Wings Rally, Fall in Overtime

by Casey Richey on May 22, 2009 11:03 PM CDT in Game Recaps

A minute and fifty two seconds is all it took for the Blackhawks to score in overtime and turn the series a little more favorably for Sunday's Game 4. Patrick Sharp connected on a pass from Sammy Pahlsson with a gaping net for his second goal of the game and the Blackhawks first win of the series.

The Blackhawks got on the board first as Patrick Sharp scored on the second half of a power play the result of a double minor penalty to Dan Cleary. The shot from Brent Seabrook came from the point and Sharp got a stick on it. The Wings killed off the first part of the penalty but gave up a powerplay goal for the 12th straight game.

Andrew Ladd added a second Chicago goal by following his own shot and stuffing the rebound through Osgood's pads for a 2-0 lead, midway through the 1st period.

Then the game got very intense. Niklas Kronwall caught Martin Havlat with his head down and delivered one his patented blue-line hits. Havlat was knocked out and would not return in the game. Unfortunately for the Red Wings and Kronwall, neither would he; 5 minute major for interference and 10 minute game misconduct. Tempers flared but the Wings were able to kill of the 5 minute major and head into the locker room.

As the second period started, it looked like it would be more of the same as Sammy Pahlsson deflected a Duncan Keith shot from the point past a helpless Osgood for a commanding 3-0 lead just 45 seconds into the new period.

They say no lead is safe in the new NHL and boy are they right. Detroit found the back of the net three times in 5 minutes and knotted the game up at 3 heading into the third period. Nicklas Lidstrom fired a shot from the point off of Pahlsson's skate and past Nikolai Khabibulin to cut the lead to 2 with a powerplay goal at 14:38 of the 2nd period. Brian Rafalski wristed a shot from the blue line on net and past Khabibulin for a 3-2 game.

Enough goals from defensemen yet? Nope. Jonathan Ericsson blasted a puck from the point--again--and past Khabibulin for a tied game with under a minute to play in the second period. The second period was the last that Khabibulin would see as Cristobal Huet replaced him for the third period.

Huet wasn't tested often as the Wings only mustered 6 shots on the backup. The third period was relatively uneventful save for a few chances here and there and a late third period rush by the Blackhawks. Chicago controlled the second half of the third period and was able to get opportunities on a defense that was now down to only five players.

None of the goals in regulation were really that memorable but Sharp's OT winner will instill great memories and confidence in the Blackhawk faithful that this is far from over.

Casey's Red Wing of the Game: Can I give it to the entire defense? Look, I know they allowed four goals but considering they had to rotate for the penalized Kronwall, it was a miracle that this game wasn't a laugher and that it went to overtime. Also, all three goals came from the defense. If i have to choose, it'd be Brad Stuart. Stuart had an assist and a blocked shot in 28:39 of ice time. He also jumped up in the offensive rush on several occasions and created chance for the Wings.

Brad Stuart

#23 / Defenseman / Detroit Red Wings

Height: 6-2

Weight: 213

Born: Nov 06, 1979

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2008 - Brad Stuart	67	2	13	15	-3	26	1	0	0	0	105	1.9

Game 4 is Sunday at 3:00 p.m. ET on NBC. Expect a raucous crowd as the Blackhawks are back in this thing and a win would tie it up.

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crazy game

oh well even though we lost i feel confident they will still win this in 5 or 6…

everything went right for chicago tonight especially early on…we played good for like 10 of the 60+ mins and still almost won…and oh yeah what BS with kicking Kronwall out perfectly legal hit not his fault Havlat didn’t keep his head up.

10 down....6 to go for a repeat Go Wings!!!

by TuLoRocks2008 on May 22, 2009 11:08 PM CDT reply actions

more on the Kronwall thing later

Winging It In Motown

by Casey Richey on May 22, 2009 11:12 PM CDT up reply actions

Post Game Press Conference

Just curious if any one caught the post game press conference?

Does Babcock refer to Filpulla as “Fill-a-pool”?

Also, Babcock also makes reference to how Stuart allows the puck to go past him on the side boards and gets hammered by Byfuglian and there was no call. But instead of complaining about it he states that, “teams that play hard get all the calls, and they played harder than we did.” I have to agree with this, atleast it seemed that way to me.

by jryno on May 23, 2009 12:35 AM CDT reply actions

It’s been a bad series for names for me. Byfuglien is pronounced “Bye fug lee an” in my phonetic reading of it. Everytime Olcyk prounces it as “Buff-lyn”, I think of a buffalo and there’s Big ‘Ol Buff on the ice. All 240 buffalo pounds of him. Filpulla makes me want to say, “Phillipina”. Hudler makes me think of a villain Batman is fighting. As in, “Batman vs. The Hudler”. Toews is pronounced “Taeves”, but makes me think of Tavares instead. That kid will be playing for the Islanders soon. And then there’s Patrick “Sugar” Kane. Zetterburg makes me think of a zeppelin. Datsyuk sounds like Datsun. I could keep going on. Now I can’t get these naming conventions out of my head. So it goes.

by gorgalor on May 23, 2009 4:48 AM CDT up reply actions

Kronwall hit

The problem I have with this call is the fact that it was an INTERFERENCE call. That proves that this was a major penalty ONLY becaue there was an injury and that it looked brutal. The fact is this WAS NOT interference. Havlat looked down to find the puck, when he found it he looked to see what to do with it. Then BOOM. That play happens a hundred times in a game, this was just a open ice hit and most of those look very brutal. That was not interference. IF you want to call a blow to the head… call roughing. This is the second time in the playoffs we have seen a major for interference… just ridiculous. The Mike Brown hit on Hudler… if that was interference it should have been a two minute minor, but that was an elbow to the head, so a 5 was a decent call and it was a late hit. But it still shouldn’t be a major for just interference. Because of this, the Wings were not able to get their game going until late in the second period.

