CSSI Analysis: Red Wings 4 - Canucks 6

Not much to say to intro this.  The Wings imploded in the third period.  I'll leave that up to each of you as to whether you want to credit Vancouver or blame the travel or say whatever.  Neither team should be happy with their defensive performance from this game; Detroit fans should just be more unhappy.

Just about every positive stat line the Wings had been running lately took a step backward with this one. 

CSSI Tracking Chart here
CSSI Methodology Explanation here

Goalie Ratings

Hard to say Jimmy Howard had a good night while giving up six goals on 34 shots for an 0.824 save percentage on the night.  His rebound control left a lot to be desired on the night.  He wasn't the reason the Wings lost, but he was part of the reason they didn't win.  Only one of the six goals given up was really a soft goal and he did help bail his teammates out.  His rating on the night was even.

Scoring and bonus plus/minus after the jump.

The Goals

1st Period 19:35 - Vancouver Goal: Daniel Sedin (Slap Shot) from Henrik Sedin and Alex Edler
Jonathan Ericsson tries carrying the puck into the Vancouver zone and has it stripped, leading the Vancouver Sedins back toward the Detroit end with numbers.  Daniel Sedin tries to feed Edler, but the pass is too far and the puck ends up in the corner.  Edler slaps the puck around to Henrik Sedin standing behind the net who immediately reverses back and finds Daniel at the side of the net, where he banks the puck in off Howard.  There were two Red Wings in position on this play; Holmstrom and Lidstrom will not get minuses.  Ericsson deserves an extra minus for the offensive zone turnover that led the rush the other way and Zetterberg gets a half minus for failing to cover Daniel Sedin.

2nd Period 2:51 - Detroit Goal: Dan Cleary from Justin Abdelkader and Mike Modano
Jakub Kindl starts the play behind the Red Wings' net where he feeds Modano coming out of Detroit's zone.  Modano finds a streaking Abdelkader two lines away with speed.  Abdelkader takes it wide and is the recipient of Keith Ballard stepping in the same hole on the ice that seemed to have caught a few players.  Abby throws a puck at Luongo from a sharp angle and he punches the puck right into Cleary's midsection.  Cleary's momentum carries him forward and the puck bounces off him and into the net for Detroit's first goal.  There will be no scoring adjustment on this play.  Modano's head's-up pass and Ballard's mistake had more to do with the goal than Kindl coming out from behind the net, so he will not get a third assist.  Unfortunately, I can't credit Ballard or the ice surface with an assist, so we'll leave it at that.

2nd Period 4:29 - Detroit Goal: Niklas Kronwall (wrist shot) from Tomas Holmstrom and Pavel Datsyuk
Mikael Samuelsson takes a 50-foot shot on Howard, who kicks the rebound to Kronwall in front.  Kronwall bounces the puck off the half-boards to Datsyuk, catching all three Vancouver forecheckers.  Datsyuk moves the puck to Holmstrom at center ice who carries in with Zetterberg and Kronwall as the other two in what's now an odd-man rush.  Kronwall gets the puck streaking up the center of the ice and shoots a wrister just wide of the net.  The puck caroms off the boards and back to Kronwall's stick behind Luongo, who was still recovering from going down to block the initial shot.  He makes no mistake in depositing the puck behind Lu to put Detroit up by a goal.  Howard earns an assist here; he knew what he was doing when he kicked the rebound out to Kronwall and helped get the Vancouver forwards trapped.  Kronwall also gets an extra half-plus for essentially assisting on his own goal.

2nd Period 5:33 - Vancouver Goal: Mikael Samuelsson from Tanner Glass and Ryan Kesler
Vancouver turns the puck over in the Detroit zone to Valtteri Filppula in the high slot. Filppula has the middle of the ice to carry, but decides to inexplicably turn the puck over instead.  Since that decision hardly ever works out, the puck ends up on Tanner Glass' stick at the half-boards and he releases a low wrist shot that is deflected by Samuelsson past Howard high on the short side.  Franzen and Bertuzzi were doing their jobs and will not receive minuses.  Filppula gets an extra minus for the turnover.  Kindl and Salei both keep theirs for failing to stop the puck from getting to Glass from Kesler and for failing to stop the shot that was deflected by Sammy.

