Wings defeat Rangers, 5-4, in overtime
Forward Marian Hossa scored his first goal as a Wing in spectacular fashion notching his 300th career goal to win the game just 23 seconds into overtime. Teammate Pavel Datsyuk’s quick stick work from behind the net resulted in a perfect set-up pass to Hossa who fired the puck behind NY Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
Hossa’s timely goal gave Detroit their first win at home in their third attempt this season. While Hossa had three assists in the previous four games of the regular season and one assist in the second period of tonight’s game, he had yet to get the puck in the net. With such high expectations from fans, it had to be a great feeling to get that monkey off of his back.
“I knew I was getting chances. I tried to stay calm on the ice, and off, too. there was no panic,” Hossa said. “I knew the goals would come, and tonight I got the first one. Hopefully, now we can roll.”
The Wings came out strong in the first period with two goals in the first 3:44 of the game. Mikael Samuelsson scored first just 28 seconds into the first period by tipping a rocket shot from Derek Meech at the point. Meech played in his first game of the regular season as Niklas Kronwall’s linemate, Brad Stuart, was out with a bruised knee. Just over three minutes later, Samuelsson notched another point by assisting Johan Franzen on the Wings second goal of the game. The Mule scored his third goal in five games to give Detroit a two goal advantage. Valtteri Filppula earned his second assist of the night.
Detroit headed to the locker room with a 2-1 lead at the first intermission after Rangers right wing Ryan Callahan got one past Wings goaltender Chris Osgood, who made 28 saves in the game.
Tomas Holmstrom set up shop in front of crease and tipped in a Nicklas Lidstrom shot scoring his fifth goal in as many games a little over halfway into the second period. The two goal lead didn’t last long as Rangers left wing Nigel Hawes scored less than three minutes later on another Scott Gomez assist.
Within the first four minutes of the third period, the Rangers took the lead thanks to two goals by Aaron Voros, who first tipped in Michal Rozsival’s shot and then banked the puck in off of Osgood. It was after that second goal that head coach Mike Babcock decided to call a timeout and talk to his players.
“I just asked them who this team was. Where was the team that was playing the whole game until that last little bit?” he said. “People don’t understand. We won the Stanley Cup, but this is a new year. You have to earn things. People say we’re going to be fine, but the only way we’ll be fine is if we earn the right to be fine.”
With less than four minutes remaining, Jiri Hudler capitalized on a Rangers penalty (too many men on the ice) when he pounced on a Lundqvist rebound from defenseman Niklas Kronwall’s hard shot from the point. Samuelsson notched his third assist of the game.
While the Rangers were still able to get a point out of the game by making it to overtime, the team was disappointed that they allowed the Wings to come from behind and take the win from them. Goaltender Lundqvist made 40 saves in the game and has yet to win a game against Detroit in four attempts. Just last night, the Rangers defeated Toronto in a 1-0 shootout victory.
Detroit bounced back from a 4-3 OT loss to Vancouver on Thursday and seemed determined to prevent a third loss at home this season much to the delight of the loud crowd in attendance at the Joe.
Wing defeat Predators, 4-3
The first two periods of tonight’s game were by far the most enjoyable hockey I’ve seen since the Wings started losing a lot in early February. Okay so I really only saw the second period, but from what I heard both periods were great. Plus, the game was sold out and the crowd was noticeably louder, which is always great to hear.
How great is it now that Nicklas Lidstrom is back? Even a rusty Lidstrom makes such a different. Lids got two assists. BTJ favorite Niklas Kronwall earned two assists.
Johan Franzen was named first star of the game after scoring twice tonight.
Defenseman Brad Stuart scored his first goal since joining the Red Wings at the trade deadline and he received a nice round of applause from the crowd when Budd Lynch announced that it was his first goal in the winged wheel.
The third period was definitely not anything to write home about as the team allowed three goals within the last ten minutes of the period.
Dominik Hasek made 20 saves on 23 shots. He was in character tonight between getting a delay of game penalty and then trying to get to the puck behind the net and then getting “hit” upon which we saw a lovely embellishment from the crazy Czech. And while that craziness can sometimes drive you mad, it is when Dom is in his element that he truly shines. That’s the attitude we want in the playoffs. It’s crazy, but it works.
Wings defeat Sharks, 6-3
Last night, the Detroit Red Wings started out their father-son three game road trip on the right foot with a 6-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks. Jon @ Sharkspage was taking photographs at last night’s game and you can view his great photo gallery here.
Niklas Kronwall - Photo taken by Jon @ Sharkspage
BTJ favorite defenseman Niklas Kronwall scored his fifth goal of the season last night. Last year Kronner only registered 22 points, he’s already up to 25 offensive points this season. His older brother Mattias came along with Kronwall on the road trip.
