Questions from Round One
Here are the questions I posed at the start of the series.
5. How will Brad Stuart perform for the Wings?
Stuart improved over the course of the series. Games 5 and 6 were his strongest games as he registered five shots, four hits, four blocks and went +2 over both games. The second pairing of Niklas Kronwall and Brad Stuart should be a key contributor to this year’s playoff run.
Nashville was fourth in most goals scored - and was one goal behind Colorado - amongst Western Conference playoff teams. They had some injuries to their best players but the Wings held them to an average of 2.00 goals per game.
4. How will the younger forwards look?
Jiri Hudler had a great playoff series. He’s getting minutes on what the Edmonton bloggers term the soft parade as he’s playing on the third and fourth line where he has easier matchups. There’s no shame in that and he’s producing offense, which is his calling card. He’s tied with Pavel Datsyuk for most points in the series against Nashville.
Niklas Kronwall isn’t a forward but he’s really stepping up his level of play as he’s done all season long. He’s also tied for the lead in points, and has put together quite the mixtape/highlight reel of hits over one six game series.
Radek Bonk
Just keep that elbow down Kronner. Those hits are great momentum changers and his combination of open ice hits and scoring paid huge dividends in round one.
Val Filppula had a rough series as he had some prime scoring chances that he couldn’t convert. But he was even while playing against Nashville’s top lines and he’s likely to start making regular appearances on the score sheet in the near future.
Darren Helm was sensational in Game 6 and Mike Babcock has raved about his play. The coach’s comments would suggest that you can expect him to continue to get ice time.
3. Who will provide scoring depth for Detroit?
The top line of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom combined to score 6 goals and tally 6 assists. But the Wings also got contributions from skaters on all four of their lines:
| Player | Games | Line | Goals | Assists | Points |
|
Jiri Hudler |
6 | 3rd/4th | 2 | 3 | 5 |
|
Johan Franzen |
6 | 2nd | 2 | 2 | 4 |
|
Kris Draper |
6 | 3rd | 2 | 1 | 3 |
|
Valtteri Filppula |
6 | 2nd | 1 | 0 | 1 |
|
Darren McCarty |
6 | 4th | 1 | 0 | 1 |
This is a great sign through the first round of the playoffs.
2. Will the Wings solve Dan Ellis?
Ellis was clearly Nashville’s best player and he nearly stole Game 5 for the Preds. The Red Wings averaged a shade under three goals a game and that was due entirely to Ellis. The ‘tender clearly had some puck luck as there were a handful of shots that beat him but clanged off the iron, but the Wings scored just enough goals to advance. This playoff series mirrored the regular season results between the two teams in terms of how close the scoring was.
1. Will Dom play like the Dominator?
Dom started out strongly, allowing an average of 1.5 goals per game in the first two games. But he gave up some goals from near the blueline that Mike Babcock just didn’t like. Babcock clearly made the right decision to put Chris Osgood in net and it’s Ozzie’s net right now. But the head coach has told Hasek it’s his job to try and earn the starting spot back.
Hopefully Hasek can keep his head in the game. The Wings need 12 more victories to reach their ultimate goal and no one knows how the playoffs will go. It’s entirely possible Detroit might need Dom again at some point during their playoff run.
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