CSSI Analysis: Red Wings 2 - Blackhawks 3

Detroit deserved to lose this game and they did lose it. Amazing how that works in today's NHL, no?

I'm also tired of complaining about the refs. I mean, it's still apt, but there comes a point when Detroit simply has to learn and adjust. The Wings were able to kill off all five of Chicago's power plays (and their own), but the Hawks did get a goal on a penalty shot awarded to Jonathan Toews during the first period. Shots were even in the game 28-28.

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Goalie Ratings

Jimmy Howard got outplayed. It wasn't by much, but it was enough. Despite the even number of shots, it felt like Chicago got more high quality shots. Still, one more save by Howard to stop the game-winner would have been nice. Howard will get a -1 in the head-to-head rating, but an Even rating in the overall category.

Scoring and plus/minus analysis after the jump

The Goals

1st Period 09:49 - Detroit Goal: Justin Abdelkader (wrist shot) from Drew Miller and Danny Cleary
Patrick Kane carries into the Wings zone and tries to catch Howard napping on the short side. The shot is blocked behind the net where Brad Stuart picks it up with momentum to start the rush up ice with Cleary and Miller joining. Sharp pressures Stuart at center ice, forcing him to go to Cleary on the wing as they enter the zone. Montador steps up on Cleary, so he goes to Drew Miller trailing just behind the play. Brad Stuart goes to the net while Sharp moves to make a play on Miller, who makes a cut to give himself room to throw a wrister on net from the top of the circle. The puck doesn't get all the way through to Crawford as it hits Sean O'Donnell in front as he's tied up with Stuart. Crawford lays out to try to get the loose puck, but both he and Montador are beaten there by Justin Abdelkader, who puts in the rebound. Both Stuart (third) and Jimmy Howard (fourth) will pick up assists on this play.

1st Period 14:32 - Chicago Goal (PS): Jonathan Toews (wrist shot)
The Penalty - Nicklas Lidstrom (hooking): This is an absolutely awful call on a hook from a referee who is right there looking at the play. The standard here is apparently if your stick makes any slight contact above the waist, it's a penalty. However, Lidstrom will get a half-minus. He's the one who let Toews by him in the first place.
On the penalty shot, Toews goes five-hole on a brutally good shot. No Adjustment.

Penalty Adjustment: At 19:43, after a Wings PP fails to score, Lidstrom lets Toews get by him again and this time hooks him for real. Lidstrom will get a full minus for this penalty

Penalty Adjustment: 2:13 into the 2nd period, Jonathan Ericsson goes off for holding up Bryan Bickell in front of the Detroit net. I feel Bickell goes down a little easy, but Ericsson makes a dumb play. Ericsson will get a minus.

2nd Period 05:25 - Detroit Goal: Todd Bertuzzi (tip in) from Mike Commodore and Jonathan Ericsson
With no room at center ice, Datsyuk manages to get a puck deep into the Chicago zone for the Wings to turn into a goal about 20 seconds later. Franzen recovers on the right-wing half boards and gets it to Bertuzzi just inside of his position to try to jam in on the short side. Crawford stops it and the puck goes behind the net. where Bertuzzi recovers and passes to Datsyuk standing alone in front for a scoring chance. Datsyuk's shot misses the far post and rings up the boards where Ericsson dumps it back behind the net to Bertuzzi. Bert feeds franzen coming out of the corner and Franzen tries to hit Datsyuk with a backhand pass in the circle. The puck is poked away from him by Bryan Bickell, but Ericsson is there to pick it up and go across the blue line to Mike Commodore, who has room to tee up and fire a shot on net. Bertuzzi tips it past Crawford to make it 2-1. Bertuzzi makes a series of good plays here which will earn him a half-plus.

2nd Period 07:30 - Chicago Goal: Marian Hossa (slap shot) from Daniel Carcillo and Nick Leddy
Detroit can't connect on passes through center ice and gives up possession to Chicago to enter the Wings' zone and set up a cycle. A four-pass play from high-to-low-to-the slot sets up a scoring chance for Hossa in front that Zetterberg is barely able to knock off his stick. Leddy picks up the loose puck and goes to Carcillo, who resets the cycle by dumping it back down the boards where Hossa picks it up in the corner moving with purpose. Hossa carries up the boards and cuts in to circle high at the top of the zone while the forwards adjust and all try to pick up their coverages. Unfortunately, Filppula takes a bad angle on Hossa and is beaten around the outside. Zetterberg comes back from trying to cover more toward the middle with a block attempt, but it's too little, too late as the slapper goes through Howard to tie it. The biggest mistake is on Filppula here, who will earn an extra minus for the coverage mistake. Cleared minuses will go to Hudler, Kronwall, and Stuart. They're covering their guys the entire way around the zone while Hossa is making FIlppula look bad. Zetterberg will keep his minus for not blocking the shot.

