Wings - Avs quick thoughts on Game 1
-I really thought it was a good idea for the Red Wings to test Jose Theodore early and often. I just wasn’t convinced he was as good as his save percentage in the Minnesota series suggested. Over at Abel to Yzerman they’ve given him the nickname Jose Three or Four and the name certainly fit last night. So we’ll see if he starts in Game 2 or if Colorado goes with Peter Budaj instead.
-Detroit’s scoring lines provided all sorts of problems for Colorado. Hank Zetterberg, Dan Cleary and Johan Franzen scored all of Detroit’s goals. It’s a good sign that they were able to put up 4 goals in 21:13. After the goalie change the Avs were energized and the Wings seemed to ease off the pedal. After the visitors were able to narrow the gap to 4-3 Detroit carried play early on in the third before they battened down the hatches and withstood Colorado’s attempts to tie the game.
-The Red Wings held Colorado to 21 shots on goal which is probably a number of shots they feel comfortable with. But the Avs were still able to score three goals, so the one potential benefit is that even though Detroit just flat-out dominated this game early they have to realize how quickly Colorado can get back into the game. This game actually reminded me quite a bit of Game 3 against Nashville where Detroit held 2-1 and 3-2 leads. They lost that game 5-3. Fortunately they held on to win last night.
-Paul Stastny had a great game. The second line of Stastny, Milan Hekduk and Ryan Smyth was dangerous all night. Hopefully the Wings will do a better job against that line with Brad Stuart on the ice, as the defeneman missed Game 1. Andreas Lilja, as has been the case all season, struggled playing top 4 minutes. He’ll likely be a scratch now that Stuart is due back for Game 2.
-Game 2 is going to be intriguing as it will likely give us an idea of how this series is going to go. Can the Wings build off of what they were able to do early on when they just presented the Avs with all sorts of problems? Or will Colorado be able to build off the success their second line had during Game 1? Will the addition of Brad Stuart help to contain that second line? And will Peter Forsberg - assuming he can suit up - be able to help the Avalanche in this series?
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