Som grit and sticktuativness was shown by the Wings here, but the loss was disappointing none the less. This'll be a heck of a long one to catalog. I'm begining to really like 2-0 or 2-1 games...
Edmonton goal (1-0) 00:42 in 1st; Jacques from Brule & O'Sullivan:
I'm no goaltending coach but it's hard for me to not think that Howard was out of position here. He would have been fine if he could have held on to the puck, but he's in trouble because his legs are no longer in butterfly position but are outstretched and Howard is sitting on his butt. The puck somehow ends up to his left, and even though he fans on it the first time Jacques put its in the net.
Edmonton goal (2-0) 9:09 in 1st; Penner from Horcoff & Hemsky:
Another weird one. The puck gets tipped in front of the net, but the guy doesn't have typical net front positioning. He comes in from the left corner and whacks the puck out of the air. Howard gets tripped up, but it looks like that happens after the puck's already beaten him.
Edmonton goal (3-0) 12:24 in 1st; PPG Hemsky from Penner & Horcoff:
The margain of error on Hemsky's shot is razor thin, yet he still manages to score here. Stuart dives in front of him, and all Hemsky has is the top corner. He aims for it and hits it, as Howard's pretty slow to react with the glove.
Edmonton goal (4-0) 00:58 in 2nd; Hemsky from Penner:
Hemsky is alone on a breakaway. He goes front-back-front and just plain beats Howard five hole. This is about as perfect as a breakaway can go.
Detroit goal (4-1) 6:15 in 2nd; Helm from Filppula & Stuart:
On a 2-on-1, Helm rips one from the top of the right circle and beats the netminder.
Edmonton goal (5-1) 9:05 in 2nd; PPG Horcoff from Grebeshkov & Penner:
A big scrum forms in front of the net, and after much pushing and jostling the puck trickles in. I feel bad for Howard here, because this one isn't really his fault. Kinda. He makes two initial stops, and never has a real good opportunity to get control of the puck and stop play. The puck ends up near the goal line on the left side of the crease, and Howard tries to stop it with his blocker but it slides under.
Detroit goal (5-2) 12:50 in 2nd; Zetterberg from Kronwall & Datsyuk:
Score one for puck luck. Hank is wide open on the left side, and gets the puck off a rebound. He slaps one at the goal, and it ricochets off the Edmonton defender's skate and into the net.
Detroit goal (5-3) 6:32 in 3rd; Ericsson from Draper & Eaves:
Eaves gets squeezed along the boards in the neutral zone and drops a nice pass to Drapes, who's coming through the zone with speed. He lays a really nice cross ice pass behind himself to the left blueline, where Ericsson lies in wait. He puts a slap shot on net and scores.
Detroit goal (5-4) 7:47 in 3rd; Bertuzzi from Datsyuk:
I'm pretty sure that the fact the puck ends up on Bertuzzi's stick is half accident half right place, right time. Pav has the puck along the boards and starts doing one of his crazy puck handling displays where he makes three guys collapse on him, leaving Bertuzzi open. I honestly can't tell if the pass is intentional or just Pav losing control, but somehow the puck ends up with Bert. He picks a corner and chooses right, aided in no small part by Homer and his ubiquitous net front positioning. *Begin rant*I know some people think Homer can't play 5-on-5 hockey anymore, but I can tell you that from all the film I've watched this year he's as integral as any player on this team. He may not be fast and he may not be able to handle the puck, but he makes up for it and then some with the work he does in front of the net. *End rant*
Detroit goal (5-5) 12:53 in 3rd; Eaves from Helm & Ericsson:
This one must've surprised Khabibulin, because he was tracking the puck the whole play. Edmonton plays pretty good defense here, and it looks like Eaves starts to fall. He somehow recovers his balance and puts a hard wrister on net, and Khabibulin gets beat. I'm guessing that he thought Eaves would fall and was waiting to see who would end up with the puck, and he was screened a bit by his own man. I'd say the screen accounts for not being able to see Eaves regain his balance.
OT: a whole lotta nuthin'.
Shootout:
Edmonton 1 - Detroit 0
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