Gorilla Crouch

Jarome Iginla spends some time with his newest bestest friends
They were inseperable, which made Nick Lidstrom & Kris Draper very jealous and catty
Jerry S. Mendoza - AP Photo

Game 2 started off in much the same manner as Game 1, with Detroit building up a 2-0 lead in the first period before going on to win the game 3-1. With the win the Wings took a 2 games to none lead in the series. Detroit’s defensive play was dominant as they held the Flames to 15 shots on goal.

Pavel Datsyuk scored the first goal for Detroit after forcing a turnover from Alex Tanguay on the half boards. He skated towards the right faceoff circle before putting a shot past Miikka Kiprusoff high stick-side at the 1:02 mark of the opening period. Shortly after that goal Calgary imploded, taking 5 penalties in just under 6 minutes of play. With Rhett Warrener and Craig Conroy in the penalty box Detroit was able to double their lead. Nicklas Lidstrom scored at the 3:50 mark of the first period off a blast from the right point with the Wings on a 5 on 3 power play.

The Flames were stunned and took several bad penalties. But they were able once again to generate a great scoring chance while short-handed. However Wayne Primeau’s redirection hit the goal post. Just after dodging that bullet it looked like Detroit would have an excellent chance to go up 3-0. Pavel Datsyuk received a great pass while he was stationed on the doorstep to Kipper’s left. But he banged the puck into the goalpost so the score remained 2-0.

Mathieu Schneider took an interference penalty at the 13:02 mark, but Kris Draper and Dan Cleary were relentless on the penalty kill. Cleary in particular was excellent today, skating hard, laying the body and doing great work along the boards. He didn’t show up in the stat sheet but was rewarded by being named the third star of the game.

Kris Draper took a penalty while Schneider was still in the box, so the Flames had a 5 on 3 power play for 21 seconds. But the Mule buried Stephane Yelle and that helped Detroit clear the zone and kill off the remainder of Schneider’s penalty. The period would end with Detroit up 2-0.


Evidently tired of sticking their heads up their own bums,
the Flames attempt to give Homer’s a try
Paul Sancya - AP Photo

Despite the fact Detroit dominated the first period of play Calgary was able to cut Detroit’s lead in half early in the second period. With Mikael Samuelsson in the penalty box for tripping, Dion Phaneuf’s shot from the right point bounced off Chris Chelios and eluded Dominik Hasek. It was a bit of a fortunate bounce but that’s the way the puck redirects sometimes. The Calgary faithful had to feel pretty good at that point. They started to play better and were only down by one goal with 37:18 left in the game.


The Calgary bench has a great view of Robert Lang getting…< annoying ESPN talking heads >JACKED UP!< / annoying ESPN talking heads>
Paul Sancya - AP Photo

Kyle Calder was sent to the box for high-sticking at the 9:29 mark and Calgary had a good chance to knot the game at 2. But Detroit killed the penalty and both teams played pretty evenly until there was about 2 minutes left in the second period. Detroit was able to generate some solid scoring chances. Henrik Zetterberg had two good centering passes to Johan Franzen as he cut torwards the net. The third line followed the lead and was dangerous in the offensive zone, but the second period would end with Detroit up 2-1.

Two of Detroit’s younger forwards would play a key role in helping Detroit regain the two goal lead. Johan Franzen carried the puck into the Calgary zone from the right wing and fired a shot at Kiprusoff. Kipper came far out of the net to cut down on the angle. The Flames netminder made the stop but was out of position when Valtteri Filppula skated towards the net to bury the rebound. His shot found the back of the net and provided Detroit with a 3-1 lead at the 6:05 mark of the third period.

From that point on Detroit was pretty good about dumping the puck and forechecking to make life difficult for the Flames. It was successful and helped Detroit hold serve and take both home games. The key thing for Detroit right now is to try and take at least one game in Calgary, which is going to be very difficult.

Red Wings

April 15th, 2007
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave

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