Wings 1, Flames 2
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I dread our Western Canada road trips. They never turn out well. I’ll discuss that more in detail later. Anyways, today was a big game for both teams, but especially so for the Calgary Flames. They were only four points above Colorado for the last playoff spot and with their win tonight, they pull ahead by a total 6 points. The Wings had a chance to take the #1 spot in the Western Conference and NHL, but failed to do so. When the Wings win their next game, they’ll have their 7th straight 100+ point season, which is one away from the NHL record. From 1974 to 1982, Montreal had eight seasons with 100+ points and they didn’t have the luxury of points from overtime losses.
Pregame Thoughts
- Is it bad that my heart dropped when I heard Andreas Lilja was in for Chris Chelios tonight? Cheli is not injured, but was given the evening off.
- Johan Franzen is back tonight after missing four games from his upper body injury.
- Josh Langfeld (UM alum) lost a bet with Brett Lebda (ND alum) and had to wear a Notre Dame baseball cap during an interview shown in the FSN pregame show.
1st Period
- 18:13 = time left in the first period & time of Calgary’s first goal. The goal came exactly one minute into Kirk Maltby’s slashing penalty. Langkow scored the Flames’ goal on a rebound.
- Partially due to the three Wings’ penalties in the first, the puck was in the Wings’ end a lot.
- I’m really liking Kyle Calder. It’s the little things he does that help and it seems that it has helped linemate Robert Lang out as well.
2nd Period
- Pavel Datsyuk takes the puck down the ice and scores over Kipper’s left shoulder to tie the game up with 18:33 remaining in the second period.
- With 2:26 left, Huselius scored during a power play (thanks to Lilja’s stupid cross check).
- The Wings are +33 in the third period (#1 in the league) while the Flames are third overall.
- The Wings have yet to have a power play opportunity, but have had to kill 5 penalties (2 of which were unsuccessful penalty kills).
3rd Period
- Their first power play chance came 12:21 into the third when Hale was called for tripping Datsyuk, but the Wings were unable to convert.
- Wings outshot Calgary, 10-2, in the third.
Overall
- Datsyuk has a career high 11 game point streak.
- Wings outshot the Flames, 31-23.
- There were way too many penalties in the past two games, 42 PIM for the Wings.
Injury Updates
- Defenseman Niklas Kronwall no longer has to wear his cage while playing. He now sports a visor that he is actually wearing properly (he used to wear it riding up his forehead and essentially useless).
“The trainers said 60 days, so it’s 60 days (today),” Kronwall said. “You get used to everything after a while, but it feels good to take it off. You see the ice totally different.”
- Dan Cleary (MCL sprain) will come back Saturday at the earliest, but most likely will play early next week.
- Henrik Zetterberg will hopefully start skating later this week.
- The Wings next game is this Thursday against Columbus at the Joe. Todd Bertuzzi could play his first game with the Wings Thursday or Saturday afternoon against St. Louis.
“We know he’s not going to be near what he was; he hasn’t played hockey for 50 games and he had back surgery,” Holland said. “But we’d like to get him in the lineup and give him a chance to play some games and improve as we go along over the last three weeks (of the regular season).”
Wings sign Kopecky
The Red Wings re-signed Tomas Kopecky, who is currently out with a collarbone injury, to a two year deal. He will bring in $475,000 next season and a slight raise for the 2008-2009 season at $525,000. I like it. It’s not a ton of money and while he wasn’t the most physical guy, he wasn’t afraid to get physical.
The Wings are hoping he can return to the lineup before the start of the playoffs. I wonder if he’ll get much action because with Hudler and Filppula playing well, would Babcock want to risk messing up their rhythms by having them sit out a game or two?
“Tomas was becoming a solid NHL player,” general manager Ken Holland said. “He suffered a setback with the injury this year, but we’re confident he will return and continue to improve.”
“It’s a big relief,” said Kopecky, a Wings second-round pick in 2000. “My wife is real happy, and I’m happy. I love the organization.”
Western travel problems
For some reason, the Wings have trouble when it comes to western road trips. I realize that the better Western Conference teams are on these trips, but still the Wings struggle.
For example…
From October 16th through 21st, the Wings went on a western road trip. They defeated the LA Kings, but lost to the Ducks, Sharks, and Oilers.
On November 14-18, the Wings had a Western Canada road trip. They came back with a win, a loss, and a loss in the shootout.
From January 4th to the 7th, the Wings faced the Sharks, Kings, and Ducks in California and lost all three games.
This is why I’d like to start the playoffs against Dallas, Minnesota, or Colorado because they don’t own us on the road like some other teams.
Links
Offensive Scoresheet
Dave @ Gorilla Crouch’s game recap
The Detroit News’ game summary article
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March 21st, 2007 at 10:08 am
[…] In the meantime, check out Christy’s notes on the game as well as Dave’s reaction. […]