CSSI Analysis: Red Wings 0 - Blues 6

The Red Wings were badly outplayed by a faster, more-aggressive, and more-cohesive Blues team. They were beaten in every facet of the game. Quite an embarrassing showing for Detroit and quite a good one for St. Louis.

The new reffing standard certainly seemed tighter, but the Wings got more favorable calls than the Blues and still managed to stink it up.

CSSI Methodology Explanation here

Goalie Ratings

Jimmy Howard wasn't awful, but he also wasn't "terrific" like Mickey Redmond said. Three of the five goals he allowed were on breakaways and another was on an embarrassing walk of his d-man. They didn't play well in front of him, but you don't get a walk on stopping 0% of breakaways. Head-to-head, Howard got pulled and will get a -1. Overall, Howard will get a -1. Gustavsson played average and will get no ratings adjustment.

Scoring and plus/minus analysis after the jump

The Goals

1st Period 06:36 - St. Louis Goal: Vladimir Tarasenko (wrist shot) from Ian Cole and Alex Steen
The Wings' second line loses possession and doesn't shut off the outlet, which leads to a long stretch pass from Cole to Tarasenko for a breakaway goal. Kyle Quincey will get an extra minus (coverage) for being on the wrong side of his man and failing to keep the pass from getting to Tarasenko. Samuelsson and Franzen will keep their minuses. Franzen loses a puck battle behind the net while Samuelsson pinches on his off-wing on the wrong side. Filppula will keep a half-minus for getting the puck knocked off his stick which prevented a 3-on-2 Wings rush from getting a shot on goal. Brendan Smith will not get a minus. He's in good position.

1st Period 14:44 - St. Louis Goal (PP): Chris Stewart (wrist shot) from Andy McDonald and Alex Steen
The Wings' 2nd unit gets caught running around and the Blues' PP gets an easy put-away on a rebound for Stewart. Smith will get a coverage minus. On the setup, the Blues get the low 2-on-1 because Smith chases his guy too far up the boards and isn't in the passing lane, which catches Kronwall between Tarasenko and Stewart, which leads to a scrum in front. Then, Smith gets another half-minus (to go with a half-minus for Abdelkader) on the scrum. Abby collapses into the net with his man and gets taken out of the high coverage for which he's ultimately responsible. Smith also over-collapses and should have picked up Stewart here.

2nd Period 00:29 - St. Louis Goal (PP): Vladimir Tarasenko (wrist shot) from Kevin Shattenkirk
Tarasenko walks into the Wings' zone with the puck, steps around Quincey, and roofs it. Quincey will get a minus for waving at the puck and getting walked to the inside, but Ericsson will also get a half-minus on coverage. He's either got to step up on Tarasenko in the neutral zone or back up Quincey better behind the blue line. Neither happens.

2nd Period 16;09 - St. Louis Goal (SH): TJ Oshie (wrist shot) from Alex Pietrangelo and David Backes
Samuelsson breaks his stick on the PP and Oshie makes a break as soon as the Blues get the puck. Pietrangelo finds him with the long bomb for a breakaway that he finishes. Minuses to White and Filppula with a half-minus to Colaiacovo. The two full minuses recognize the play too late and don't stop it (Flip the pass, White the break). Colaicovo is actually covering the straight pass out of the zone like he should be, but he doesn't stop this.

3rd Period 01:15 - St. Louis Goal (PP): Chris Stewart (wrist shot) from Kevin Shattenkirk and TJ Oshie
Chris Stewart gets a breakaway from the blue line while his team is on the PP. Howard gets pulled after Stewart slides it under him. This one is all on Kronwall, who will get a minus. There's simply no excuse for Chris Stewart to already be behind him in the neutral zone here while he's ranging to the side of the ice that Miller and Emmerton have covered. Smith is up covering the pass that created Tarasenko's last PP goal, so it's Kronner's job to stop Stewart.

3rd Period 14:35 - St. Louis Goal (PP): Patrik Berglund (tip-in) from Alex Pietrangelo and TJ Oshie
Pietrangelo hits Berglund's stick in the slot for a deflection through Gustavsson. Miller's going to pull the minus on this one, as he bumps Abdelkader at the very top of the zone (where Oshie is) instead of getting into position to prevent the Oshie-Pietrangelo-Berglund passing play.

Penalty Adjustments (pluses and minuses only)

1st Period 13:52 - Jan Mursak (hooking): Mursak gets a minus for hooking Pietrangelo in the neutral zone after getting caught flat-footed.
1st Period 16:05 - Daniel Cleary (holding): Minus for Cleary holding the stick in the offensive zone on Jackman.
1st Period 19:30 - Niklas Kronwall (interference): It's a dive by Tarasenko to sell it, but Kronwall takes a step into the path of a player who has gotten a step on him. That's a minus.

2nd Period 14:20 - David Perron (hooking): Kronwall will earn a half-plus for driving the net in the offensive zone and giving Perron a reason to hook him.
2nd Period 19:46 - Daniel Cleary (hooking): Filthy hooker. Water-skiing is illegal in hockey and Cleary hooks Perron badly.

Bonus Ratings

-1 to Niklas Kronwall - Generally bad positionally and with passing. He looked like the weaker link on the Wings' top pairing... with Ericsson.
+1 to Brendan Smith - He didn't play well on the penalty kill, but at 5-on-5, the rookie had a pretty good game. He consistently bailed out teammates on what would have added to a huge group of scoring chances for the Blues.
+1 to Jonathan Ericsson - Big Rig was Detroit's best defenseman. He used the body effectively and showed very sound positioning. Even more promising was that he didn't show any of his previous tendencies to panic under pressure with the puck on his stick.

Honorable Mentions:

I thought the Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Brunner line was decent and will get better as Brunner adjusts. Filppula and Franzen showed good hustle. None of them put together a good enough 60 minutes though.

[Charts coming soon]