Bingo Bango, Gang

Due to some unforeseen circumstances (work, the upcoming holiday, having to take time out of my day to boo Sidney Crosby's "triumphant return," etc.) I'm not going to have a recap of the Anaheim game for at least another day. In the meantime, entertain yourselves with the greatest soundboard in the history of soundboards. Ladies and gentlemen, Hockey Hall of Famer Mickey Redmond.

http://www.foxsportsdetroit.com/11/08/11/Mickey-Redmond-Soundboard/landing_redwings.html?blockID=599282&feedID=3569

Regular Season Game 18: Our Magna Carta

It wasn't supposed to be like this. The second game on this pre-Thanksgiving West Coast swing wasn't supposed to matter this much, wasn't supposed to have so much of the season riding on it. But then again, the Wings wouldn't be in this situation if they had played consistent hockey. The Wings made a statement to the rest of the league two nights after being challenged by their coach and one day after having a meeting to figure out their identity as a team. They know who they are. This is a team of superstars that crash the net and play sound defensive hockey, defensemen that can cover the opposition while also moving the puck, grinders that leave everything on the ice every shift, and a goaltender that occasionally gives up a soft goal, then goes out and stands on his head to keep his team in a game. In other words, this is a damn good team. Looks like the team itself finally figured that out too.

1st Period:


LA 1 Detroit 0; 6:37- SHG Richards unassisted

Detroit starts their powerplay by winning the draw. Cleary taps it back to Hudler at the point, who misses the puck. Now it's a race to retrieve between Hudler and a trailing Mike Richards.

Hudler loses the race and Richards moves in on goal. Hudler tries his best to stickcheck but isn't able to alter  Richard's shot or slow him down. Howard hesitates here, slowed by a quick backhand-forehand-backhand deke from Richards. Richards sticks with the backhand to beat Jimmy.

LA 1 Detroit 1; 7:14- PPG Datsyuk (3) from Holmstrom (5) & Lidstrom (8)

Franzen shoots, then chases his own rebound to the boards. There's not a snowball's chance in hell that he's going to get beaten to the puck, and he basically pancake blocks the Kings player to make sure that doesn't happen. Franzen moves the puck back to Lidstrom at the point.

Lidstrom moves laterally to the middle of the blueline before taking  slapshot. Both low Kings defenders turn to look for the rebound, which allows Datsyuk to sneak in untouched behind the defenders. The puck comes  into the middle, where Datsyuk is waiting and backhands it past Quick.

2nd Period:


LA 1 Detroit 2; 7:08- PPG Kronwall (6) from Holmstrom (6) & Franzen (8)

Kronwall has the puck and the Kings defender has cut off the passing lane back across the blue line. Kronner has no option other than to move the puck to Lidstrom down the boards or to shoot. He chooses to pass.

Lidstrom passes below the red line, where two Wings run in to each other and have to scrap to get the puck back.

Franzen gains control of the puck and passes to Holmstrom behind the net. In the process he gets tripped up and goes airborne, doing his best Orr impression.

Holmstrom sees Kronwall pinching crazy hard down low and puts a pass right on his stick. Kronwall shoots and, in the infamous words of Ken Kal, "SCORES." Ok, that doesn't work so well without audio but you get the gist of it.

LA 1 Detroit 3; 15:38- Abdelkader (2) from Smith (1) & Ericsson (2)

A Los Angeles powerplay expires here. As Brendan Smith steps out of the box, he sees Abdelkader coming up with wing with speed and leaves the puck for him.

Abdelkader has plenty of ice to work with here, and both passing and shooting options are open. Abby opens his shoulder as if he's about to pass, then turns back and shoots.

Abdelkader beats what appeared to be an unprepared Quick. In the previous frame, Quick was pointing out Smith to his defensemen trying to make sure someone had him covered. It looked like he didn't have enough time to get completely set before Abdelkader let his shot go. I think Quick expected the pass and, in that split second where he took his eye off of the puck carrier, ended up beating himself.

