Wings maintain firm grip on Series, go up 2-0
One of the questions I’ve asked about this series is whether Dom can play like the Dominator. During yesterday’s game Hasek showed flashes of the Dominator - particularly during the first period - and that’s a great sign for Detroit. But for a brief span during the second period when the Wings were nursing a 2-0 lead Hasek melted down and the Preds wasted no time in pouncing. Nashville got some lucky bounces for sure, but they buried them and just like that the score was knotted.
It made me wish Mike Babcock had Hasek fitted with a collar where he’d be able to use a remote control to taze Dom’s ass whenever he starts going a little batty. Fortunately there are more humane ways to deal with flighty netminders; Babcock used his timeout and got his team to settle down. Kris Draper scored the game-winning goal shortly thereafter and the Wings were on their way to a 4-2 victory.
The scary thing for Nashville? The Wings have only gotten better as the series has grown older, period by period. The Preds start off like gangbusters generating shots on goal at a reasonable clip during the first period. Slowly but surely the Wings applied pressure and slowed the shots on goal to a trickle. The headlines read that Detroit took advantage off all their breaks but they really didn’t. On offense, the Wings missed several great scoring chances - we might need to come up with the phrase Valtteri Filppula hat trick with how many tap-ins he missed - otherwise they could have easily put up half a dozen goals on the Preds.
I kid Fil as he has improved from the standpoint of going towards the front of the net. He missed on some prime scoring chances but so long as he continues to go to those areas he is going to start burying those chances. And when he does the Wings are going to be in even better shape than they are right now. He just missed out on being a 20 goal scorer this season but his sense of where to go to be in good scoring position is clearly improving.
You want the best stat to indicate how much scoring depth Detroit had yesterday afternoon? Ten Red Wings players tallied either a goal or an assist. Ten. Darren McCarty got the scoring started when he buried the rebound from Dallas Drake’s shot in the first period. Nick Lidstrom blasted home the power play goal to put the Wings up 2-0. Draper put a puck off the skate of a trash talking Greg Zanon to stake the Wings to a 3-2 lead they wouldn’t relinquish. And Tomas Holmstrom scooped up the loose change and buried a rebound from the slot area to close out the scoring.
Nashville has complained bitterly about the officiating and as a result I suspect we are going to see a parade of Red Wings in the penalty box in Game 3. You just know Holmstrom is going to get called for goalie interference, even though reviews have shown he wasn’t in the crease during Nick Lidstrom’s blast from the point yesterday. The only thing playing in Detroit’s favor is the Preds have converted only 8.8% of their power play advantages against the Red Wings. They are currently 1-9 during the playoff series thus far [the lone goal coming off of a crazy bounce off the Joe’s lively endboards] so they are maintaining that same low success rate. The PK is likely to be a huge factor for Detroit during Game 3 tomorrow night.
On to the questions…
5. How will Brad Stuart perform for the Wings?
Stuart hasn’t missed a beat during his time away from NHL action. He’s been great playing alongside Niklas Kronwall and provides the Wings with two very solid defensive pairings. He played just under 20 minutes and was even on the afternoon.
4. How will the younger forwards look?
Several players who are playing for Grand Rapids in the AHL are now heading back to Detroit and will fill out the Black Aces. Right now the Wings are firing on close to all cylinders so they are likely to continue to provide depth. Second year forward Valtteri Filppula has to be a little frustrated with those scoring chances he missed yesterday but given the Wings won convincingly he can brush it off as one rough game. He’s making improvements even if they aren’t showing up on the stat sheet.
3. Who will provide scoring depth for Detroit?
Yesterday was one of those games where the Wings had to rely on depth scoring. They got it from a couple guys who were part of those three most recent Stanley Cup champion teams as Mac and Draper tallied goals for Detroit. Draper scored 9 goals during the regular season and McCarty obviously didn’t score any.
2. Will the Wings solve Dan Ellis?
Ellis continues to be Nashville’s best player, but the Wings could have easily put up six goals on him yesterday. If Detroit continues to play they way they did yesterday they are going to be in good shape. The Pred netminder has been solid but there’s no reason at this point to think he is capable of shutting the Wings down.
1. Will Dom play like the Dominator?
I touched on this above, but - much like the Wings as a team - Hasek appears to be improving period by period. Aside from one brief span where he seemed to go a little haywire he’s made some big stops. After two games he’s stopping 93.6% of the shots he’s faced and he’s allowing 1.5 goals against per game. That’ll work.
Other columns and comments on the game.
Abel to Yzerman
On the Wings
Behind the Jersey liveblog
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