn’t it always when the Wings play like this?

                No. Because on our team we have a man that will put the team on his back and never quit. From the left side he pulled off a shot that was so filthy, so sick that no one even knew it went in. Today we learned Pasha hates water bottles and will obliterate them with pucks. Today we learned anew that Pavel Datsyuk will not let this team go down quietly. He knotted us back up at two, and if you haven’t seen the goal stop reading right now and go find it. I’ll wait. Go. I’m not kidding.

                All set? See what I mean? Good. To overtime we went, and where Jimmy was a star in regulation he was the universe in the extra period. This was a man inspired, on a team that finally started to look inspired. A team that really looked the part of a playoff threat, not simply the recipient of a “participant” ribbon. Overtime tested our nerves, but the result was sweet. Nyquist came up the center, in with the flash of speed that youth brings (and we’ve been begging Babcock to allow). He was stopped, but there, as a man should have been all game, was Brunner to pick up the trash. Rebound, shot, score. 3-2 to the good guys and we go back to Anaheim tied.

                And if that moment didn’t define, absolutely define, what we have needed in this series, I do not know what does. That pass up the center, that burst of speed, and finally that *tiny* bit of support that makes all the world of difference fooled an Anaheim team that had our regimen down pat and had thus shut us out the game before. If we want to continue this, we will to repeat this in game five. Excellent passing, speed, and rebound support. We have the youth for speed, we have the veterans for passing, and anyone with a hint of hockey knowledge should understand the rebound support. It’s an incredibly simple concept, we just have to execute! We must dump this ridiculous strategy of shots from the point that don’t go through a screen and have no follow up whatsoever, in favor of a strategy that any peewee hockey coach could explain to you: surprise them, and be there if there’s a rebound. Simple hockey, yet thus far so difficult. Hopefully it will not be anymore.

                And I’m sure I couldn’t finish this without a mention of Abdelkader. I won’t get into whether or not I think his suspension was fair, I will say only this: we won. We won on a goal scored through a style of hockey I don’t necessarily equate with a grinder like Abdelkader. That is not to say we wouldn’t have won had he played (we all know we’d prefer him on the first line over Sammy. Let’s not kid ourselves.) But we hit a situation that hurt us, another player lost, and we overcame. We adapted and we won. And that, my friends, is Red Wings hockey. So for the benefit of yourselves and everyone around you, if you are thinking of giving up on this team any time before we have lost all four games in a series: stop. This team isn’t quitting. This team has been given up on so many times this season, and here we are: 7 seed going back to Anaheim knotted 2-2. Have a little faith. In this young group of kids that continue to impress we trust. In Jimmy we Trust. In Pavel we trust.

The Sarcasm Report: Babcock Trying to Slow Down Datsyuk, Zetterberg

DETROIT - Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock has the difficult task of replacing suspended winger Justin Abdelkader on the top line with star forwards Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. After a brutal Game 3 loss 4-0 to the visiting Anaheim Ducks, Babcock let reporters know his lineup intentions.

"We're definitely going to think about not promoting anyone deserving of playing with Pav and Hank," Babcock said, "We think a useless plug like Dan Cleary, Mikael Samuelsson or Todd Bertuzzi will slow them down enough so that Anaheim won't have to try too hard against them."

Datsyuk has been heard in the locker room swearing in the showers, and when put into Google Translate, his remarks were something like, "What the hell is this idiot coach doing to my career," and "This is the shit that makes me want to go back to Russia."

Zetterberg tried to be positive about the situation but with hilarious results.

"Sammy I've played with before," aid Zetterberg, "He's a big strong Swedish guy like me, but with a less accurate shot. Well way les accurate. And he cant' really skate. And he's kind of lanky. Wow, now that I think about it, in the four games he's played for us wasn't the combined score like 27-4 for the opposition? Isn't that stat common knowledge?"

Todd Bertuzzi will take Jordin Tootoo's spot on the fourth line, so that he won't get that much ice time, will be largely ineffective, and will have lot's of time to rest his old man back.

When asked about how awful a lineup this was, Babcock muttered, "Tell that to the GM of the year."

Red Wings Preparing for Worst during AbbyGate, Must Respond in Game 4

Getting blown out in a playoff game to trail a series 2-1 is one thing, but the Detroit Red Wings have numerous questions that need to be answered before tomorrow night's tilt in Joe Louis Arena.  The most urgent would now have to be what the fate of grinding forward Justin Abdelkader will be after his hearing with the NHL for his collision with Toni Lydman of the Anaheim Ducks.

If Abdelkader is suspended for any amount of time, and many sources believe that he will, this puts the Wings in a very difficult position.  They are hard pressed for able bodies as it is, and the effectiveness of players like Todd Bertuzzi and Mikael Samuelsson are in deep question due to injury and inactivity over the course of the regular season.  If the Wings lose the services of Abby, we are basically forced to inject someone with a lot of rust on their skates into the lineup.

With the 4-0 blowout Detroit allowed the Ducks to lay on them last night, they now find themselves behind in the series with major concerns on their roster, which is a terrible combination.  Recently the Wings also lost young defensive prospect Danny DeKeyser to a broken thumb, and last night it proved just how invaluable he has been since joining the Wings.  Detroit's blueline looked like the mistake-ridden mess that it was for the majority of the year.

To make matters worse, the PP units also reverted to mid-season form and squandered chance after chance on the man-advantage.  We were treated to the "Let's pass the puck around and be cute and hope that puts the puck in the net" show that we've all come to know and hate.  Performances like the one we were subjected to yesterday make me truly believe that this team needs to be re-taught offense from the ground up, but we don't have the luxury of time to do that, so this is what we're stuck with.