I hate to say it, but I sure hope Havlat is out for the series. First of all because if Kronwall gets 5 and a game for that, it better be worthwhile. Second… because he is Chicago’s biggest threat offensively.

My last observation from the game is that Holmstrom should NOT have been in the game that early in OT. He is just not playing that well at even strength. He’s slow and a liability defensively. The Hawks have consistently come out at the beginning of periods with a lot of energy. That means you need speed out there. Homer played a decent game in front of the net in the second period, but he just shouldn’t have been out there in OT. He should have taken Sharp out of the play.

by dewman8810 on May 23, 2009 2:50 AM CDT reply actions

Kronwall didn’t hit him with his elbow from what I saw. It was his forearm. An AWESOME hit. That had Scott Stevens magnitude.
A Swedish paper stated that Havlat’s teammates were yelling at him to keep his head up because Kronwall was coming, yet he was staring at his skates anyways.
That was not interference. That was not roughing. Nor was it an elbow. No penalty should have been called. Lame-o NHL nowadays. The guys should wear skirts if this is how they are going to call things.

Nucks Misconduct

by Sean Zandberg on May 23, 2009 3:22 AM CDT up reply actions

I hate to say it, but I sure hope Havlat is out for the series. First of all because if Kronwall gets 5 and a game for that, it better be worthwhile. Second… because he is Chicago’s biggest threat offensively.

Uh, how about a little bit of sportsmanship? Detroit doesn’t have to play Flyersesque hockey to beat Chicago. So, why degrade yourselves to Flyersesque fan babble?

by gorgalor on May 23, 2009 4:59 AM CDT up reply actions

It’s just honesty. Havlat is their best threat offensively and to have him out takes a big piece of Chicago’s offense. I don’t hope any ill to Havlat, but it would be nice not to have him out there. And what I mean by my first point is that obviously the penalty was because an injury took place and not a penalty, so there better be an injury. I’m just sick of these calls because there is an injury. No more 5 minute majors for interference. If it’s a major penalty it has to be charging, roughing, or elbowing… which none of these apply.

by dewman8810 on May 23, 2009 10:21 AM CDT up reply actions

Saw this over at A2Y

I was out for blood on Kronwall about 14 hours ago.

But the screenshot that somebody over at Kukla’s Korner posted pretty much exonerates Kronwall.

Feet were on the ice, Havlat’s head is level with his shoulder, and Marty’s looking down at the puck.

Also, it was dumb of Buff to come over and shove Kronwall down ON TOP OF Havlat, who was already down. If you’re going to get retribution, wait until the guy skates away from your guy, and then go after him.

Anyway, HNIC also noted that none of the refs on the ice had their arms up in the air when the hit occurred. The decision to give Kronwall a penalty was based strictly upon the fact Havlat was seriously hurt.

And dewman, I understand what you’re saying…somewhat. I’m not shedding any tears that Datsyuk was out last night, but I’m not hoping he’ll be out for the rest of the series.

Defending Big D | TheStarsFans | But a Hawks fan since 1989

by Brandon Bibb on May 23, 2009 10:22 AM CDT reply actions

That having been said about retribution

I didn’t like the trend this year of going after players who delivered hard, but clean checks. At the time, the hit looked dirty, so I can somewhat understand going after Kronwall.

Anyway, I’m hoping against hope that Havlat is able to return in the series.

Defending Big D | TheStarsFans | But a Hawks fan since 1989

by Brandon Bibb on May 23, 2009 10:24 AM CDT up reply actions

IT WAS A CLEAN HIT!!!!!

Sorry for yelling, but I’m still pissed the morning after. All I want now is a 428 to -2 Wings victory.

by illini4everjp on May 23, 2009 10:29 AM CDT reply actions

It was a GOOD, HARD hit

Say what you want, Kronwall probably deserved the penalty, but nothing more than that. Lets move on shall we.

The mediocre play from both sides was a little alarming, Detroits old “go to” play of putting traffic in front of the net minder and blasting from the point is uninspiring and irksome to watch at times, and this is from a life long Wings fan.

Hossa, Datsyuk, and Zetterburg (to a lesser extent) have gone missing in this series, you would think that Hossa, who came to the Wings to “win a cup” would be busting his proverbial balls to raise the intensity get the puck in the net as much as he can.

The way the 4 potential Stanley Cup finalists are playing at the moment, I would imagine that this years cup would read Sidney Crosby’s name on it, not Marion Hossa’s (despite Chicago being an far more challenging prospect that Carolina) and if that isn’t motivation enough for him then he wont ever be effective in this Red Wings team.

When you rely on Dan Cleary to win you games, your offense is not doing its job. The wings had the best offensive game in the league this year so its about time they concentrated on creating scoring opportunities as opposed to trying to stop Havlat, Campbell et al.

And bring Conklin in for game 4. Give him a run at it. Better GAA better SV% so what’s the freakin’ hold up?

by TiPPiDa on May 23, 2009 9:44 PM CDT reply actions

Conklin

is untested really in the playoffs. And it’s not like Osgood has kept the team from winning. He’s averaged about 2 goals per game, no need at all to pull him for Conklin.
Its hard to pull a goalie who has 3 Stanley Cups in favor of one who has 0.

Winging It In Motown

by Casey Richey on May 24, 2009 12:01 PM CDT up reply actions