Wings v. Stars in review 11/18/09

This one was marred by what could have been. Brad May scored from the slot, which should have tied the game at 2 a piece. Instead, the refs called no goal despite the puck clearly crossing the goal line before the whistle was blown. This was noticeable in a number of replays. The NHL explained the next day that the goal was disallowed because of the referee's "intent to blow the whistle." Naturally that explanation isn't going to sit well with Wings fans, and it doesn't sit well with me. I have no idea how you can blow a play dead unless you ACTUALLY BLOW THE WHISTLE! How can you make "intent" a part of officiating? That opens up a whole new can of worms that is really best left alone. Imagine if the NFL did this. It would be the lead story on SportCenter and NFL Live and would be talked about at length. Unfortunately, being a part of a more niche market type of league means this call will largely go unnoticed.

Dallas goal (1-0) 9:26 in 1st period; PPG Ribeiro from Richards & Robidas:

Disappointingly simple. Richards carries the puck in and gets good position. His defender sprawls on the ice but doesn't take away the passing lane to the right, and Richards passes to Ribeiro in front of the net. Despite having a guy draped all over him, Ribeiro taps the puck between Howard's pads.

Dallas goal (2-0) 3:52 in 2nd period; Niskanen from Richards & Neal:

Slapshot from the blueline gets deflected in front of the net. Classic, unfortunately.

Detroit goal (2-1) 6:16 in 2nd period; Zetterberg from Leino & Lebda:

This one's worth looking up on Youtube. It's not flashy, but it shows just how powerful Zetterberg is when he carries the puck to the net. Hank has a half step on the defender the whole way, and gets good inside positioning on him. From there he just swoops to the net on a beautiful arc, an arc would basically have drawn a reverse "c" is you traced it from the blueline to the net along the right side. Z goes top shelf and scores over the goaltender's shoulder.

Dallas goal (3-1) 12:43 in 3rd period; PPG Eriksson from Neal & Modano:

The Wings are in the box formation they usually use on the penalty kill. The guy with the puck is in the corner, and he puts a quick cross ice pass on the stick of his teammate to the right of Jimmy Howard.