Gameday Articles
Ansar Khan at MLIVE writes about the emergence of Dan Cleary. I listed him as the #2 star for the first round playoff series. Mike Babcock is a fan of Cleary’s performance thus far too:
“He’s been as good as any forward we’ve had in the playoffs,'’ Wings coach Mike Babcock said Sunday, prior to Game 3 against San Jose tonight at the HP Pavilion, in a series that’s tied 1-1.
Babcock said the same thing the last round. And Cleary keeps proving him right. From his huge check on hard-hitting defenseman Dion Phaneuf and his penalty-shot goal against Calgary in the first round to his momentum-turning, game-tying short-handed goal vs. the Sharks on Saturday, Cleary has already delivered several big plays in the postseason.
“Cleary’s been fantastic physically, on puck control, penalty-killing,'’ Babcock said. “When you see character people do well, you feel very happy for them.'’
Cleary’s ‘never say die’ attitude was a key to the comeback in Game 2. Khan reports it should help the team as they face adversity throughout the playoffs.
If they experience another rough start tonight in Game 3 at the HP Pavilion, Wings coach Mike Babcock has some advice for his team.
“Just because something goes wrong . . . hang on here, we’re all right, just keep going,'’ Babcock said.
“You know they’re going to come out even better than they did in Games 1 and 2, with the fans being behind them,'’ Wings forward Dan Cleary said. “It’s a tough building to play in, it’s going to be real loud. It’s going to be a fast-skating, hard-hitting game, and we just have to play smarter at the start, a little more poised and patient and let’s not try to create things that aren’t there. Let’s keep it simple and weather the storm early.'’
The Sharks have scored all four of their goals in the first period.
Based on what Mike Babcock said to reporters, it sounds like Todd Bertuzzi will play on the top line. Here is what the head coach expects from Bert:
“What we need out of Bert is real simple: Get your legs going, stay in the battle, hang onto the puck, shoot the puck and run over people. I don’t know in which order,'’ Babcock said. “You don’t have to play complicated, you don’t have to even make plays. They’ll make the plays, (you) get to the net and shoot the puck and be big.'’
The “they’ll” Babcock was referring to are Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. But Mikael Samuelsson will likely also get some shifts on the top line after playing a key role in the game-winning goal in Game 2. Hopefully Samuelsson’s situation will inspire Robert Lang to get after it and play hard. Samuelsson was put on the 4th line for a bit and through his play - along with an injury to Tomas Holmstrom - he has moved up to the 1st and 2nd lines.
Doctor Babcock also had a funny line in providing an update on Tomas Holmstrom’s condition: “It’s day-to-day with the hope that some day they’re going to tell us it’s fine. He feels great, but I guess because of this potential re-bleed, it doesn’t matter how you feel.'’
Yep, potential re-bleeding is keeping Homer out of the lineup. For those playing along at home that would be an upper body injury.
Helene St. James from the Free Press also reports that we can expect Bert on the top line. Babcock reports that there is only one criterion he uses for determining who plays this time of year:
“I guess the way I look at it is, it’s not about the individual at this time of year,” Babcock said. “It’s about winning. That’s all it is. So when you’re going and you can help us win you’re going; if you’re not going, then you don’t get to play. It’s just that simple for me.”
It’s impossible to argue with that line of thinking, particularly with a chance to advance to the Western Conference Finals on the line. The Red Wings are going to have to win at least one road game in order to advance. St. James also writes that Mathieu Schneider has no shots on goal so far in the series. He took plenty of shots in Game 1 but none of them made it through the San Jose skaters. Fortunately the Red Wings adapted and took fewer slappers from the points. Moving Nick Lidstrom down low on backdoor cuts is also a good idea to counter a Sharks team that has obviously made eliminating Detroit’s defensemen from the scoresheet a priority.
John Niyo from the Detroit News writes about Chris Chelios’ key play to keep the puck in the offensive zone, which allowed the Red Wings to get the winning score with 1:24 left in the game:
And if you couldn’t follow the climactic chain of events I just described, well, let me put it to you another way: The team that wouldn’t go away in this series has the player who won’t go away to thank for that.
“Well, this time it worked,” said Chelios, who tied Mark Messier for No. 2 on the career list Saturday with 236 playoff games. “I’d look like a donkey if hadn’t worked.”
It’s a good article that focuses less on the newsflash that Chris Chelios is one of the oldest professional athletes in sports and instead covers his contributions to the Red Wings. And his workout regime to sweat out the toxins. Kris Draper suggests from experience that you don’t try this one at home. Niyo also has a Faceoff Game 3 article that highlights Dominik Hasek’s impact on the Detroit Red Wings during the playoffs.
Christy over at Behind the Jersey has some pictures from Game 2 along with a link to Sharkspage that has some pictures from the Red Wings’ practice on Sunday in San Jose.
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