Wings 4, Predators 3 (SO)
I was unable to watch the first two periods due to a meeting, but I did catch the third period, overtime, and shootout. Here are some quick postgame reactions…
First Period
Pavel Datsyuk scores 4:23 into the first period with the assist by Johan Franzen. Just under 11 minutes later, Nashville Predators’ Erat scored to tie the game up at one apiece.
Second Period
Jason Arnott of the Predators scored at 5:11.
The recently revived Robert Lang scored at 12:30 with an assist by Mathieu Schneider. Lang then assisted Schneider’s 200th career goal 25 seconds later. The last time the Wings had two 200 goal scoring defensemen was back when Steve Duschesne and Larry Murphy played together. Both Lidstrom and Schneider scored their 200th career goals in a span of 4 days.
Third Period
The Predators (Zanon) scored the tying goal with 8:12 remaining in the third period. It was only their second shot of the period. Chris Osgood made a bunch of fantastic saves at the end of the game when the Predators just peppered the Wings’ net with all but one of their 11 third period shots happening in the last 8 and a half minutes in the third.
Overtime
This marks the second consecutive Nashville-Detroit game that has gone into OT (Nashville won that game, 4-3, on Forsberg’s winning goal). It also marked the second consecutive OT game for the Wings (they lost to Colorado on Sunday).
One of the Detroit broadcasters said that over the past 14 days, 40% of NHL games have been decided by overtime or a shootout. Before that, it was around 20%. Before today’s game, the Wings were only 3-9 in OT or the SO.
It seemed that a lot of play was down in the Wings end with Ozzie making more great saves. I was very impressed with Kyle Calder’s play down in the Preds’ corner. He created some nice chances and just really hustled out there.
Shootout
Tonight’s shootout marked the fourth shootout the Predators participated in over their 5 game road trip. The Preds still managed to head back home with 8 out of 10 possible points.
Wings SO:
Datsyuk- scores on backhand
Hudler- Vokoun stops his shot because he couldn’t get the puck up high enough
Filppula- Vokoun made the save
Franzen- scores!
*Note* The Wings usually go with Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Williams in the shootout. However, Zetterberg is out with an injury and Williams was recently traded to Chicago.
Predators SO:
Radulov- misses net
Kariya- scores over Osgood’s catching glove (crowd booed him as he took center ice)
Dumont- Osgood stuffs him
Erat- Osgood stops him (he is only 1/7 in the shootout)
Overall
With head coach Mike Babcock’s win tonight, it marks his 100th win with the Red Wings. It is the second fastest a coach has ever achieved 100 victories with a new team according to the Detroit broadcasters.
Another thing I noticed was that the crowd seemed pretty loud compared to the other games I’ve watched on TV. I know the crowd noise picks up in OT and the shootout, but even in the third period, the crowd seemed pretty lively.
Both teams were seriously depleted from injuries, but the Predators lost three more players during the game.
I will try to post some other game reactions and summaries sometime tomorrow. Until then, you can check out the offensive scoresheet and On the Forecheck’s liveblog of the game.
Update: Comments, reactions, and quotes from other bloggers and reporters…
Detroit News got a quote from Franzen, who scored the GWG in the shootout:
“A lot of guys are gone (and) I’ve been doing pretty good in practice (during shootouts),” Franzen said. “I didn’t really have a plan. I tried to act like I was going to shoot, that kind of froze him, and I went sideways and put it in.”
Mathieu Schneider scored his 200th career NHL goal, earning a standing ovation from fans and a pat on the shoulder from Nicklas Lidstrom, who reached the same milestone Friday.
“I got back to the bench and he said, ‘Welcome to the club,’ kid,” Schneider said, smiling. “He and I had a friendly bet with Langer at the beginning of the year; one of us wanted to beat Langer to 200, but he killed us, he got there way before both of us.”
Matt at On the Wings has a very detailed and thorough recap up of last night’s game:
The Wings won the big Central Division showdown (so-called) last night, 4-3 in a shootout. The Wings looked pretty good for a team without five regulars, as did the Predators without their three. The game probably didn’t fully live up to its billing, but it was an entertaining one and had its tense moments.
Gorilla Crouch also posted a recap:
If my post this morning seemed a little less than enthused it was. What should have been a marquee matchup between two of the best teams in the league definitely appeared to have lost some of its luster due to all of the injuries to both teams.
The truth was that the game ended up being fairly entertaining. Detroit had at least a half dozen very good, high-quality scoring chances in the first two periods and would have possibly put the game away early if not for some unrelenting goalposts. Nashville eventually took the lead and tied the game late in the third period to send the game to overtime. Then the Wings had to deal with a shootout skills competition they have not typically had success with.
IwoCPO at Abel to Yzerman didn’t post much of a game recap, but he did share his frustrations in getting updates about the Wings’ score.
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March 7th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
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