But Kronvall put Detroit back on top midway through the second when Ozolinsh deflected his centering pass into the net. Detroit added the two power-play goals from Lidstrom and Holmstrom.
“When they tied it up, they kept coming pretty hard,” said Lidstrom, who added two assists. “Once we got that goal I think that settled them down a little bit and got them back on their heels. It gave us a boost.”
As IwoCPO @ Abel to Yzerman mentioned, the Wings are kind of owning Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov lately. Nabokov is now 0-6-1 against Detroit in his last seven games.
San Jose? You thought the Wings were dancing in Marty Turco’s head? Yeah, but he’s only one guy. The Sharks entire organization is now officially…affected. …
Yeah. You do Nabby. Four straight penalties in the second (even the one resulting from Hasek’s embarrassing tumble to the ice) didn’t help. Look. Hasek’s ours. We appreciate his insanity. It’s grown on us. But there are times you just turn away and pretend thing don’t happen. When Hasek dove, I just kind of started rocking back and forth, thinking of other images that make me happy. Blocks of cheddar, puppies, ships at sea.
And yes, it was a ridiculous tumble. I just laughed and said to myself, “That’s our crazy Czech.” When Hasek is acting insane like that, you know he’s playing in his zone and things are going well.
Wings lose third straight game, 5-1
Well, that sucked.
Detroit lost their third straight game tonight, 5-1, when they faced the Atlanta Thrashers at home.
It’s midnight and I have class at 8am so I will update this post hopefully later Wednesday afternoon. Feel free to leave any comments about the game. And no, the world is not over and I am not freaking out that we have lost three straight. However, I am frustrated by our crappy play.
Update: I got busier than expected this evening so I only had time to post a recap over at Winging It In Motown.
Senators beat Wings, 3-2
In the big game on Saturday evening against the Ottawa Senators, the Wings fell short losing 2-3. While I thought it was an enjoyable game despite the fact the Wings lost, I was disappointed in the team’s play. Yes, the Sens played great and deserved the win, but we didn’t really see the Detroit team we normally do until the third period.
I don’t think I can say it any better than Matt at On the Wings:
Some folks, such as Sherry at Scarlett Ice, and Jes Golbez at AOL Fanhouse, are writing that the game lived up to the hype. I have to disagree and it’s not because the Wings lost. Had they played at a level on par with that the Senators played and still lost, I would, of course, be disappointed, but I’d be right there with the people saying it was as good a game as advertised. But they didn’t play at the same level as the Senators, not for much of the game, anyway.
Whereas Ottawa came out of the gates in all three periods flying, the Wings were flat when they needed life the most. They were able to make it a game in the third period, but they couldn’t keep up in the end. Usually it is Detroit that has the opposition standing around, watching them play. Last night, for too much of the game, the Wings were the observers.
I was pleased to see Dominik Hasek play well in front of the Ottawa crowd as they were hoping to see him struggle in front of his former team’s home crowd.
It’s not the end of the world that the Wings have lost two straight to Minnesota and Ottawa. It is frustrating to see the special teams, particularly the power play, struggle over the last few games. I wanted to see Detroit play its best against Ottawa and I just don’t believe we saw that on Saturday night.
Wings defeat Stars, 3-0
I haven’t had time to write up a game recap of the Wings victory since the game just ended 10 minutes ago in a 3-0 victory. However, I did want to comment on a couple of things before I head out for the evening.
1) FSN Detroit asked viewers to email in their picks for the team’s MVP. With 22 seconds left in the game, the viewers picked Chris Osgood (934 votes) as the team’s MVP. The other top three were Pavel Datsyuk (407), Henrik Zetterberg (277), and Nicklas Lidstrom (138).
2) With the Wings’ victory, it marked the Stars’ first four straight losses in regulation since December 2003.
3) The Wings now have 15 points on their fellow Western Conference franchises (three teams currently have 50 points - Vancouver, Dallas, and San Jose) and nine points on Ottawa, the Eastern Conference leader. They are 25-1-1 against opponents outside the Central Division. Impressive.
Wings 5, Blues 0
The Wings shut out the Blues last night in a 5-0 victory and sent Manny Legace to the bench after allowing four goals on just 16 shots. It was an enjoyable game to watch youngsters like Filppula and Hudler step up with injuries to Zetterberg and Holmstrom.
My game recap is up at Winging It In Motown.
Wings 4, Blue Jackets 1
The Detroit Red Wings won their ninth straight game in a 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. My recap of the game is up at Winging It In Motown.
Wings 3, Predators 2 (SO)
My game recap is up at Winging It In Motown.
Wings 4, Flames 1
My game recap is up at Winging It In Motown.