Wings Respond late to Knockout Kings
Bart Coffey celebrates Samulesson’s game winner by doing the YMCA dance moves
Jerry S. Mendoza - AP Photo
One stat can tell you pretty much all you need to really know about how this game played out:
Detroit’s Shots on Goal
1st period: 9
2nd period: 17
3rd period: 26
This game started off fairly similarly to the game last Sunday against Colorado. Danny Markov was a scratch and Tomas Holmstrom was out of the lineup again. But the Red Wings did get Domink Hasek and Mikael Samuelsson back. Here is how the lines looked:
Valtteri Filppula - Pavel Datsyuk - Johan Franzen
Kyle Calder - Robert Lang - Mikael Samuelsson
Jiri Hudler - Kris Draper - Kirk Maltby
Darryl Bootland - Matt Ellis - Josh Langfeld
The Kings scored both of their goals off rebounds. Raitis Ivanans lifted a rebound just beneath the crossbar at the 11:16 mark of the first period to give the Kings a 1-0 lead. Brian Willsie banged home a rebound with Brett Lebda trailling behind him. His marker, which came 27 seconds after Pavel Datsyuk tied the game, put Los Angeles up 2-1 at the 14:31 mark of the second period.
With the Kings controlling play for much of the first two periods they were able to head into the third period with a 2-1 lead. They were very effective with the forecheck and the Wings were more than willing to help them by not skating and making lazy passes that were more often giveaways than passes. The Wings coughed up the puck 22 times. As a result Detroit spent little time in the offensive zone in the first two periods.
Matt Ellis had a great chance to add to what has to be one of the best weeks of his life by scoring his first goal as a Red Wing. He picked up the puck to Sean Burke’s left-side and skated around the back of the net to try a wrap-around. He beat Burke but the puck got caught on the side of the net and he wasn’t able to quickly tuck the puck into the open net. That would have punctuated a week that saw him get ice time in Detroit and witness the birth of his first child.
Brett Lebda Bart Coffey finally got the equalizer at the 14:02 mark of the third. He skated coast to coast cut inside the defender as he went to the front of the net before lifting the puck over Burke’s left shoulder. Lebda is one of the few defensemen who can skate the puck out of the zone and gain the offensive zone, which is very effective when teams are as aggressive with the forecheck as the Kings were.
The Wings dominated the final stanza of regulation, outshooting the Kings 26-4. They were also put on the power play when Jamie Lundmark was called for a questionable hooking penalty with a little over 2 minutes left in regulation. But Detroit was unable to get the game-winner during regulation. To make matters worse Robert Lang was called for a tripping penalty with 10 seconds left in regulation, so the Wings went into overtime down a man for just over 1:45 at the start of sudden-death.
The Red Wings were able to kill off the penalty, and then at the 3:20 mark Mikael Samuelsson was able to force a turnover near the Detroit blue line while the Kings were in the offensive zone. Samuelsson gathered up the puck and was able to get behind everyone other than one Kings defender. Pavel Datsyuk quickly joined the rush and gave Detroit a 2 on 1 advantage.
Samuelsson passed the puck to Datsyuk who was coming down the left wing and got the attention of both the defender and the netminder, who both moved to cut off Datsyuk’s angle. But Pavs wasn’t going to shoot; instead he sent the puck right back to Samuelsson, who quickly fired the puck into the back of the net to end the game.
If Pavel Datsyuk plays as well during the playoffs as he has of late he is going to do very well. He has clearly been Detroit’s best forward. He has registered a point in 9 out of the last 10 games. During that stretch he has 4 goals and 15 assists. So you really can’t ask for more as far as his play is concerned.
Johan Franzen left the game late with what is termed an upper body injury. Bruce MacLeod reported that he aggravated an injury that kept him out of Thursday’s practice. The good news on the injury front is that Tomas Holmstrom is expected back in the lineup tomorrow. Oh, tomorrow’s game against Boston is at 12:30, so hopefully the team makes full use of the smelling salts before they drop the puck.
Matt over at On the Wings also has his game writeup posted.
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