Wings Watch Game 5 Slip Away, Play Themselves to the Brink

Was last night's game an entertaining game? Certainly. Was last night's game a well-played game? For the most part, yes.  Was last night's game an inspired performance by the Detroit Red Wings? Absolutely not.

Detroit reverted back to their inconsistent ways and played some very roller-coaster-y hockey in Game 5 at Anaheim yesterday, and crucial lapses of communication and energy led to Detroit blowing two leads and allowing the Ducks to steal the game away in overtime with a 3-2 final score, similarly dropping the Wings to a 3-2 series deficit.  The Red Wings were haunted by the squandering of a 5-minute major penalty to Anaheim on which Detroit did absolutely nothing, barely even generating scoring chances.  Up 2-1 in the 2nd at the time, it was the golden opportunity they needed to put the game out of reach.

What did they do? Well first, Brendan Smith took a holding call to end the PP slightly early.  Second, they then proceed to let Ryan Getzlaf (Yes, you know...the guy that is kind of the captain of their team and one of their best scorers...? Yeah, him.) waltz in practically undeterred and rip a vicious shot past Jimmy Howard to tie the game.  I said when the penalty to Smith was called that wasting those 5 minutes would haunt us, and how right I turned out to be.

Detroit lost a lot of steam after that, still generating a little offense here and there, ringing 3 posts by the end of the game and coming close a few other times, but the one thing I still see that has been killing us is that there is still no one going to that open space in the high slot in the middle of the offensive zone.  Everything comes from the perimeter, and skaters will wait until the shot goes in to make a move for the middle on a rebound opportunity.  We need guys in that space from the get-go, wreaking havoc in the middle and becoming a problem for Jonas Hiller.

The 3rd period would solve nothing, and off to overtime we went...or at least the Ducks and the fans went, because the Wings did NOT show up.  Nick Bonino swept the puck past Jimmy not even 2 minutes into the overtime frame after Detroit basically just watched the Ducks skating around them, providing no resistance whatsoever.  No one playing the puck hard, no one grinding guys on the boards to try to take possession, just...nothing.  Honestly, this was Detroit's game to lose, and they managed to find a way to do it.

We now sit at the edge of the cliff, needing to run the table from here on out if we want to survive to see another playoff series this year.  We will need efforts like those that got us into the playoffs to begin with from the last week of the regular season.  We have that ability, it's now up to the boys in red and white to deliver.

This series is not over, so long as the Wings don't PLAY like it's over.

Game Day Thoughts: Detroit in Anaheim for Game 5

After a riveting game four, Detroit will head back to Anaheim today to face the Ducks for game five of this playoff series. So far, the Red Wings are tied at 2-2 against the Ducks. Both teams have not been able to gain enough momentum to win back to back games, but it is safe to say Detroit fans are looking to get out on top for the first time in the series tonight.

Game four was a phenomenal game that resulted in a 3-2 overtime win for Detroit. Damien Brunner scored the game winning goal. Datsyuk also tied up the game in regulation and Brendan Smith added a goal and assist. Howard landed 31 stops in the victory. After the game, Howard admitted that he was not a match up for Anaheim's wall Jonas Hiller. But when viewing the series stats, Howard's save percentage is on 3% under Hiller's, making him a worthy opponent in my eyes.

Each game winning goal for Detroit between the two wings this playoff series has been scored in
overtime by rookie players. While being inexperience has been a worry going into the playoffs, Brunner and Nyquist have proved that worry to be a silly one. Six of the Red Wings players had made first playoff appearances against the Ducks. It appears that these young players may deserve more ice time than they are getting. Brunner and Nyquist, while both being called "heroes" of the last two winning games for Detroit, have also had the least amount of ice time. It appears it would be wise to see them more in tonight's game.

For game give, what can we expect? While it would be nice to see Brunner and Nyquist be awarded with more ice time, it cannot be guaranteed. It is not always understood why Babcock makes some of the decisions he does (**Samuelsson on the top line**), but I am sure we will witness some questionable ones again tonight. Coach Babcock did state that there were no line changes and no big moves for Detroit from game four. We will also be looking for some goals from Anaheim in the third period, which is where nine of the thirteen goals scored by the Ducks have happened. Hopefully Detroit will have picked up on that statistic and be prepared to stop the Ducks from taking the lead. Regardless if Anaheim is dominating Detroit's playing through the series, the Wings have still kept it even showing temendous fight and patience. No matter what the outcome is for tonight, I hope we see more of the fight that the Wings had through game four!

Make sure to catch game five tonight, Wednesday May 8th at 10:00PM. Follow our Facebook and Twitter for more great Wings conversation and coverage!

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."