Game #3 Liveblog: Wings/Avs
Come back later tonight at 10pm (EST) for a BTJ live blog! Joe is out of town and I’m not working so I’ll be doing the honors tonight.
Peter Forsberg and Scott Hanan are “probable” for Colorado tonight while Ryan Smyth is out after he suffered a foot injury blocking a shot in Game #2. Detroit’s line up should remain the same as Game #2.
First Period
Forsberg and Hannan are playing tonight.
18:03 - Good opportunity by Darren Helm, but Jose Theodore was able to make the save.
17:42 - Couple of nice saves by Chris Osgood!
17:36 - Ian Laperriere has a big hit on Brett Lebda with no penalty called (looked like boarding to me). Lebda left the ice looking dazed.
14:43 - Cody McLeod scores a goal on a delayed Detroit penalty. He deflected a shot by TJ Hensick into the net. Colorado is certainly putting the pressure on Detroit. The Wings need to slow this game down and play their style of game.
12:30 - Adam Foote interferes with Mikael Samuelsson so the Wings will go on a power play after the commercial break.
10:30 - Solid looking power play. The Wings generated numerous chances, but couldn’t take advantage of them and Theodore made some great saves. Detroit has 11 shots on goal with Colorado only taking five shots so far.
8:05 - Ian Laperriere gets a penalty for roughing. Wings need to capitalize this time!
7:46 - Just 19 seconds into the power play, Pavel Datsyuk scores off of a Henrik Zetterberg pass. Nice job done by the Eurotwins! Woo!
6:48 - Less than a minute later, Johan Franzen gets another playoff goal for his 8th goal this season!!! Hopefully this will help quiet down the Colorado crowd. Brett Lebda made a nice play moving across the crease to the other corner of the ice, gets the puck in the corner, and passes it in front of the crease to Franzen who shoots it in.
2:21 - Another Avs penalty. I asked my family, what was that a penalty for? And my brother quickly responds, “Just being an Avalanche player.” I was so proud of that comment. It’s actually a high sticking call against Cody McLeod.
End of First Period: Wings 2, Avs 1
Second Period
19:35ish - Big hit by Niklas Kronwall on David Jones. Booyah!
19:15 - Ken Daniels just announced that Paul Stastny left with a knee injury and will not return to the game. Wow, Colorado has certainly caught the injury bug.
13:23 - Wooo!! Forsberg goes to check Holmstrom, who dishes the puck to Rafalski on the point. Rafalski takes a shot and Pavel Datsyuk stops the puck and flips it around Theodore into a wide open net.
12:19 - Darren McCarty gets called for holding. Kind of weak if you ask me. The Wings need to have a great penalty kill, we can’t let Colorado get back in this.
11:52 - Crap. Just as I was typing the above sentence, they score. John-Michael Liles, a former Spartan, takes a shot from the blue line and Andrew Brunette deflects the puck from just outside the crease.
10:27 - Forsberg gets a penalty from his high stick on Mikael Samuelsson. It’s a double minor so hopefully this will give a Detroit to regain their two goal lead.
7:26 - Zetterberg goal! On a beautiful Pavel Datsyuk pass across the crease to a wide open Hank. The Wings needed to score on that four minute penalty so it was a relief to see a goal go in.
6:53 - Forsberg interferes with Osgood, a weak call in my opinion.
6:25 - Henrik Zetterberg called called for interference. Another weak call.
4:12 - Team penalty, too many men on the ice for the Avs.
4:10 - They just showed footage of them picking up Mikael Samuelsson’s tooth from the ice after that Forsberg high stick.
End of Second Period: Wings 4, Avs 2
FSN’s John Keating is doing his intermission interview with Niklas Kronwall, who has eight assists this postseason (the most of any defenseman).
“We’ve got to stick to what we’re doing and keep making them taking penalties…Well that’s when you try to get them and pick your spot [when their heads are down].”
Third Period
18:24 - The refs finally blew the whistle for too many men on the ice. It took them about 10 seconds to realize that. Big penalty kill here - let’s go boys! Darren Helm sat in the box for Detroit.
16:12 - The Wings get ANOTHER fricking penalty for too many men on the ice, but this tim it was because of when they changed lines and the puck was right in front of the Detroit bench. Helm went back to the penalty box to serve the penalty.
14:41 - Brunette earns his second goal of the game during the Wings penalty. He was in front of the crease and poked in Ozzie’s small rebound.
11:52 - I’m getting a bit nervous right now. Things just don’t feel right and now the Wings are running into penalty trouble, which is not what you want with only a one goal lead.
11:23 - High sticking by Dallas Drake on Jordan Leopold.
9:23 - Wings were able to kill the penalty, but Ozzie had to make some nice saves in the process. Shots are almost tied up, 30-29, in Detroit’s favor.
8:46 - Brett Lebda hits the post with a rocket of a shot!
4:52 - Ahh. The stress is killing me. It’s spending too much time in our end for my liking.
1:21 - Icing called on Colorado. Excellent. I expect Theodore to be pulled as soon as the Avs are able to clear it from their end. This is gut check time boys, let’s get it done!
1:00 - Cleary can’t capitalize on a breakaway. Ahh. But hey, that’s more time spent in their zone. Theodore still hasn’t been pulled yet.
:35 - Theodore heads to the bench.
:00 - The Wings have a “stranglehold” on this series. We’re up 3-0 baby! And for the time that Theodore was on the bench, Detroit had control of the puck for a lot of them time or at least the puck wasn’t in their end, which made things a lot less stressful. Always appreciated.
End of Third Period: Wings 4, Avs 3 [Final Game Summary]
Nicklas Lidstrom post-game interview:
“It makes it so much tougher to match up against them [when the top two lines are both scoring so much]…I think the fourth win is always the toughest…He looks so calm in net and gives the whole team confidence…I don’t think they’re going to let that [Forsberg being in and out of the line up] be a distraction to their team.”
AND the Stars won in OT over San Jose, 2-1. What a great day!
Mike Babcock post-game interview:
“I thought we got a great effort from our goaltender, he made some great saves for us…We had some big kills down the stretch…Anytime you have multiple lines that are good offensively, you make it hard on the other team…We’re set up pretty good right now, which is good to see.”
Henrik Zetterberg post-game interview:
“They came with everything and Ozzie played a great game…You always want to be healthy and it makes it tough if you’re not. In the long run, you have to be healthy to go deep.”
Related Posts
6 Responses to “Game #3 Liveblog: Wings/Avs”
Leave a Reply
April 29th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
[…] (6:13 pm): Christy Hammond will be handling the liveblog over at Behind the Jersey […]
April 29th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I like how they panned the bench after the second goal and the Avs players all had this, “Oh, no. Not again,” look on their faces.
April 29th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Dang, Dallas is up 3-0 now. I wanted Dallas next, but a little more beat up.
Too bad Franzen didn’t knock another one in late in the 1st, they would’ve pulled Theodore again and been just about done.
April 29th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Yep, I say keep Theodore in. Wings fans are appreciating it!
Steve- I certainly hope San Jose finds a way to win a game or two. I am hoping we, should we advance, get to play Dallas, but like you said after a tough series versus the Sharks!
April 29th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
I’m surprised at how dead the boards are in Denver. A couple of shots on this power play would’ve wound up in the opposite end at JLA.
April 30th, 2008 at 12:51 am
[…] Behind the Jersey liveblog here. […]