Gorilla Crouch

With a 2-1 overtime win the Wings regained control of their opening round series against the Nashville Predators and hold the vital 3-2 lead in the series. Detroit will have a chance to close out the series on Sunday while on the road. That is largely due to some new faces in the form of Niklas Kronwall, Valtteri Filppula and Johan Franzen, along with an old, familiar face between the pipes.

Many of us Detroit Red Wings fans viewed Chris Osgood signing with the Red Wings as an after-thought, if we actually gave it that much thought. He’s possibly the only guy ranked amongst the top 15 goalies in career wins [he’s currently at 366 wins if my math is correct] who isn’t viewed as a legendary goaltender, and is instead viewed as having rode the coatails of some great Red Wings teams. Andy Moog, who won a Cup with the Oil when Grant Fuhr was the main goaltender would probably be the closest comparison. But give Osgood and Ken Holland credit as bringing Ozzie back to Hockeytown is making a positive impact at the most important time of the year.

The other day I mentioned that Osgood has done pretty well against the Predators. Here are his stats since March 13, 2007 against Nashville.

Ozzie Rocks the Preds

Date	Saves	Shots	SV%	GA	Mins	GAA
3/13/2007	29	31	94%	2	60	2.00
3/29/2007	24	25	96%	1	60	1.00
11/7/2007	28	30	93%	2	65	1.85
12/10/2007	30	31	97%	2	60	1.00
2/12/2008	1	4	25%	3	9	20.00
3/15/2008	24	26	92%	2	59	2.03
4/16/2008	13	13	100%	0	33	0.00
4/18/2008	20	21	95%	1	62	0.97
TOTAL	169	181	93%	12	408	1.76

That’s why I felt like it made sense for Mike Babcock to go with Chris Osgood to start Game 5. Well, besides the fact he had the best goals-against average in the NHL. Ozzie had one bad game back on February 12th, but otherwise he’s been as close to unbreachable as you can get. Tonight was a night where the Wings needed a goalie who would surrender fewer than two goals against and that’s exactly what Osgood has been good for in the lion’s share of his past 8 appearances against Nashville. He held true to form tonight and was a key factor in the Wings claiming victory over a pesky Nashville team that was missing two key players.

Jason Arnott and David Legwand both sat out the game and this was a shrewd move by Barry Trotz. Arnott has been hit with the flu and Legwand suffered a setback with his injured foot. Given the Predators’ struggles on the road in the playoffs it was probably the best move to sit both players out and let them recuperate. If they can both contribute in Game 6 it will give the Preds their best shot at winning that game and having both players contribute in Game 7 should they win Sunday’s game.

The Wings seemed a little reluctant to go to the front of the net, but the few times they did it paid dividends. Valtteri Filppula moved in from the left wing and lifted a shot glove-side past Dan Ellis to put Detroit up 1-0 in the first period. The Wings would pepper Ellis with 54 shots, but many of them were easy saves on shots from the point or along the boards. The Preds played a solid defensive game and bided their time until attacking late in the third. Radek Bonk buried the puck with 44 seconds remaining in regulation to knot the game at 1-1 and that would be the score when regulation play ended.

However overtime wouldn’t last long as Nik Kronwall picked off a pass in the neutral zone and sprung Johan Franzen who went in all alone on Dan Ellis. The Mule faked Ellis on his forehand before pulling the puck back and tucking it in on the backhand for the game-winner. Franzen also had an overtime game-winner in Game 6 against Calgary last year in the playoffs. Kronwall assisted on both goals and has quietly become one of Detroit’s best blueliners.

Darren Helm replaced Mark Hartigan as the fourth line center and my guess is it was largely due to faceoffs. Hartigan had only won 6 out of 16 faceoffs for a 37.5% success rate. Helm got off to a much better start as he won 80% of his draws. Helm also has more upside than Hartigan so it made sense to give him a shot and see how he performed. He looked pretty good tonight and with his success on faceoffs he gave Babcock no reason to doubt his decision to make the switch.

I suspect Mike Babcock will start Osgood again in net. When he was asked about his goalie rotation he simply said “just win” which means he’s going to go with the guy who produces. There’s nothing in tonight’s game to give you any reason to doubt that Osgood can backstop the team to a fourth victory in this series. The Wings were in prime position to win Game 3 before the Predators rallied to win the game. I suspect that if the team can provide Osgood with similar production he’ll be capable of closing Nashville out.

Nashville Predators NHL Playoffs Red Wings

April 18th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave

2 Comments

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI

Leave a comment

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Anti-spam word: (Required)*
To prove you're a person (not a spam script), type the security word shown in the picture.