Gorilla Crouch

Head coach Mike Babcock juggled the second and third lines in order to try and get the Lang line going. It didn’t work as the Zetterberg line scored twice and Valtteri Filppula chipped in a goal from the 4th line before Edmonton tied the score at 3 goals apiece in the third period. The Oilers went on to win the shootout, as Ryan Smyth was the only skater to score.

The Wings had their 13 game home winning streak snapped, but the one point they garnered put them a point ahead of Nashville for the division and conference lead. The two teams will play tonight.

Dan Cleary spent part of the night on the checking line alongside Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby. Here are the line combinations Holland used from about the 13:00 mark of the 3rd period through the overtime period.

Maltby - Draper - Cleary
Franzen - Lang - Filppula
Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom
Maltby - Draper - Cleary
Franzen - Lang - Williams
Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom
Maltby - Draper - Cleary
Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom

Overtime

Zetterberg - Datsyuk
Cleary - Draper
Lang - Franzen
Zetterberg - Datsyuk
Cleary - Draper
Lang - Franzen

The first period featured lots of officiating, probably due to the fighting that took place during the Buffalo and Ottawa game the night before. My guess is the refs over-reacted to try and keep the game under control. Edmonton was whistled for 6 penalties and Detroit for 4, which worked out to 20 minutes worth of penalties. The Wings were able to take advantage of the man advantage as they scored two power play goals.

The first came off a nice cross-ice pass from Mathieu Schneider to Henrik Zetterberg, who was stationed near the faceoff circle to Oiler goalie Dwayne Roloson’s left. Hank quickly one-timed the puck past Roloson before he could get in position to make the save. The goal came at the 4:33 mark. The Wings would score their second power play goal three minutes later, when Nicklas Lidstrom’s blast from the point was redirected by Tomas Holmstrom. Edmonton would cut the lead in half when Smyth, all alone in front of the net, put a rebound beneath Dominik Hasek and into the net at the 15:00 mark.

The fourth line was able to pitch in on the offensive end during the second period after Raffi Torres tied the game at 2. Jiri Hudler passed the puck from behind the Edmonton goal to Josh Langfeld. The puck bounced towards the front of the net and Valtteri Filppula, stationed on the doorstep to Roloson’s right, buried the loose puck at the 15:59 mark to give Detroit a 3-2 lead.

Marty Reasoner scored the equalizer after Dominik Hasek came out of the net aggressively to deny Marc-Antione Pouilot’s drive to the side of the net. It worked as Pouilot wasn’t able to tuck the puck into the wide open goal. But Reasoner drove right to the front of the net and tapped the puck into the goal.

Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Jason Williams all failed to score during the shootout. Niklas Kronwall put a cheapshot on Jofffrey Lupul shortly after the Oiler forward had passed the puck and was about to cross the blue line. It wasn’t a late hit, but Kronner led with his shoulder cap and left his feet. Lupul suffered a concussion and did not play the rest of the night. It was similar to the hit Raffi Torres put on Jason Williams in a matchup earlier this season.

Henrik Zetterberg Red Wings Tomas Holmstrom Valtteri Filppula

February 24th, 2007
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave

1 Comment(s)

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI

Leave a comment

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Anti-spam word: (Required)*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.