Wings 3, Oilers 2 (2OT)
As most readers know, I attended tonight’s game in the Joe. I’ll also have you know that I sat in the nosebleed section (row 19 of a possible 24 rows in the upper bowl). I did see the game, but most of the time I couldn’t tell who made a big play down on the other end of the ice. And they never show replays of penalties at the Joe so what I thought was fair/unfair could’ve been the opposite and I know no better. That being said, here are my game thoughts…
Pre-Game
I love going to the Joe; it’s my favorite place in the world. There’s something about wasted Wings fans (before the game starts) that just brings a smile to my face. Anyways, my dad and I made our pre-game predictions.
Dad - Wings win, 4-1.
Me - Wings win, 3-2.
So I was right, I just didn’t say that it’d happen in OT, much less double OT. Oh, and that 10 minute pre-game show was nothing special lemme tell you. The best part of the pre-game show was when two octopi were thrown out on the ice while Karen Newman was singing the National Anthem - you couldn’t even hear her the crowd was so excited. And then after she finished, Al came out and picked them up and waved the larger one above his head, what a perfect way to start the playoffs in Detroit.
First Period
It seemed to me that the Wings looked really strong as they started the game with a lot of intensity and spent most of the time in the Oilers end. They only looked weak while on the penalty kill (which was pretty shaky all night). And of course, Samsonov scores while Schneider was sitting in the box for hooking.
With less than three minutes into the game, there was a fight in front of Roloson and I was like, Maltby? Where was this displayed intensity all year? I liked it. So in my first playoff game, I experienced the octopus throw and a fight within a span of 10 minutes or so. Pretty nice if you ask me.
Robert Lang scored first and as IwoCPO @ Abel to Yzerman mentioned earlier today…
The Enigma: R. Lang. Dammit, Lang…I’m sick of calling you The Enigma. Let’s see 22, 23 consistent playoff games. Win faceoffs, carry the puck, keep the puck. Be strong in the corners and FIND THE CAPTAIN. This guy is so key for us. If R. Lang gets hot, if he pops a couple tonite Edmonton is in serious trouble. Yes, Peca’s probably going to shadow Zetterberg. Datsyuk will be doubled every time he, eventually, touches the puck. Shanahan is going to see little open space and Homer is going to be absolutely abused in front of the net until the whistles come out. But if Lang can carry his line….there’s no way to spread the defensive wealth far enough to contain that that unit.
And as I sat there watching the game, I could just hear his voice in my head. Lang got a goal early in the game and I thought the Lang / Yzerman / Williams line had the most opportunities throughout the game.Each team had three penalties apiece. While I did struggle to catch some penalties, I thought they were all fair aside from Yzerman’s but I certainly could’ve missed that. Was it me, or did the Oilers really go after Yzie? I mean, it is a hockey game so I don’t expect them to ignore him, but he just seemed to get hit time and time again and no one did anything about it!
Shots favored the Wings, 15-5, in the first.
Second Period
Now this is where it got really ugly for the Wings. Chelios got called for cross-checking (and I actually agreed with this call from my viewpoint), 7:48 into the second. As I previously mentioned, our penalty kill looked shaky - we weren’t being aggressive, just kind of sitting back. Well right before Pronger (who I can’t stand by the way) scores, some Oiler knocked Manny Legace over. Everyone in our section was yelling at the referee because clearly that was goalie interference and clearly unacceptable. However, nothing was called so Legace got up where he was quickly scored upon. The Oiler standing in front of Manny to try and block his view did an awfully good job because Manny couldn’t see anything.
I really thought the Wings had more penalties to kill than just the one, but looking at the offensive scoresheet I clearly am mistaken. Maybe it seemed like more because the Wings got two power play chances following the Pronger goal and the Oilers were in our end more than we were in there’s. The second half of the period was miserable. It was like a switch was turned off and all of the Wings became lazy and thought they were playing St. Louis in a meaningless game instead of the fricking Oilers in the playoffs! It was incredibly frustrating to watch in the stands.
Detroit outshot the Oilers, 16-6.
Third Period
The Wings didn’t look really intense to start the period, but it appeared to grow as time went on. They had a number of solid chances, but nothing went in until Kirk Maltby tied the game at 2 apiece, 13:58 into the third. Now, I had a sucky viewpoint for this goal and only saw the replay once on the screen above center ice. They had the guys in Toronto check to see if there was a goal or my guess was that it looked like Maltby might have kicked it in, but I don’t really know. I was incredibly nervous because losing that goal would’ve killed the small amount of momentum we had started to build. Fortunately, the goal stood and the Joe went nuts.
