Detroit takes Game One 4-1
Datsyuk slides the puck beneath Kipper for the score
Paul Sancya - AP Photo
The Red Wings played like a top 10 offense and won Game 1 of the playoff series against the Calgary Flames. The team scored two goals in the first and second periods and then held on for the win. The Flames’ physical play didn’t really affect Detroit until roughly midway through the third period when Detroit didn’t skate as hard as they had for much of the game. At that point they became easy targets and the Flames finished every check.
Valtteri Filppula scored the first goal for Detroit off a nice pass from Brett Lebda. The defenseman carried the puck along the halfboards on the left wing at the 4:51 mark of the first period. He centered the puck to Filppula, who was skating between the circles. The rookie quickly one-timed the shot past Miikka Kiprusoff to give the Wings a 1-0 lead.
Detroit would double its lead a little over 3:30 later when Alex Tanguay was sitting in the penalty box after taking a hooking penalty. Jiri Hudler had the puck in the corner to Kipper’s right and centered a pass to Nick Lidstrom, who moved down from the point. His shot was blocked but eventually bounced off Brad Stuart’s skate and into the Calgary goal to put Detroit up 2-0 at the 8:36 mark.
Brett Ledba helps Alex Tanguay scratch an itch in a hard to reach place
David Sandford - Getty Images
As the score indicated, Detroit dominated play during the first period. They held a 11 to 7 advantage in shots and went 1-3 on the power play, although the goal was the result of a fortuitous bounce. The score could have just as easily been 1-0. It was during the second period when Detroit really put the game away. That was also when the Flames really dug in and committed to playing a tough, physical game.
It didn’t work too well as the Flames were called for two rouging penalties. Detroit was also hit with roughing penalties that occured at the same time as the Calgary penalties were called. The Wings went on to outshoot Calgary 21-5 and scored two even-strength goals to all but put the game away. Johan Franzen put on an impressive display at the 5:00 mark of the second period, working the boards behind the Calgary net to set up a nice centering pass to Robert Lang before laying a nice open-ice hit on Andrei Zyuzin about a minute later. Pavel Datsyuk had two great scoring chances that were denied by Kiprusoff, with the second one resulting in Datsyuk shaking his head and talking to himself.
Dion Phaneuf and a woman in the front row were mortified by the Mule’s gas problem
David Sandford - Getty Images
However Datsyuk made the most of his third opportunity when Tomas Holmstrom carried the puck into the Calgary zone at the 6:55 mark of the second period. Homer made a nice pass to Datsyuk, who was able to get behind the defender and put the shot past Kipper to put the Wings up 3-0. But Datsyuk wasn’t finished, as he registered an assist on Detroit’s 4th and final goal.
That goal came at the 9:57 mark of the second period, just after a penalty to Wayne Primeau expired. Mathieu Schneider scored from the right point, so while the goal wasn’t considered a power play goal it was as close as you can get to having a power play goal without being credited with one.
It was right after the 4th goal was scored that the game became pretty chippy. Most stoppages in play in front of either goal involved a little scrum. The level of chippiness only rose during the third period. Here is a list of all the penalties:
Calgary: Dion Phaneuf - roughing (9:16)
Calgary: Jarome Iginla - roughing (9:16)
Calgary: Wayne Primeau - cross check (12:03)
Detroit: Mathieu Schneider - roughing (12:03)
Detroit: Danny Markov - hooking (14:00)
Calgary: Brad Stuart - roughing (18:36)
Calgary: Byron Ritchie - misconduct (18:36)
Detroit: Dan Cleary - interference (18:36)
Detroit: Dan Cleary - misconduct (18:36)
Detroit: Dan Cleary - roughing (18:36)
Calgary: Jarome Iginla - cross check (18:36)
Alex Tanguay ended the shutout bid when his shot from in-close eluded Hasek at the 14:55 mark of the third period. The goal came on the power play and was assisted by Daymond Langkow and Kristian Huselius. That goal would obviously close out the scoring.
The Versus announcers were in love with Miikka Kiprusoff. They were all over him until the score was 4-0 with about half the game left. Then they decided to relax for a little bit. However when Dan Cleary was skating after the puck clearly outside of the crease and made contact with Kiprusoff they accused Detroit of running the goaltender. Yes, that’s clearly what Detroit was trying to do when up 4-1 with 1:24 left in the game.
The top line of Henrik Zetterberg - Pavel Datsyuk - Tomas Holmstrom was solid, registering 1 goal, 2 assists and each player was +2. Valterri Fillpula didn’t get a shift from midway through the third period until near the end of the game, but it looks like he did get one of the last shifts of the game. So it will be interesing to hear what happened there. Hopefully it was just an equipment issue.
Here were the lines for Detroit:
Henrik Zetterberg - Pavel Datsyuk - Tomas Holmstrom
Kyle Calder - Robert Lang - Mikael Samuelsson
Dan Cleary - Kris Draper - Kirk Maltby
Johan Franzen - Valtteri Filppula - Jiri Hudler
The officials generally did a good job keeping play from getting really chippy by calling a lot of coincidental penalties on both teams. At the end of the game it was just a given that the game was going to devolve into a low-level scrum at nearly every stoppage in play. The Wings did what they had to do by winning the first game. If they can follow up tonight’s great effort with another solid game on Sunday they will be in very good shape. However if they skate like they did during large parts of the third period ( I jest, they didn’t skate) they are going to play right into Calgary’s hands and get hit alot and turn the puck over. They must continue to skate like they did for the first two periods.
Mathieu Schneider Nick Lidstrom Pavel Datsyuk Red Wings Valtteri Filppula5 Comments
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However when Dan Cleary was skating after the puck clearly outside of the crease and made contact with Kiprusoff they accused Detroit of running the goaltender. Yes, that’s clearly what Detroit was trying to do when up 4-1 with 1:24 left in the game.
I realize I’m a Flames homer writing on a Wings blog, but with at least 3 more games left in the series (hopefully more), running a goaltender at the end of a game that is already out of reach is not that crazy of a concept…
You are certainly entitled to that opinion as a penalty was called. Cleary was skating hard for the puck and it looked to me (a Wings fan obviously) that Kiprusoff was a little late in trying to make a play on the puck.
If Cleary hit Kipper in the crease then sure, Cleary deserves to get pounded. But it looked to me that both players were outside the crease and were making a play on the puck.
I just didn’t see it as an intentional ploy to run Kiprusoff.
[…] Detroit takes Game One 4-1 Calgary: Jarome Iginla - cross check (18:36). Alex Tanguay ended the shutout bid when his shot from in-close eluded Hasek at the 14:55 mark of the third period. The goal came on the power play and was assisted by Daymond Langkow and … […]
[…] Wings bloggers/media Abel to Yzerman Ansar Khan Behind the Jersey Gorilla Crouch Quo Vadimus […]
[…] Dave at Gorilla Crouch likes the effort he saw last night by the Wings: The Red Wings played like a top 10 offense and won Game 1 of the playoff series against the Calgary Flames. The team scored two goals in the first and second periods and then held on for the win. The Flames’ physical play didn’t really affect Detroit until roughly midway through the third period when Detroit didn’t skate as hard as they had for much of the game. At that point they became easy targets and the Flames finished every check. […]