San Jose takes Game 1
San Jose scored two goals in a span of 24 seconds then kept the Red Wings off the scoreboard to win the game 2-0. The Sharks’ first goal came on the power play, as Joe Thornton made a perfect pass to Matt Carle who was cutting towards the net on a backdoor cut. Dominik Hasek had no chance at stopping the goal, which came at the 9:45 mark of the first period.
Mike Grier doubled the lead after a Mathieu Schneider turnover as he quickly spun and shot the puck from between the circles as he gained possesion of the puck. The puck was past Hasek before he could react and that would close out all of the scoring for the game.
Both San Jose and Detroit came into the game featuring top 10 offenses and defenses. But it ended up being a game that featured few quality scoring chances and big saves on those rare circumstances when a player could get a decent shot on net. The Wings came out in the second period and held the Sharks to 3 shots on goal. Part of that was probably due to San Jose being less aggressive once they built up a 2 goal lead. For the game Detroit generated 34 shots on goal, which was a bit of a drop off from their series average in round one.
The Red Wings clearly missed Tomas Holmstrom. They were decent at cycling the puck along the boards but didn’t get much going in front of the net. Most of their shots were from the perimeter, which is what they settled for in the two losses to Calgary in the first round. Even when a player would skate with the puck towards the net, the puck was most likely to be thrown back to the point, where San Jose was content to give Detroit plenty of space.
The Red Wings were successful in only taking one penalty. That was a big concern before the series started. Giving up one power play goal isn’t bad; but the fact San Jose went 1 for 1 isn’t a good sign. Kyle Calder played on the top line but Mike Babcock juggled the lines quite a bit to try and generate some offense.
When the Red Wings used their speed they seemed to generate some decent scoring chances. When they didn’t skate as hard they appeared to have a tough time dealing with San Jose’s size. So the big things I will watch for are: when will Tomas Holmstrom be expected back in the lineup; and whether the Wings be able to use what appears to be an advantage as the faster skating team to generate some offense.
As far as Holmstrom goes, it doesn’t look like he is going to be back for a couple games. So the Red Wings are going to have to generate some traffic and scoring chances in front of the net without him for at least one more game. Hopefully the Wings will be able to use their speed in transition to generate some good scoring chances in Game 2.
Matt Carle Mike Grier NHL Playoffs Red Wings San Jose SharksNo Comments
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