Detroit 4, Chicago 1
I just got back from the game. Here are a couple general thoughts.
Here are the lines based on my recollection:
Filppula - Datsyuk - Holmstrom
Calder - Lang - Franzen
Hudler - Draper - Maltby
Ellis - Hussey - Langfeld
The Calder trade had a pretty quick return as Kyle Calder scored in the first 2:00 of his joining the team. Robert Lang looked energized early on and had a jump in his stride, but he also nearly single-handedly killed a Red Wings power play and gave up an odd man rush for good measure. Franzen scored on a nice little spin move so tonight was an auspicious start for the second line.
Filppula played on a top line, and while it was against Chicago he was very solid. He played 19:38 and was +1. He also didn’t look out of place playing 15:00 against Nashville this past weekend. The word out of training camp was he would simply be sent down to Grand Rapids because he could be sent down without clearing waivers and because he wouldn’t play enough minutes in Detroit. That clearly isn’t the case. The truth of the matter is that he’s been the best rookie by far. He still peels back on rushes a little too much but he is a solid player. He is going to do well in Detroit.
Andreas Lilja played decent minutes and showed a bit of a physical edge. Yes, he’s a 7th defenseman and a defensive defenseman through and through, but I like to see him use his size and he did so to good effect tonight.
Homer had a great night, potting two goals. Pavel Datsyuk had a nice shot/pass to the front of the net on the game winner. Dominik Hasek narrowly missed the shutout as Jeff Hamilton scored with exactly 1:00 left in the game. With the win Detroit moved into a tie with Nashville for the top spot in the Central Division and Western Conference and is 1 point behind Buffalo for the best record in the NHL.
I’ll have some thoughts on the Bertuzzi trade tomorrow. It’s impossible to be too excited as the guy hasn’t played in over four months. If he looks like the Todd Bertuzzi of old then obviously it is a great trade. But he hasn’t played in a long time so there is no way to know if he will make any difference at all this year. At least the second line notched 4 points and was +5. For the night at least the second line was in fact a scoring line for Detroit.
Johan Franzen Kyle Calder Red Wings Tomas Holmstrom3 Comments
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