3rd Period:


LA 1 Detroit 4; 15:06- Datsyuk (4) from Franzen (9) 

Bertuzzi drapes himself all over Kopitar along the boards, forcing Kopitar to turn and start moving towards the red line.

Franzen flys into the zone like a bat out of hell and heads straight for the corner. He knocks the puck loose from Kopitar. Look at the screen cap above. Look to Bertuzzi's left. There's Datsyuk, undefended and hovering, waiting...

...because if you got no puck you got no fun. Datsyuk picks up the loose puck and moves laterally through the slot, beating Quick on the far side.

It's Like A Death Stare, Only With Words

"We've got to have a discussion as a group," Babcock said. "Do we want to be a good team or not? Like, life just doesn't go on good for you. You make a decision it's going to go good for you. You decide for yourself that you're going to be successful; you decide for yourself that you're going to make a difference; you decide for yourself that you're going to have a good career.
"No one just gives you stuff. Actually, the other team is trying, too. So we've got to make some decisions."

From Helene St. James' Freep article on the SJ-Det game.

Well it's about damn time. Thursday night's postgame press conference provided what seems like the first interesting quote from a Red Wings coach or player in the past three years.

Mike Babcock sent as direct a message as he could to his team, and we can only hope that it's the right message at the right time. The Wings have looked great in their wins and fragile in their losses, too polarizing for comfort and too talented to falter completely.

All we ever seem to hear is CoachSpeak and AthleteSpeak from the Wings, and you can only listen to "we just have to work harder" and "we're going to stay positive" so many times before someone needs to stand up and hold others accountable.

Enter Mike Babcock. There's been too much Death Staring going on lately in Hockeytown (well, mostly away from Hockeytown but I digress). Statistics are a huge part of the game and are growing in importance, but resiliency and mental toughness, these are things that carry teams deep into the playoffs.

I truly believe that this team has the right mix to win the Cup. I'm putting aside my obviously gargantuan bias when I say that too. The last two years, you could tell it wasn't going to happen. Sure, the teams were good enough to go deep into the playoffs, but they weren't good enough to win it all.

If this year's version of the nuWings can find any semblance of consistency then I think we'll be very happy come June. There's the right balance of talent and tenacity, offensive firepower and defensive skill, and a goaltender who's playing elite hockey (insert subtle nod to Nightmare on Helm Street here).

There's a game to be played today, and the Wings have said all the right things leading up to it. They talked about staying positive when things don't go their way and believing in each other as a team. We'll soon see what the actual on ice response is, and subsequently whether everything will be happy in Hockeytown or if Ken Holland is going to have to make some moves and abuse that cap space like it's a Buffalo cab driver and he's Patrick Kane.

Regular Season Game 17: Not Sure Which Direction, But It's Probably A Turning Point

This was more than a loss. This game may have been the turning point in the season, for better or for worse. The Wings allowed a short handed goal with seconds left in the first period and never seemed to recover, once again falling to a Sharks team that seemed to have every bounce go their way.

Mike Babcock spoke after the game about deciding what kind of team this year's squad wants to be. We'll see how that plays out the rest of the year, but to this point the Wings have been frustratingly good and bad.

1st Period:

San Jose 0 Detroit 1; 17:23- Kronwall (5) from Datsyuk (9) & Lidstrom (7)

Kronwall holds the puck in at the line and moves it to Lidstrom to his right. This gets San Jose's defense to move. Both defenders aggressively collapse on Lidstrom.

Lidstrom sees this and passes back to Kronwall, who now has Datsyuk to his left. Datsyuk has a ton of room to move thanks to San Jose's defenders both moving right to cove Lidstrom. 

Kronwall passes to Datsyuk, who quickly taps it back to Kronwall after the defensemen has committed to Dats. Kronwall has a lot of room and time to shoot, and there's some nice netfront work being done by Holmstrom. It doesn't look like Niemi can see this when Kronwall releases the puck.

