Canucks defeat Wings, 4-2
Last night, the Vancouver Canucks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2, at Joe Louis Arena. Matt Cooke, Henrik Sedin, and Anson Carter all scored for the Canucks. Richard Park scored on an empty net to finalize the Canucks’ win. “It was in our grasp tonight, and I didn’t come up with the big save,” Legace said. In his first start of the season, Canucks goalie Alex Auld made 28 saves. Only Tomas Holmstrom and Mikael Samuelsson’s shots got past him. “It’s definitely nice to get in,” Auld said. “I knew it would be a challenge against that team.”
Samuelsson notched his fourth goal in four games. His performance thus far is not what most predicted. When the Wings were scouting him, they took comments from current Swedes on the team who commended his hockey play. “He’s playing great,” defenseman Mathieu Schneider said. “The kid is doing everything really simple. (He) has a great shot and a lot of speed. That’s what it is going to take to have great success in this new league.”
Unlike Sunday night when the Wings capitalized on five out of nine power plays, they went 0 for 6 on the power play. “We weren’t efficient on the power play,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “On the 5-on-3, we didn’t do what we wanted at all. Part of that is them, and part of that is us.”
Babcock had more comments about the team’s performance against the Canucks:
“We were in the game early, but I never thought at any time we were in control of the game. We didn’t have our ‘A’ game. We weren’t as hard to play against as we have been…To win night in and night out, your best guys have to be your best guys and I didn’t think we had that. They were just a more desperate team…This was a tough back-to-back for us. We had an opportunity to really dig in here tonight. We didn’t get it done. Now we’ll go on the road here and play hard in LA… I didn’t think we made it as hard on their goalie tonight as we made it on (Calgary goalie) Mr. (Miikka) Kiprusoff last night or on St. Louis. They had more puck possession. They were a more desperate team. The game is pretty simple. Comes down a lot of nights to who wants it more when the skill level is pretty much the same, and I thought tonight they did.”Â
Wings extinguish Flames, 6-3
The Detroit Red Wings started the season with three wins after defeating the Calgary Flames, 6-3. Penalty trouble for the Flames helped the Wings get to a quick 3-0 lead by the end of the first period. The Flames had seven penalties in the first period alone, while the Wings had none. Nicklas Lidstrom, Brendan Shanahan, and Mikael Samuelsson all got a goal on the power play within the first 20 minutes of the game. The Wings outshot the Flames, 22-4, in the first period.
“You have to take advantage of your opportunities out there,” Lidstrom said. “You can put a team away or get ahead big when you get a lot of power plays.”Â
Henrik Zetterberg notched a goal and three assists in yesterday’s game. Pavel Datsyuk scored during a power play in the third period. “It wasn’t even close tonight,” Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. “You didn’t see any complaining from our side (about the penalties). We deserved them.”
Robert Lang scored his third goal of the season (one in each game thus far) towards the end of the second period. Goalie Miikka Kiprusoff was pulled after the second period. He was replaced by Philippe Sauve. Detroit’s goaltender, Manny Legace, made 21 saves in Sunday’s game. “We had a great start, we talked about that before the game, coming out and playing real strong,” Lidstrom said. “Our power play was working for us.”
Head coach Mike Babcock was pleased with the team’s performance. “We managed the puck and we were on top of their team more than they were on top of us, and we went to the net,” Babcock said. “We didn’t just play in the soft areas. We got involved in the game.”
Calgary’s Roman Hamrlik had a goal and an assist in the game. Rhett Warrener and Chuck Kobasew both scored a goal. Warrener’s shot was accidently tipped in by Kris Draper of the Wings.
Darren McCarty returned to the Joe, but as a member of the opposing squad. Even so, McCarty entered the ice to a sound of applause and cheering. “It was weird coming out and having to go right instead of left,” McCarty said. “It was great out there. I saw a lot of signs and shirts (greeting McCarty).” He also said that Sunday just flew by and thought Detroit has a strong team.
