Friday, December 16, 2011

GBGA Regular Season Game 30: Collapsing- It's More Than A Defensive Strategy

Weber's best impression of Babcock's Death Stare. Nice try, Shea.

1st Period


Nashville 0 Detroit 1; 5:15- PPG Holmstrom (6) from White (10) & Datsyuk (22)
Detroit moves into the umbrella on the powerplay. Holmstrom slips behind the coverage down low and is screening Rinne. The puck is on Ian White's stick at the point. Nashville is in a diamond formation and the middle defenders have moved in towards the slot. This leaves White with a narrow lane to shoot into, but he gets the shot through.
Rinne stops the initial shot but gives up a rebound. Holmstrom collects the puck, turns on it, and backhands it past Rinne to open scoring.

Nashville 1 Detroit 1; 10:09- Legwand from Smith & Erat
Kronwall goes behind the net to chip the puck along the boards to Howard's right, but he gets hit and the puck is now loose. If Kronner had won the puck race he would have been able to move it up along the boards to an open winger.
Stuart and Abdelkader go behind the net, and at this point there are three Wings defending one Predator. Said Predator still manages to get possession of the puck and passes to Smith at the bottom of the right faceoff circle. Smith sees Legwand open even lower in the zone and passes across.
Legwand's first shot is stopped by Howard, but a rebound comes off Jimmy's pads and ends up directly on Legwand's stick. Jimmy has hit the ice and the top of net is completely unguarded. Legwand lifts it over Jimmy to even the score. The blame doesn't fall on Howard; he got hung out to dry by the blown coverages.

2nd Period


Nashville 1 Detroit 2; 10:03- PPG Zetterberg (7) from Hudler (13) & Bertuzzi (9)
The Wings win an offensive zone powerplay draw and tap the puck back to Kronwall at the point. Kronwall shoots into traffic, and his shot gets blocked low in the slot. Bertuzzi, who is doing his best Homer impression in front of the net, reaches around the defender and taps the puck out to Hudler in the left faceoff circle.
Hudler displays great vision here, seeing that Zetterberg is open behind the defenders. Hudler places a perfect pass on Zetterberg's stick.
Rinne was square to Hudler and has to dive to try and stop Zetterberg's shot. He can't get any of it, and Z put the puck in the very open net.

Nashville 1 Detroit 3; 11:30- Lidstrom (7) from White (11) & Datsyuk (23)
Lidstrom lets a slapshot go from near the half boards. For a second it looked like there might have been a tip, but the puck ends up on a straight line from the blueline to the back of the net, farside.

Nashville 2 Detroit 3; 17:22- Tootoo from Klein & Spaling
The Wings lose another board battle, this time behind the red line in the defensive zone. The Nashville player carries behind the net and around, waiting to throw a centering pass into the middle.
Though it's congested, the Predators' player puts the puck in front of the net. A big rebound goes out to the left faceoff cricle, where Tootoo steps into the shot and scores.

3rd Period 


Nashville 3 Detroit 3; 15:36- PPG Weber from Suter & Erat
I don't see many mistakes on this play. The defenders are in a box, and no one has strayed too far from their coverage. Essentially Weber just beats Jimmy with his famed slapshot.

Nashville 4 Detroit 3; 18:24- Weber from Tootoo
Howard goes behind the net to pick up the puck and clear it. His clearing attempt is intended for Kronwall along the boards, but instead the puck gets past him and is picked up by Weber at the blue line.
Weber slaps one towards the net. The puck drops like a curveball, hits the ice, and bounces up and over Jimmy for the game winner. Another play where the Wings are solid defensively but are on the wrong side of puck luck.

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