ZDH Line leads Wings past Kings 4-1
The top line came up big against LA
Give Mike Babcock credit: he realized his team was destined to start off the season in much the same manner as last season when the team struggled to score goals at even-strength. As a result he wasted little time reuniting Hank Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom on the top line. The results speak for themselves: the forwards have combined to score 10 goals and notch 15 assists in the first six games of the season. Tonight each player potted a goal along with Kris Draper’s short-handed goal to lead the Red Wings to victory.
Mikael Samuelsson missed the game with a slight groin injury. It doesn’t sound like he will be out for long. As a result the Wings used the following lineups at forward:
Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom
Hudler-Filppula-Kopecky
Cleary-Draper-Maltby
Downey-Ellis-Drake
The top line was obviously very effective. The second line generated good pressure in the offensive zone and had some good scoring chances. The third line didn’t give up an even-strength goal for the first time in three games and the fourth line looked like a legitimate grind line. Detroit was playing a Los Angeles team that appears to be underperforming given their level of talent so perhaps the lines looked better than they will against other opponents. But tonight each of the lines seemed to be effective.
Chris Osgood looked like he’d shaken off the rust that was obvious in the game against Calgary and led the Wings to another win in regulation. He made several solid stops, particularly on the penalty kill. The lone Los Angeles goal came on a 5 on 3 power play where he had no chance stopping a Mike Cammalleri laser from the right faceoff circle. Cammi looked a bit like Brett Hull as he dropped to one knee before drilling the puck past Osgood.
The Wings were fairly undisciplined as they took six penalties compared to two for the Kings. But they were opportunistic when Kris Draper pressured Brad Stuart at the point and was able to go in all alone on Los Angeles netminder Jonathan Bernier. Draper showed good patience as he skated outside the crease and waited for Bernier to drop before tucking the puck past him for the short-handed goal. It was Detroit’s first shorty of the season.
When Detroit wasn’t scoring short-handed goals they were doing a nice job drawing penalties while short-handed. Pavel Datsyuk and Dallas Drake both drew penalties that turned PKs into 4 on 4 situations that eventually became power plays. Niklas Kronvall had a nice hit early on against John Zeiler that seemed to help turn momentum Detroit’s way, but Kronner was called for a weak tripping call late in the game when he put a shoulder into a Kings player who fell to the ice after the hit.
Detroit’s second line of Jiri Hudler, Val Filppula and Tomas Kopecky generated some good scoring chances. The line, which was comprised of Grand Rapids Griffins alumni, was dangerous all game long and might warrant being kept together if Mikael Samuelsson can’t play tomorrow night against Anaheim. With the win the Red Wings remained one point behind Minnesota for the best point total in the Western Conference.
los angeles king Red Wings1 Comment(s)
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
[…] Because I did not take notes on the game last night, I’m going to skip the full recap and jump right into the preview for tonight’s game, with some thoughts on the win over LA included. Be sure to check out Dave’s recap over at Gorilla Crouch. […]