Forecast: Cloudy, with a chance of snow showers- Game 2 recap

I know this isn't the most timely of game recaps, but when there hasn't been a new post in over a year I feel like this is something of an accomplishment. That, and having a day to reflect on yesterday's game has helped put things in perspective.

Overall, I think the story of the series so far has been Jimmy Howard. To all the talk radio callers out there who think Howard is meh and not able to steal games, this is your series. Howard has stopped 79 of 83 shots over two games, good for a 0.952 save percentage. Of note is that two of the four goals he's allowed have been off of deflections, one off of Brad Stuart's stick in overtime of Game 1 and the other off of Howard's glove and helmet in Game 2. If the Wings lose this series and Howard continues to play this well, then he is far and away the player I'll feel the worst for this offseason. Enduring another summer of skepticism and criticism from the Wings fanbase is not something he should have to endure.

Editorial diatribes aside, the Wings were able to get virtually nothing going against the Sharks 5-on-5. I realized after watching the clip package from nhl.com that highlights of Wings chances at even strength were non-existent. It seemed like they spent the majority of the game backchecking, and when they were able to get the puck through the neutral zone they were either dumping it in and failing to chase or throwing an initial attempt at the net, and whatever rebound that may have been there was seemingly always swept aside to a Shark in wait.

Let's take a look at each goal and see what went wrong (and the one thing that went right).

SJ 1 Det 0; 4:54 1st period- PPG Ian White (1)- from Heatly (3) & Clowe (4)
We'll start with San Jose already on the powerplay. Heatley gets the puck near the blue line and carries it in towards the right faceoff circle. Helm is in the very high slot area and needs to move to his left to cover his defensive zone.

This next frame is where the critical error occurs. Helm needs to stop and swing back to cover the high slot area. At this point, he can let Heatley continue to move towards the next and reasonably expect the defenseman to step up and help.

Helm does start to swing up, but it's to stick with Heatley. The Wings defenders are bunched together too deep in the zone, leaving that huge amount of open ice circled in teal available in the high slot.

Heatly moves the puck back to the blue line, where White is waiting. Howard is screened by two Sharks and has no chance of seeing this puck. White winds up and connects, and the score is 1-0 San Jose.


SJ 2 Det 0; 1:39 2nd period- Wallin (1) from Clowe (5) & Couture (5)
This play starts behind the Sharks net. Wallin receives a cross-ice feed at the edge of the Sharks zone and carries it into the neutral zone. Bertuzzi spots him and attempts to close in, but Wallin blows by him and into the Wings zone.
This is good.

This is bad.

Kronwall plays this one fairly conservatively. He had the option of coming up and challenging Wallin a bit more than he did, but I can't say that I really blame him. The risk of stepping up is creating the potential for a Shark to slip into the slot area. Wallin takes a slap shot from the right faceoff circle, and after a bounce off of Howard's glove and helmet the puck finds the back of the net. See that little black dot with the red arrow pointing to it? Yeah, that should be in Howard's glove. Or deflected off his helmet in any other direction. Pretty much it'd be fine anywhere but that particular location. Sigh.


SJ 2 Det 1; 13:58 3rd period- Zetterberg (1) from Datsyuk (6) & Holmstrom (3)
Lidstrom starts the rush on the power play. He leaves a drop pass for Datsyuk near center ice, and Datsyuk carries it through the neutral zone. He passes to Holmstrom at the blue line, who walks along the boards on the right side. Here, Homer makes his pass to Datsyuk and cuts towards the net, drawing the attention of the Sharks defenders and likely Niemi.

Datsyuk notices that Zetterberg has moved into the slot area undefended and fires the perfect pass to him. Look at the attention of the Sharks defenders, in this frame illustrated with the straight teal lines. Three defenders are keyed on Datsyuk, and the other is looking at Holmstrom. If that doesn't speak volumes about the offensive threat that Datsyuk is, I don't know what does.

By the time anyone notices Z it's too late, as he's got his shot off and beats Niemi blocker side.


So...
Being down 0-2 is frustrating and disappointing, but if recent playoff series around the league have taught us anything it's that a comeback is attainable. The Wings need to find a way to cycle the puck and create multiple chances on a single rush at even strength. If I were them, I'd stop trying to dump and chase so much and be more patient with the puck. We aren't winning those puck battles, so I'd pass back to a D-man and re-initiate an outlet pass rather than dump it in to the zone and essentially generate nothing but a turnover.

Who's in, who's out?
It looks like it's time to shake up the lineup. Having the last change at home will help, but it's not enough by itself. I expect to see Datsyuk and Zetterberg split up. While they're magic together, the second line needs help and also needs to be able to wear out San Jose's second line defensively, which hasn't happen thus far in the series. Additionally, I think sitting Abdelkader and putting Draper in the lineup is a move that needs to be made. Looking at their strengths, Abdelkader is a hitter and Draper a fantastic faceoff man. Right now the Wings need to hold on to the puck if they're going to throw San Jose's puck possession game out of whack. They have a better chance at getting the puck more frequently with Draper taking draws than they do with Abdelkader trying to race into corners and win puck battles. That, and Abdelkader hasn't put himself in anyone's good graces with the number of penalties he's taken so far this series.

Wings v. Wild (because I couldn't stand to write a Wings v. Flames post)

Games like last night renew my faith in this team and in this season. I still believe, even if it is out of blind stupidity, that there aren't many teams in the West the Wings would lose to four out of seven times. I guess for now the focus is just getting into the playoffs. I'm relieved that the Wings strung together a dominant three periods after two good ones against the Flames and one in which they regressed so much they pushed themselves out of the playoffs. There were seeds of doubt in my mind after the Flames game, but someone forgot to water them and they died.

