1st Period
Chicago 0 Detroit 1; 9:49- Abdelkader (3) from Miller (6) & Cleary (10)
Brad Stuart carries the puck through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone. He leaves the puck for Cleary along the boards. Dan Cleary sees a defender approaching and no one near Drew Miller at the blueline and makes the smart pass to Miller. Patrick Sharp is watching Cleary and isn't prepared to defend a pass to Miller. He has to turn almost 180 degrees to defend Miller, which creates time and space for the Wings.
Miller is easily able to step around the still-adjusting Sharp. He has an open shot and puts the puck on net. Take note of Justin Abdelkader and his positioning. He's about to leave Kane's coverage and, with only one defender down low for Chicago, get some room to work in front of the net.
The rebound from Miller's shot comes off Corey Crawford's pads and just sits in front of the crease. Stuart does a good job of keeping his man tied up, leaving room in front of the net for a tap in. Abdelkader has speed and no defender, a combination that leads to an easy goal.
Chicago 1 Detroit 1; 14:32- PS Toews
This penalty shot shouldn't have happened. It stems from the call of a Lidstrom "hook" on Toews that has already been highly criticized by Wings bloggers. The alleged hook looks like an innocuous stick check on the right arm of Toews, but it was enough for the refs to deem it a tug and give Toews his very first penalty shot opportunity.
Toews carries the puck in and freezes Jimmy. Toews makes a few moves to start and then holds the puck on his forehand. It seems as though Jimmy is waiting for Toews to make a final fake, but he never does. Instead, Toews shoots it and beats Jimmy through the five hole. Jimmy has to play this one better, because he could have stopped the shot if he had hit the ice a half second earlier.
2nd Period
Chicago 1 Detroit 2; 5:25- Bertuzzi (5) from Commodore (1) & Ericsson (6)
The Wings start to cycle the puck back through their defensemen after keeping possession in the corner. Chicago's defense was just attempting to dig the puck from the corner and their players are still overloading one side of the ice. Ericsson passes against the grain to Commodore, who is all but assured a free point shot because Chicago's distance and current shift in positioning.
Commodore rips one from the point through traffic. Chicago has blown their coverage, allowing Bertuzzi to stand in front and screen Crawford unimpeded. The shot from Commodore is tipped by Bert in front of the net and deflected in.
Chicago 2 Detroit 2; 7:30- Hossa from Carcillo & Leddy
Hossa gets the puck in the right corner and skates upwards through the zone and across the blue line. There are no passing options available, so Hossa has to continue to carry the puck.Valteri Filppula is trying to defend Hossa but can't stick with him. This allows Hossa to gain control, switching from the high coverage to the low coverage.
There is no low coverage. Wings players (Emmerton in particular) try to get in the passing/shooting lane too late. Hossa has an open shot and is smart enough to take it. The non-existent defense hung Howard out to dry, and he gets beat by the shot.
3rd Period
Chicago 3 Detroit 2; 1:52- Seabrook from Kane & Sharp
The Red Wings defense is out of position yet again. The two netfront defenders have no one to defend, Zetterberg has poor body position on Kane, and there's no high defender to eliminate shots from the point.
Seabrook lets a slapshot go from the middle of the ice at the top of the Hawks' offensive zone. Howard should be able to track this, and I would guess he stops this same shot 97 out of 100 times in practice. Of course one of the three he'd miss comes in game action and winds up being the game winning goal. The hockey gods were not smiling down upon us tonight.
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