San Jose 1 Detroit 1; 19:48- SH Pavelski from Thornton & Vlasic

San Jose clears the puck and sends it down ice. Howard comes out to play it but the puck dies along the boards. Howard has to retreat to his crease. Thornton picks it up and carries it behind the net, where Kronwall, Lidstrom, and Datsyuk all key on him.

As Thornton carries it around, Howard has to lock the post to prevent a wraparound attempt. This means that all four Wings in the defensive zone are paying attention to Thornton, and no one is covering Pavelski. Datsyuk should have the coverage here but doesn't. Thornton sees Pavelski and threads a pass to him in front of the net, and the Sharks kill any momentum the Wings had.

2nd Period:

San Jose 2 Detroit 1; 9:54- Thornton from Couture & Vlasic

The Wings start on the rush here. Cleary passes across to Zetterberg, who tries to wind up for a slapshot near the inside edge of the faceoff circle. Thornton locks his stick (he plays defense? Since when?) and the puck is stolen by San Jose. The Sharks turn it up ice and have a 3-on-1 odd man rush.

Lidstrom is the lone defender back. Right here he's calling Couture as his man and telling the other Wings defenders (and Jimmy) that Thornton is their responsibility.

Lids tries to take the pass away from Couture, but he's able to slip it under Lidstrom's stick and across to Thronton. No one has been able to close the gap on Thornton and Jimmy can't get across laterally quickly enough to stop the shot.

San Jose 3 Detroit 1; 12:48- Vlasic from Desjardins & Winchester

The initial mistake on this play occurs during a board battle to Howard's left. Helm has his man covered, but Ericsson decides to push the same player. This leaves Desjardins alone and able to spin away with the puck. He fires on net that Howard stops, but allows a rebound to his right.

It looks like Brendan Smith might be able to clear the puck and he does take a sweep at it, but Vlasic gets his stick out and somehow escapes with the puck. He heads behind the net.

Howard doesn't just lock down the post here, he goes past it. I'm not sure what Jimmy is trying to defend here, as this leaves him out of position if Vlasic attempts a wraparound.

Remember that whole out of position thing? Vlasic attempts the wraparound and Howard can't slide across to stop it. This was a very weak goal.

San Jose 4 Detroit 1; 18:18- Mitchell from Vlasic & McGinn

Once again the Wings have the puck stolen from them in the offensive zone. The Sharks carry it the other way, but this time there's no odd man rush. Howard pushes the rebound off of the initial shot into the corner.

 The Sharks win the race to the corner and regain possession. Howard has to hit the ice here because he thinks the Sharks are looking to bank the puck in off of him. Instead, the puck moves past Jimmy and into the slot.

There's little Howard can do now that he's already sprawled on the ice, and Mitchell roofs one past him. Howard's rebound control was good; what's disappointing is the way he flopped on the ice to take away the bank shot, leaving him out of position for the subsequent shot.

3rd Period:

San Jose 5 Detroit 1; 9:32- Winchester from Murray

On the Wings zone entry, Helm turns to avoid the defender. He loses his handle and the puck slips. The Sharks grab it and turn up ice. Most of the Wings were moving deep into the offensive zone, so there's going to be another odd man rush here.

Kindl has position on his man and obstructs him from carrying it into the Sharks offensive zone. That doesn't mean Kindl completely shuts Murray down though, as he's still able to move the puck forward for Winchester.

There's not a Wing remotely close to Winchester. He has all the time in the world and is in a 1-on-1 situation  with Conklin (Howard was pulled by this point). Winchester sees the five hole open and converts to put the Sharks even further ahead.

San Jose 5 Detroit 2; 13:38- PPG Cleary (3) from Filppula (11) & Zetterberg (4)

We pick this one up with the Wings already on the powerplay and starting to set up in an umbrella formation. Kronwall moves the puck to Filppula. Filppula starts takes it and starts to skate towards the net. this will keep the attention of the three defenders above the teal line on Filppula.