Coach Mike Babcock had best dig out the tapes from Game 2 and strap all the skaters into seats and make them watch the first two periods, because those were two of the best periods of hockey we've gotten out of Detroit in some time, and it is exactly how we beat the Ducks in this series.  If we don't press Anaheim harder for 60 minutes, Detroit does not advance past this round.  'Efforts' like last night will never cut it in the postseason.

Playoff Peeves and Positives: Ideas After Game 2

Detroit has been through two playoffs games thus so far. The first one was a victory for the Anaheim Ducks, squashing Detroit with an ending score of 3 to 1. The Wings gave some effort and tied up the series last night, winning in overtime 5 to 4. The two have battled it out through two games, but who is really on top? To answer that question, let's take a look back.

In all honesty, many Wings fans were surprised to make the playoffs. While all of us were hoping and praying while crossing our fingers as hard as we could, many of us still had the realization that the playoffs may be out of sight for Detroit this year. Up until the last game was a battle for Detroit to keep a  playoff position. The entire season was rocky and inconsistent. One game you would see a team that would have everyone saying, "our Red Wings are back!!" and the next game would have everyone kicking themselves for ever thinking that. For the Detroit Red Wings, going into the match-up against Anaheim was a bit nerve racking.

The Anaheim Ducks season was quite different. Being one of the top three teams in the league, Anaheim has obvious advantages. Obviously, their record and overall points from the regular season were better. The amount of goals Anaheim produced also came out on top over the Wings, proving that the offensive end is stronger. In order to win games, you have to score goals. Pretty obvious, right? It has been argued that Anaheim has more speed and definitely throws their weight around more than the typical Wing player has.

The one place that allowed Detroit some wiggle room is the constantly examined and ridiculed Jimmy Howard. Anaheim's regular season goals against was actually three goals higher than Detroits. Wondering what this means? Anaheim's goalies Jonas Hiller and Victor Fasth, who played about equally through the season, let in more goals than netminder Jimmy Howard. Going into the playoffs, it seemed that relying on Jimmy Howard may be our best bet. Many concerns rose about Howard's past playoff performances and his ability to always seem to choke in big moments.

The last week of the regular season spoke a different story about the team wearing the Winged Wheel. Detroit was flying high with it's longest winning streak of the season, four games in total. Our Red Wings were "back" again and this time were shining bright! Anaheim was not trailing far behind in the successes of the last week, winning three out of four of the games. If Wings could hold on to this aggressive attitude, we might actually have a shot!

Fast forward and we are after Game 1 in the playoffs. The Wings are not "back". What does that actually  really mean? The real Red Wings players go hide in the locker room, too scared to touch the ice while we send these high school look-a-likes on the ice? The Wings shouldn't be leaving and coming back so often, but that was the style in the regular season so why not keep it up in the playoffs, right? Anaheim outplayed

Detroit in Game 1, making Wings fans embarrassed of how pitiful their team looked on the ice. Anaheim out-shot Detroit, had more hits, a better goaltender and played more organized hockey. The Wings had 13 giveaways through sixty minutes! That is five more than the Ducks managed all game. The only redeeming quality was a power play goal by Dan Cleary and more face-offs won by Detroit. Wings fans walked away with their head held low after a 3-1 defeat and praying for a different team next game.

And of course, prayers were answered and Detroit was "back" again for game 2 in the series; well at least for the first two and a half periods anyways. Damien Brunner landed his first ever playoff goal in the first period, while Franzen picked up two on his own. We were seeing talent from all over the team. While shots on goal were equal through the 61:21 minute long game, Detroit dominated in takeaways, faceoffs won, lower giveaways and lower penalty minutes. Detroit looked like a different team until about halfway into the third period, where Anaheim's constant challenges began to get to the Wings. Detroit decided to send out those "pretend high school players" and hide in the locker room again, while Anaheim scored three goals in a matter of ten minutes. Wings fans were once again shaking their heads and kicking themselves for proclaiming that the team was "back" yet again. Detroit needed some leadership through overtime, to shake off the bad goals and giveaways and give some momentum to play aggressive hockey. With a little over one minute into overtime, Detroit dominated shots on goal 4 to 0. Gustav Nyquist scored a game winning goal to allow Detroit to tie up the series and win 5-4.

Through a rocky season and into the start of the playoffs, all I can say is I wish to see more consistent hockey out there. If you are going to play good, then play good. If Detroit can play like they did in the last week of the regular season, then take that same attitude and desperation into the playoffs and push it all the way! There is no reason the Wings should keep hiding out and then coming "back". The biggest concerns leaving game two is losing Danny DeKeyser for the rest of the season due to a broken thumb and becoming more consistent on that ice. Continue to play offensively, passing the puck to the players wearing Red and White and producing quality scoring chances. It is an honest belief that Detroit can pull off this series and push further into the playoffs, they just have to produce some quality hockey.

To answer the beginning question of "who is on top?" It appears that Anaheim may be coming slightly ahead of Detroit thus so far, only because of the lack of effort in Game Two's third period. Can Detroit turn this series around and dominate? Absolutely. It's not over until the fat lady sings, right?

Game three of the series takes place Saturday, May 4th at 7:30pm. This will be the first playoff game of the season played on the Red Wings home ice, the Joe Louis Arena. We expect to see some added pressure from the Wings with their home advantage, but as always it is easy to suspect they will keep us fans on our toes!

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