2nd Period 17:51 - Vancouver Goal (SH): Manny Malhotra (wrist shot) unassisted
Pavel Datsyuk sucks, the end. Malhotra throws a poison dart at Howard's neck to make him fall flat on his face so he can roof it by him.  I hate this goal so much.  Extra minus to Datsyuk.  Nobody else on that unit keeps their minus.  Datsyuk had options and just got cute.  Minuses wiped for Lidstrom, Modano, Franzen, and Holmstrom.

2nd Period 19:01 - Detroit Goal (PP): Jonathan Ericsson (slap shot) from Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg
Later, on the same power play that had given up the short-handed goal, Detroit gets one back.  Ericsson keeps the puck in the zone and passes to Hudler lower on the boards.  Jiri is blocked off lower, so he cycles back and feeds out to Lidstrom at the opposite point.  Nick goes D-to-D back to Ericsson who releases a slap shot from the point that finds its way past a very angry Roberto Luongo being screened by a very good Dan Cleary.  On the official scoresheet, Zetterberg gets an assist because he ever-so-slightly touches the puck between Hudler's stick and Lidstrom's.  I don't think this touch was necessary, so I'm giving Zetterberg's assist to Hudler.  Cleary will also get an assist for screening Luongo.

3rd Period 1:40 - Detroit Goal: Niklas Kronwall (wrist shot) from Johan Franzen and Brad Stuart
Good pressure by the Wings' 2nd line forces a Vancouver turnover as they clear the zone.  The puck goes to Stuart who immediately feeds Franzen back across center ice.  Franzen finds Kronwall joining the rush and he enters the zone 1-on-2.  Nik Jr. gets a wrist shot off that goes between Bieksa's legs and past Luongo.  Pretty straightforward play here.  No scoring adjustments.

3rd Period 3:48 - Vancouver Goal: Jannik Hansen (wrist shot) from Manny Malhotra and Raffi Torres
Both teams change lines as Malhotra carries from the Vancouver bench area to low on the far side in Detroit's zone.  Malhotra releases a shot that catches Howard off-guard and he kicks a rebound out front which is collected by Hansen and deposited into the net.  This is a bad goal for Howard, as the rebound is awful.  Hansen should have been picked up by either Cleary, Abdelkader, or Lidstrom here, so they will keep their minuses, as will Ericsson for neither blocking nor deflecting Malhotra's original shot.  Modano will not receive a minus.

3rd Period 8:18 - Vancouver Goal (PP): Alex Edler (wrist shot) from Ryan Kesler and Henrik Sedin
This goal comes with Johan Franzen in the box for a stupid and egregious holding penalty.  The Canucks' power play, still the best in the game right now, cycles the puck around the Detroit zone to get the PKers moving.  Sedin gets the puck at the boards and passes across ice.  The puck goes through Kesler, who runs enough of a decoy to make Cleary respect that option before going to Edler in the slot for a wrister past a screened Jimmy Howard.  Franzen gets a minus for taking a bad penalty at a bad time.

3rd Period 11:02 - Vancouver Goal (PP): Manny Malhotra (wrist shot) from Mason Raymond and Aaron Rome
As the Wings implosion reaches critical mass, Bertuzzi tries to elbow Kesler in the face and gets sent to timeout for it.  Aaron Rome gets the puck on the boards high in the Detroit zone as Ericsson is pinching high to force the play.  He quickly gets it to Raymond moving down the ice.  Raymond waits for Kronwall to come out and challenge and finds that Malhotra is left all alone on the back door to get more than one chance on Howard; he takes advantage of Ericsson's tardiness getting back and slams home his own rebound.  Ericsson will get a half-minus.  Bertuzzi's bad penalty gets him a minus as well.

Bonus Ratings

-1 to Pavel Datsyuk: The turnover to Malhotra wasn't his only one.  As the team imploded in the third, Datsyuk went with them and visibly showed his frustration.
-1 to Tomas Holmstrom: to complete the trio of Red Wings players who took stupid penalties in the third, Homer took a bad hooking penalty.  Raffi Torres embellished it, but he got his stick there in the first place and should not have.  This penalty seemed to sap the Wings of what energy they had left for a comeback.
-1 to Valtteri Filppula: Like Datsyuk, this was an unacceptable defensive performance by a guy we all know to be a better two-way player.  Defensive zone turnovers and bad backchecking marred his game.

Babcock should have plenty to discuss with his boys on the flight home to take on the Coyotes on Monday, especially since Phoenix handed Detroit their previous loss.  All in all, we can take solace in the fact that we took four of a possible six points on a Western Canada road trip, but solace is for losers and emo secret agents.  I want domination, goddamnit.