Goal-Saved Adjustment: At 13:57 the Hawks get a chance stopped by Lidstrom. as they get an odd-man rush. a cross-ice feed from Carcillo to Hossa completely beats Jimmy Howard, but it's a non-issue with Lidstrom there to block it. Lidstrom will get a plus for this.

3rd Period 01:52 - Chicago Goal: Brent Seabrook (slap shot) from Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp
The Wings find themselves down early in the third on a one-timer from the slot by a Chicago D-man. Bickell carries into the zone and drops it off for Patrick Kane, who gets a shot off from inside the faceoff circle which is fought off by Howard. The puck comes around to Seabrook at the top of the zone to dump it back in to Kane. Zetterberg is immediately on Kane, so he pokes it back up to the half-boards to Sharp. While two men key on Sharp, he goes back to Kane in the corner with a bit of space. Kane uses this space to find Brent Seabrook cutting down through the middle of the ice for a one-timer from the middle of the ice about 40 feet out which beats Howard high to the glove side. There will be no minuses cleared on this play, as everybody has a little bit of fault. The bulk of it goes to Lidstrom though. With Filppula covering the point and Zetterberg watching Kane in the corner, Lidstrom is caught in no-man's land where it's his responsibility to prevent the pass from Kane here. Lidstrom will get a minus for the coverage error. Ian White will also pick up a half-minus. If he recognizes the coverage need just a hair earlier, he gets a chance to block it. Based on the Hawks' positioning in the zone, he had room to be more aggressive.

Penalty Adjustment: 6:53 into the third, Brad Stuart cross-checks Bickell in the corner of the Detroit zone and goes to the box. Stuart will get a minus.

Penalty Adjustment: Late in the third, with the Wings maybe thinking about whether they want to even try to mount a comeback, Johan Franzen goes to the box for bumping and falling over Corey Crawford. The first penalty for goalie interference was very weak. This one was also a bit on the weak side, but Franzen needs to know better. This will lead to a minus for Franzen.

Penalty Non-Adjustments

1st Period 09:11 - Todd Bertuzzi & Daniel Carcillo (fighting): It's a dumb fight, but Carcillo laid a hit on Bert that Bert didn't like. No adjustment on this one.
1st Period 17:37 - Jimmy Hayes (holding): Following a good scoring chance by Chicago against Detroit's 4th line, Gustav Nyquist comes out of the zone and springs Joakim Andersson with a good outlet pass. Hayes hits Nyquist late and holds him up along the boards. This is a bad decision by Hayes.
3rd Period 03:08 - Todd Bertuzzi (goaltender interference): Bert is outside of the crease and the contact is incidental on a Johan Franzen scoring chance. This is a brutally soft call.

Bonus Ratings

-1 to Nicklas Lidstrom: Through one period, Lidstrom had taken two penalties, probably could have been called for another, and allowed the Hawks a short-handed 2-on-1. He played better through the second and third, but not nearly well enough.
+0.5 to Gustav Nyquist: For his limited ice time, Nyquist was a positive force on the ice. He had a great pass-intercept in the neutral zone during the 2nd period to create a scoring chance.
-1 to Niklas Kronwall: He had two defensive zone turnovers in the first, followed by a weak 2nd period and nothing of special note in the third.
-1 to Johan Franzen: Aside from the scoring chance he missed (and was cancelled by a weak penalty call), Franzen was completely invisible in this game. His refusal to move his feet hurt his team.
-0.5 to Henrik Zetterberg: Neither of the Wings' star forwards were particularly impressive, but Zetterberg was outplayed while he wasn't creating offense. The post he hit made all the difference in this one.

Honorable Mentions:

Jonathan Ericsson had a very strong first period, then he turned the puck over in the slot, then he had a pretty solid remainder of the second period, then he turned the puck over again, then he had a very solid rest of the game. It was frustrating to watch what could have simultaneously turned into his best or worst game of the season. Datsyuk approached a minus, but I feel he was hurt more by his linemates. Joakim Andersson and Cory Emmerton played a decent game, but nothing special.

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