Red Wings Take 47 Shots But Lose 3-1 To Hiller and Ducks

by joehass on Feb 3, 2010 11:56 PM CST in Game Recaps

Nights like this are nights when those losses in October and November sting even more.

On the back end of back-to-back nights, after a great comeback against the best team in the NHL, the Red Wings faced a goaltender in Jonas Hiller that was nearly perfect.

The Red Wings had 78 attempts on goal, with 47 of them on net, but only Pavel Datsyuk was able to get anything past Hiller, and the Red Wings lost 3-1 to the Ducks in Anaheim.

Bobby Ryan, Ryan Whitney, and Kyle Chipchura each scored for the Kings, who close to three points behind the Red Wings. Combine this with the Flames 4-1 victory over the Hurricanes, and the Wings sit tied with Calgary with 64 points (though the Red Wings have a game in hand).

Hiller, who moved up to the number one slot this season, sending Jean-Sebastien Giguere to Toronto, made a number of spectacular saves. Jimmy Howard made 27 saves, but on a night when the other goaltender was standing on his head, it simply wasn't enough.

Just 71 seconds into the game, Ryan Getzlaf was along the far boards on the goal line when he passed it out to the blue line to Whitney. Whitney took a shot that deflected off Brad Stuart and got past Howard on the first shot of the game. Ryan picked up the second assist.

Then Steve Eminger took a cross-ice pass from Todd Marchant at the blue line and fired it at the net. The puck went off the hand of Chipchura, then went into the net. The play was reviewed in Toronto, but they ruled that Chipchura moved his hand after the puck hit his hand, giving Chipchura his fourth of the season.

In the second period, Getzlaf was close to the far board when he saw Ryan standing eight feet away from the front of Howard. He sent the puck to him for a relatively easy tap-in to get his 25th of the season, leading the Ducks. Corey Perry also earned an assist on the play.

The Red Wings would get on the board late in the period. Saku Koivu was in the penalty box on a hooking penalty, and on the first shot the Wings had, they capitalized: Brian Rafalski brought the puck from the opposite end, then made a sweet pass to a streaking Datsuyk, who beat Hiller with a shot that went upstairs to get his 15th of the season, tying Todd Bertuzzi and Tomas Holmstrom for the team lead.

The Red Wings finished 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Ducks were 0-for-2.

Detroit is off until Saturday, when they face the Los Angeles Kings on game three of their road trip.

Player of the game: Pavel Datsyuk. In addition to his goal, he had an almost identical chance that was robbed by Hiller.

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Comments

i know we split the season series

but i always feel like anaheim has our number. if there is one team i hate to see in the playoffs it would be the ducks. id chose to play the sharks and the blackhawks before i chose the ducks. just my opinion.

by dhall25 on Feb 4, 2010 12:55 AM CST reply actions

me too

I mean we disposed of the Hawks in 5 but the Ducks took us to 7. They, like Nashville, play us tough all the time.

Winging It In Motown

by Casey Richey on Feb 4, 2010 9:21 AM CST up reply actions

The Fishsticks of the West

Again, after playing a good game (specifically against the Sharks), they did not seem interested and allowed a couple goals and never recovered. They got a lot of shots, most of them low quality shots, and there were multiple times that the Red Wings went several minutes between actually doing anything. On the other hand, every time the Ducks had their offensive zone, they had plenty of chances.

Player of the game was definitely Brad May for his fighting… Ericsson was in the penalty box for longer than May was on the ice.

Black jerseys should be disallowed so that you can see where the puck hits a player and determine whether it is a good goal or not, as with Chipchura’s. Or put a radio chip in the puck and log its position at any given time, then coordinate that with the position and angle of the camera. And it could be used to definitively determine if the puck crossed the goal line. (But, there are challenges to getting precise to within an inch, since light is very fast and an ice rink is very small.)

by bleep bloop on Feb 4, 2010 12:58 AM CST reply actions

I might be wrong on this, but quick calculation indicates 80GHz is the magic number for 1" accuracy on an 85’ wide rink. So not possible.

by bleep bloop on Feb 4, 2010 1:09 AM CST up reply actions

(Though, since a puck can travel nowhere near the speed of light, much higher precision is possible with current technology.)