“It went quick, it was like a wedding day. It just blew by.” McCarty said. “They (the Wings) have a good team over there. We were in the box a lot. They played a good game. They were definitely on.”Â
In the first period, McCarty leveled Kirk Maltby, a former linemate. “I’m not mad at him or anything,” Maltby said. “He’s an aggressive player and he plays hard. That’s what I would expect.”
With yesterday’s goal, Lidstrom passed Ted Lindsay to become the sixth all-time scorer for the Detroit Red Wings with 729 points.
Wings play Blues in season opener
Tonight, October 5, all 30 NHL teams will play each other in honor of the league’s return after a long lockout. The Detroit Red Wings will play the St. Louis Blues in back to back games. Tonight, the Wings will open at home. My dad and brother are at the game, hopefully they’ll enjoy themselves! Tomorrow, the Wings will head to St. Louis. Chris Chelios was happy that the Wings were playing a rivalry team, instead of “Columbus.” John Keating, the broadcaster, actually said ouch. Chelios went on to say that the Avs or another rivalry team like the Blues would be a better season opener to generate some energy and excitement.
I hope to update BtJ throughout the game. I’m feeling under the weather so all I’m doing tonight is watching the Wings game- I can handle that.
With six players on the ice for the Wings with an impending penalty call on the Blues, Pavel Datsyuk put the puck past Blues goalie Patrick Lalime only a minute and a half into the game. I hope we see many more goals from him this season after we went through all of that off-season drama.
With 12:56 left in the first period, Mathieu Schneider rockets a shot past Lalime’s gloves into the top corner after receiving a pass from Datsyuk.
Eric Brewer beat Wings goalie, Manny Legace, to bring the Blues within one about 8:45 left in the first period. Tonight marks the first time Legace has started the season opener.
Sorry! Blogger decided to shut down from 8-10 directly during the game. Thus, this won’t be updated live. I am going to write my thoughts during the game and upload them once Blogger allows me to do so.
Mikael Samuelsson notched the Wings third goal only 2:41 minutes into the second period. Dan Cleary got the assist.
I just talked to my dad and I guess they passed out mini stanley cup trophies and the Red Wings logo magnets at the game and he’s giving it to me! My dorm room is definetely starting to resemble my room at home with all the Wings stuff. Plus I purchased, on eBay, a signed Draper 8×10 photo and a signed Maltby 8×10 photo for only $22 or so! Leave a comment if you’d like to learn more about where you can buy relatively cheap autographed photos.
In his first NHL game, Brett Lebda sent Lalime back to the bench with the Wings fourth goal. Austrian Reinhard Divis replaced Lalime in net.
Robert Lang scored his first goal this season on a powerplay with 3:18 left in the second period. Holmstrom received the assist.
In the sixth minute of the third period, Blues wing Keith Tkachuk nailed Datsyuk who didn’t see him coming. Brendan Shanahan didn’t feel that the hit was justified so he went after him. The referees quickly split them apart but it sure did energize the crowd. It was good to know that an unfair hit to a skillful player like Datsyuk wouldn’t go “unpunished.” This led to another powerplay with two Blues players and Shanny in the penalty box. Right after a faceoff, Jamal Mayers threw his gloves down and he and Shanny just went at it. I love hockey fights.
The game ended with the Wings beating the Blues, 5-1. The Red Wings have won six consecutive opening games dating back to the start of the 1999-2000 season. I was disappointed when the announced the 2005-2006 team that Steve Yzerman wasn’t announced. I know he has a sore groin and wasn’t going to play, but this is probably his last season! Oh well. I do have fond memories of the 2003-2004 opening game against the LA Kings when Yzerman scored the game winning goal with 1.7 seconds left in the third period. Sweet victory.
Well the Wings play tomorrow night with the puck dropping at 8pm and hopefully they’ll start the season 2-0.
Game Score: Wings - 5 Blues - 1