Filppula waits until he thinks he's drawn the defender near the right faceoff circle to him, then passes down low to Zetterberg. Zetterberg now has the room to either shoot or pass.

Filppula cuts towards the net and could have been rewarded as Zetterberg's shot rebounds right to him. Fil has a wide open net, a defender behind him, and a defender that's turned the wrong way. In other words, scoring chances don't get much better than this. Then Antti Niemi comes along and ruins the party, somehow stopping Fil's shot from point blank range.

The puck hits Niemi's pad and sits there, perfectly placed for Danny Cleary to tap it in.

Regular Season Game 16: I Got The Blues

In all honesty I didn't have time to watch this game. I've read about it, I've screen capped it, but I didn't actually see it. The game isn't easy to summarize; that sucked.

1st Period:

St Louis 0 Detroit 1; 6:07- Miller (2) from Abdelkader (3)

Miller wins the race to a loose puck along the boards in Detroit's offensive zone. He turns on it and sends the puck behind the net.

Justin Abdelkader goes to retrieve the puck from behind the net. He backs that thang up on a St. Louis defender, then turns and skates to his right.

Abdelkader puts a wraparound attempt on net that bounces around before Miller somehow gets a stick on it and taps it in. Kudos to Miller for staying alert and keeping his stick on the ice even though he's getting effing bulldozed in front of the net.

St Louis 1 Detroit 1; 17:19- PPG D'Agostini from Berglund & Shattenkirk

St. Louis is cycling on the powerplay. With the puck at the point there are two options, one of which Darren Helm has cut off by taking away the passing lane. Shattenkirk takes the available shot.

Howard lets a rebound bounce in front of him, and Lidstrom swoops in to try and clear it away. He does clear, but unfortunately it's still in the slot area.

At this point the puck is perfectly placed for the Wings to get scored on. Helm and Stuart don't royally blow their coverages, instead being just far enough away to not have a real chance to make a play. Helm is responsible for the top of the zone and Stuart is responsible for the front of the net and both players have to leave those zones to try and make a play on the puck here. Wrong place, wrong time, bad goal.

2nd Period:

St Louis 2 Detroit 1; 10:16- Steen from Colaiacovo

Franzen picks up the puck along the boards and lazily throws it away. This is a terrible turnover by The Mule and it leads directly to St. Louis' game winning goal.

Steen has plenty of space to shoot and snaps one from the top of the faceoff circle. Stuart is too far away to even get his stick extended, and this one somehow beats Jimmy.

3rd Period:

None

Regular Season Game 15: Starstruck (in the face)

The Wings stretched their winning streak to four and ended their homestand on a good note before headed out on the road for a week long west coast swing. The surprising Stars hung with the Wings for 40 minutes, but turnovers ended up killing any chance they had of sticking around for a full 60.

The Wings offense was predominantly carried by defensemen, but this game wasn't without it's fair share of defensive highlights. The reason for the corny title is a play the Wing's official site it calling the potential play of the year. A great play, but the immediate fallout is that Ian White will be sidelined for 1-2 weeks with a broken cheekbone.

1st Period:

Detroit 0 Dallas 1; 7:09- Eriksson from Daley & Benn

We start with six seconds left on a Dallas powerplay. Daley has the puck near the boards and gets Eaves to drop to a knee looking for a blocked shot. This allows Daley to move inside on Eaves and take a clear shot at the net from the top middle of the faceoff circle.

Kronwall steps up to block the shot but misses. This leaves Stuart alone down low to take care of the net front player and the guy waiting backdoor. Stuart does a good job of locking up the net front man, but this leaves the Wings vulnerable as a Dallas player is completely undefended down low.