Olympic hockey/welcome new readers!

First of all, thank you to Phil and all the fine folks at SportsZone Monday on WMHW 91.5 for having me on tonight. I always love talking hockey, and talking hockey on the radio is just that much sweeter. Thanks to Phil for mentioning the blog, and if anyone actually came here after that then I thank you very much for that.

Let's talk Olympic hockey, shall we? Last night's game between America and Canada will undoubtedly go down as one of the more important games in Olympic hockey history, and is the first signature win for the Americans since 1980. Everyone knows what happened last night; you've all read the articles and seen the replays on tv a thousand times by now, so let's not waste time rehashing that. Instead, let's look at one of the more eerie parallels from last night's game.

Team Canada was too reminiscent of the Wings for my taste. Here you have Canada, the undisputed favorite, against a lowly American squad of mid-level NHL talent (with a few exceptions). What happens? The giant falls asleep and, in classic sleeping giant fashion, doesn't wake up until the last minute, where they play a game of "too little, too late." Canada did exactly what the Wings do far too often. They look like they're playing normal speed, but you don't realize how poorly they were playing until they absolutely control play in the last 5 minutes of a game, frantically trying to make up for lost time, bombarding the goalie with more shots than most teams can manage in an entire game.

So what's the good news here? I haven't seen this as much from the Wings this year. Maybe it's because they aren't the conference leader for the first time since Power Rangers was cool. Or maybe it's because we still haven't seen this team play with its roster intact and uninjured. I'm guessing it's the latter...

Shootouts

Last night's game got me thinking about the nature of the shootout and what it really means to the NHL. I was a huge fan of the shootout when it debuted. What could be more exciting than watching some of the most dynamic offensive players in the world being given a half sheet of nothing but ice to showcase their offensive skills, all the while using those skills to help their team to victory. The shootout doesn't come until after overtime, so the case can be made that teams have had their chance to win the game already and that anything is better for ratings than a tie, especially something that people had been demanding to see.

I know the only reason I don't like the shootout anymore is because it seems to have had a detrimental impact on the Wings this year, but my opinion didn't really sour until last night. The shootout rewards those with the best skill players, not those with the best team. What does that say? Should teams carry players on their roster simply because they have soft hands, forechecking be damned? It seems like a silly question, that the obvious answer is no, teams should carry guys that fit their system and play good all around games with a few exceptions, but think about this: if the Wings had won just half of the shootouts they've lost this year, they'd have 5 more points. Oh, and they'd be a secure 7th in the conference instead of 9th.

It frustrates me that teams that aren't as strong as others can pick up wins simply because they have shooters.

Franzen news

Some interesting stuff about the Franzen/Sweeden Olympic situation here.

While the Mule thing is interesting, I think the far more important news is buried at the end of this article. Babcock is comparing Howard to who? Brodeur and Miller? Seriously? I think Howard is leaps and bounds better than anyone expected him to be this year, but the fact that the head coach is comparing him to two of the best goaltenders in the league is a little surprising. And there, ladies and gentlemen, is your reason why Chris Osgood rides the...well, it's not really a bench, it's more of a stool. But the point holds all the same. It'll be interesting to see when (or if) Ozzie gets another start, because at this point it probably won't be until some time in March.

Anxiety

A lot of fans worry. They worry about where their team is in the standings, who's injured, what the right line combinations are, who the GM should be trading for, etc. You can count me as one of those people. But right now, my worrying has gone beyond the expected and has wandered somewhere I never thought it would go.

For the first time I can remember, I'm worried that the Wings won't have enough pieces to make a substantial run at the Cup. This has never been an issue during my time as fan. The primary concern in years prior has been whether the key players will show up and effect games during the playoffs instead of pulling a disappearing act (e.g. Marian Hossa, 2009 playoffs). I'm watching this team struggle now, and I think the only thing left to do is hold out hope that once all the injured players return to the lineup we'll be given some type of both moral and palpable boost that will push the Wings up the standings and, more importantly, make them a team that can match up with anyone in the conference.

A lot of people on the message boards are trying to draw comparisons between this team and the Penguins of last year. Do I think they're the same? No, not really. The Penguins were spurred on by a change in the system. The Wings have no systemic issues. Their problem lies in the fact that they're basically Grand Rapids East, with a couple of superstars thrown in. I can see the Wings taking a similar path to the one last season's Penguins squad did, but it will come from players returning from injury and strengthening a paper-thin lineup.

I just hope that my anxiety will be quelled, or at least pushed back into an area I'm more familiar with. I'd call it a good season if, come April, I can start worrying about Pavel and Hank scoring during the playoffs and not about whether Doug Janik can anchor the fourth pair.

Links of note

I've been waiting for the Wings to win to put up another post. That's actually a lie and I'm basically just lazy, but it sounds like a good reason not to post anything. Here are some links worth checking out:

An article about Leino being in and out of the lineup. Not too long, but sheds a little light on the subject. I found another one here from the Detroit News. Guess everyone in town decided to write about Ville today.

Babcock makes it pretty clear how he feels about the Helm line.

An article about how Pavel's point production is likely going to rise soon. I posted it not just because I agree with the article, but because there are few things in this world better than a Pavel Datsyuk quote. Even if it is just one line.

A2Y has a very interesting post about the goaltending controversy. At this point, the term "goaltending controversy" only applies to the fanbase, because it's pretty clear that there's no controversy as far as Babs is concerned.