by bleep bloop on Feb 4, 2010 1:11 AM CST up reply actions

woah woah woah

this site strictly opposes quantum mechanics (kidding)

but yeah, who knows if pucks will ever get “chipped”…lot of pros and cons

Winging It In Motown

by Casey Richey on Feb 4, 2010 9:23 AM CST up reply actions

yeah, like "someone might insist on making it glow again"

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by ahtrap on Feb 4, 2010 9:34 AM CST up reply actions

radium chip :)

"While there's life, there's hope." --Cicero

by Baroque on Feb 4, 2010 6:15 PM CST up reply actions

Remember when we were all kids playing street hockey in the summer time using the bright orange hard plastic ball? I liked that ball so much because we could see it. Then I look at these NHL teams who sport the black sweaters and/or pants. And I think to myself, ‘Self…These teams have some sort of unfair advantage the could come back to haunt me and my beloved Red Wings.’ It has happened before… Like last year in the playoffs against the Ducks and the “intent to blow” call on Hossa. It will happen again. Like last night against the Ducks. None the less. Anyway…Then I really REALLY started thinking on what I would do to change this and to level the playing feild. Sort of speak. I want the puck to be as orange as that ball we all played with when we were kids. Refs would see it. Fans in the upper bowls would see it. TV cameras would see it. Toronto replay war room officials would see it. EVERYONE would see it. I know this will probrably never happen. But, if it did would Hossa have tied that playoff game last year? Would last nights goal be called back? To be or not to be. That is the question. Discuss.

by PhattyPaddy on Feb 4, 2010 5:54 PM CST up reply actions

This Game

drove me F’n crazy last night.. I had to stop watching in the 2nd. how did everyone think Ericsson looked last night?

by bond021 on Feb 4, 2010 8:07 AM CST reply actions

I hadn't even thought of that

Ericsson looked pretty good last night. Maybe the night off did him some good

Winging It In Motown

by Casey Richey on Feb 4, 2010 8:21 AM CST up reply actions

I thought he looked pretty good-came out with that big hit and the fight in the first, but you would’ve seen that. Other than that he looked like he actually had some energy last night.

by crperreau on Feb 4, 2010 8:31 AM CST up reply actions

Yea

You could tell he was trying to impress babs early. However that fight was weak, it looked like they both really didnt want to participate. I was trying to pay attention to ericsson… but i must admit my emotions of the game took control and I had to end my misery last night by walking away.

by bond021 on Feb 4, 2010 9:50 AM CST up reply actions

I was at the game last night and I thought he played well. Whoever he creamed into the boards that caused him to have to drop the gloves was AWESOME! Although, watching a Swede fight is like watching my grandma try and fight. That part wasn’t so awesome. Anyway… I went to the game with my pops and once the dust settled from the scrap he leaned over to me and said,“I don’t think Ericsson wants to be a healthy scratch ever again.” Good call pops. Good call.

by PhattyPaddy on Feb 4, 2010 5:39 PM CST up reply actions

That’s awesome. I thought Ericsson looked really solid last night and really looked like he had something to prove. Not only did he have some good physical plays plus the fight (which I agree was less than stellar, but at least he was willing to stand up for himself), but he had a couple of really good feed passes to the forwards. He had one pass to Fil that I thought for sure would’ve gone in if Hiller hadn’t been a brick wall. Hopefully he’s learning to trust his instincts, work hard for the puck & return to that playoff form. Nice to see that a benching benefits a player rather than un-motivates him (looking at you, Mr. Leino!).

by nursenitz on Feb 5, 2010 1:50 AM CST up reply actions

Looks like I didn't much by passing out halfway through the second period

Gotta say, Datsyuk scoring only his 15th of the season to tie for the team lead with Bertuzzi and a guy who it feels like has missed half the season (even though I know it hasn’t been nearly that long), that’s pretty indicative of this team’s issues.

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by ahtrap on Feb 4, 2010 9:36 AM CST reply actions

I was thinking the same thing. Dats has looked better the past few weeks, so hopefully that’s an indication that we’ll see better things from him. Hopefully Mule’s return will spark him & Z as well. I just hope it’s not too late…

by nursenitz on Feb 5, 2010 1:52 AM CST up reply actions