The rebound comes off Howard's pads right to Eriksson. Eriksson wastes no time in lifting one past Jimmy to put the Stars in front early. The one player the Wings didn't want to get the puck was Eriksson and the one place they didn't want it to end up was off a rebound to Howard's right. As expected, things didn't end very well.

Detroit 1 Dallas 1; 17:17- Kronwall (4) from Cleary (3) & Holmstrom (4)

Cleary carries behind the net and three Stars shift their focus to him. Two of them are exclusively covering Cleary, trying to decide whether to give chase or stay in their zones. The other Stars defender in the slot turns his head once to look for other Wings; he may see Kronwall entering the zone here but doesn't make a move until far too late, instead shifting his attention back to Cleary.

Cleary stays tight along the boards and draws a defender out with him. He moves the puck to Kronwall, who is waiting at the top of the faceoff circle to one time it. Kronwall gets his shot off before the Stars defender who was previously in the slot can close the gap, forcing him to half attempt a shot block to no avail. Holmstrom gets in front of the goalie just enough to distract him with his stick (but not enough to screen) as the shot is on its way. Raycroft lets it through and the game is tied.

2nd Period:

Detroit 2 Dallas 1; 3:08- White (3) from Miller (4) & Lidstrom (6)

Miller does a tremendous job of splitting two defenders in the neutral zone to gain entry into the offensive zone.

Miller carries the puck low into the zone, where then makes a hard turn. One of the Stars defenders tries to make a diving poke check but can't get to the puck before Miller one-hands a pass to Ian White at the point. With the only Stars player between White and the net now face down on the ice, White has a great shooting lane and takes full advanage, burying the slap shot.

Detroit 2 Dallas 2; 12:11- Morrow from Ribeiro & Burish

Ribeiro carries the puck behind the net, and Ericsson hesitates for a split second. He isn't sure whether he should cover the puck carrier or Morrow, who is waiting to the right of the net. Ericsson chooses to play the puck carrier, but Ribeiro gets a pass off in front of Ericsson's outstretched stick. Morrow gets lucky and scores on one of the weaker goals Howard's given up this season.

3rd Period:

Detroit 3 Dallas 2; 3:47- Franzen (9) from Filppula (9) & Stuart (1)

Turnovers killed the Stars in this game, and this is a prime example of it. An errant pass from behind their net is picked up by the Wings at the blueline.

Stuart hesitates just long enough to let Filppula slip past the two defenders bunched near the blueline. Filppula gets the puck along the boards and carries deeper into the zone.

Filppula does his best Datsyuk impression here, stickhandling and sidestepping his defender and skating the the crease before shooting from close range.

This is a case of right-place-right-time for Franzen. The rebound comes right to him, and both defenders are behind him. A backhand shot over Raycroft turns into a lead that Detroit won't relinquish the rest of the night.

Detroit 4 Dallas 2; 9:19- Helm (2) from Hudler (5)

Strong backchecking by Detroit forces a Dallas turnover in the middle of the neutral zone. Helm picks it off and turns, picking up speed as he enters the offensive zone.

He leaves the puck for Hudler and the two switch directions near the blueline, with Helm cutting inside and Hudler moving outside. Hudler carries in and waits for the defender to make a move. After he's out of position Huds throws a pass behind him, just within reach of Helm. Helm taps the puck pasta sliding Raycroft. The defender circled above has a chance to stay with Helm and just...didn't. He sure cut off that passing lane back to the blue line though! Derp.

Detroit 5 Dallas 2; 10:32- Stuart (1) from Franzen (7) & Filppula (10)

Stuart's shot is creating by a teammate swinging though the middle of the offensive zone, circled in green above. This creates defensive responsibility for two of the Stars, along with setting up something of a pseudo-screen. Stuart has time to set up and put a big slap shot on net.

By the time the nearest Stars defender can move into the shooting lane Stuart has already released the puck. Thanks in part to two other Wings camped out down low Raycroft can't find Stuart's shot, which finds the back of the net.