Wings earn at least a split with Preds with 5-2 Win
Chris Osgood denies Jason Arnott on an excellent scoring chance
John Russell - AP Photo
That’s right: Detroit currently holds a 4-2 advantage in games against the Predators, so the worst they can do is split the season series 4-4. The Wings in fact have won the last two games against Nashville and have a chance to make it three straight tomorrow night.
Detroit got goals from Robert Lang, Kirk Malby, Jiri Hudler, Kyle Calder and Valtteri Filppula. With the win the team moved within one point of Nashville with a game in hand. With a win tomorrow Detroit could take over first place with the best point total in the entire NHL.
Robert Lang got the Wings on the board early, scoring at the 1:39 mark. Kyle Calder put a shot on net as he came down the right wing. He centered the puck as he came around the back of the net and Jiri Hudler took a whack at the puck before it bounced just outside of the crease. Robert Lang skated down low, scooped up the loose change and put it away to give the Wings a 1-0 lead.
Lang’s line would carry Detroit tonight, but Kirk Maltby restored Detroit’s one goal lead after Alexander Radulov tied the game at one. At the 4:20 mark of the second period Nashville wasn’t able to clear the puck from their defensive zone. Detroit put it behind the Pred net and Kris Draper centered the puck to Kirk Maltby, who was stationed in front of the goal. He quickly one-timed the puck past Tomas Vokoun at the 4:30 mark. The game would go into the third period with the Wings nursing a narrow 2-1 lead.
The third period would include some big momentum changes. Jiri Hudler quickly put a shot past Vokoun to give Detroit a two-goal lead at the 1:24 mark off a short pass from Kyle Calder. But the Wings would take two penalties in short order between the 4:01-4:59 mark of the period to give Nashville a two-man advantage. The second penalty was on Chris Chelios and proved to be too much for Detroit’s PK unit. The Predators took advantage of the 5-on-3 opportunity when Martin Erat beat Chris Osgood to narrow Detroit’s lead to 3-2. There was plenty of time left for Nashville to tie the game.
Things definitely looked pretty bad when Nik Kronwall took a penalty a little over 90 seconds after Chris Chelios got out of the penalty box. It just didn’t seem like there was any way Detroit was going to hold onto that 3-2 lead. The Wings killed off that penalty but Tomas Holmstrom was sent to the box at the 15:27 mark. Would the Wings be able to keep the Preds off the scoreboard?
As it turns out they not only kept the Preds off the boards but they scored two goals. Kyle Calder scored first at the 17:58 mark, and Valtteri Filppula got on the scoreboard 41 seconds later. That one-two punch put the game out of reach. Calder was excellent once again. I was skeptical about the trade for Calder but his addition was yet another great move by Red Wings general manager Ken Holland. He has registered 9 points in 7 games and has jump-started the second line. That line, which tonight consisted of Calder, Robert Lang and Jiri Hudler, scored 3 goals, tallied 4 assists and each player went +3.
Chris Osgood was excellent, stopping 29 shots for a .935 save percentage. As a result he was the #3 star of the game. The first goal was a little soft, but otherwise Osgood was very good in net and made several huge saves.
Tonight’s game could be evidence that the Wings play to their level of competition. That’s never a good sign and hopefully the team will start to put in a consistent effort regardless of the oponent. Head coach Mike Babcock has said numerous times that there is very little that separates teams in the NHL. So when the Wings have not played well (particularly against Philadelphia and Boston) they have been run off the ice. So that will be the thing to watch as we get closer to the playoffs.
Chris Osgood Jiri Hudler Kirk Maltby Kyle Calder Red Wings Robert Lang Valtteri Filppula1 Comment(s)
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