However, Shanny got a roughing penalty with 1:50 left in the third. I was so nervous because with the way the Wings penalty kill had been working, I thought they were going to score for sure. But somehow the Wings managed to keep the score tied and force an overtime.
Edmonton outshot Detroit, 8-7.
Overtime #1
I spent most of the overtime (and the second overtime) acting like a chicken with its head cut off. If the Oilers were in the Wings end, I just whispered “no no no no” until the puck was cleared or carried out. For any Seinfeld fans, I acted like Kramer the one time he won a bet at the race track and when he stood there saying “come on” and whipping an imaginary horse with his newspaper. Anyways, I just sat there whispering “come on” like a mad woman. I clearly could not handle the pressure of a Wings fan in the playoffs.
I also became very appreciative that the NHL does not have shootouts in the playoffs. How wrong would it have been if the game ended that way? Yuck.
The Wings actually played really well in these 20 minutes with 16 shots on goal to the Oilers’ 6 chances. The referees didn’t call any penalties, which I was thankful for.
Overtime #2
If I thought I was a mess the first OT, I got even worse in the second. Fortunately for my head and heart’s sake, Maltby scored the game winner 2:39 into the double OT. Edmonton had no shots in that time span while Detroit had 3. After Maltby’s goal, the Joe went crazy! I’ve never experienced anything like it (since Michigan lost to Ohio State and Notre Dame this year at the Big House). It was a fantastic way to conclude my first playoff game.
Overall
Detroit only went 1/6 on the power play tonight. The special teams weren’t very hot or even mild tonight, which made the game much closer than it could’ve been.
The Oilers goaltender, Roloson, made all but 3 saves on 57 shots. 57! I had to give Roloson props for the fine goaltending tonight and I’m very nervous about the future games because of the trouble he could give us. He was only given the second star of the night. Chris @ Covered in Oil had this to say about Roloson’s performance tonight:
Seriously, what a performance from Roloson tonight. So solid, so calm, even after having his head sat on. That’s rare, people. you can’t teach… having you head… sat on. And playing well. Right? Right. Also, gotta love his little Hextall moment early on to set the tone, with the one-two slash-crosscheck. Sure we got a penalty, but dammit, it was emotional. And emotional victories are almost as good as real ones.Except when they’re not. Like tonight.
Game-winner, Kirk Maltby, received the number one star with captain Steve Yzerman claiming the third slot. Yzie got one assist tonight and I thought just played fantastic. He set up some great opportunities throughout the night.The NHL.com recap had this little tidbit to share with us:
Detroit is the most experienced team in the playoffs with more than 1,500 combined games and 26 Stanley Cup rings while the current Oilers entered the postseason with 449 games of experience and no championships.
I think the experience really helped us finish out the game tonight. Sure we had numerous rough patches, but we got it done and got the win, which is all that really matters.The recap also had this to say:
Maltby made it 2-all with 6:17 left in regulation when he scored off a rebound on a goal that stood after a video review. He had just five goals this season after scoring 14 in each of the previous two.”You need guys like Malts to win at playoff time - he competes,” coach Mike Babcock said after coaching Detroit for the first time in the postseason.
Roloson made 54 saves. “Unfortunately, they got a lucky bounce at the end of the game,” Roloson said. “You can’t fault our guys at all.”
Manny Legace, who made just 23 saves for the Red Wings, said he felt a sense of relief. “Especially when it goes to double overtime and the other goalie stands on his head,” Legace said. “We got lucky.”
In conclusion, I’ve been to plenty of Wings games and have never really felt comfortable talking to those around me because they didn’t seem that interested. Well tonight, I talked to the people on both sides of my Dad and I as well as the guys behind us. I enjoyed the hockey talk because I sadly have no one to talk to at college.I really enjoyed the game tonight, although it was a little too close for my health’s sake. I also found out that my youngest brother has a soccer game in Grand Rapids on Sunday afternoon so I will be taking my other brother to Game #2 of Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 2 games in 3 days, can I handle it?
Wings now lead the series, 1-0. So how will they do Sunday? I’m predicting a 2-1 win by Detroit. Go Wings!
Please leave a comment or send an email to let me know what you thought of the game! I’ll be studying biology all tomorrow, but I’ll try to post some of your game reactions during a study break!
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