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- Jakub Kindl had 5 shots on goal, 3 hits, and the first powerplay goal against the Blackhawks in the 2013 playoffs, in a game that a lot of people never even thought Detroit would "survive" to play. There have been a lot of great stories from the Wings season so far this season. We've seen enormous growth from players we needed to step up, as well as the emergence of players we never expected to see this year. Jakub Kindl is one of those stories. We all saw him at the beginning of the season and may have thrown up several times from nervousness or fear when he was on the ice, but Mike Babcock said earlier this week that what Kindl had lacked up until this point wasn't skill, but confidence. I think it's safe to he's finding his confidence how. When the Wings won the Cup in 2008, Kindl was a Black Ace, but never played a playoff game. He did however, still get to have a day with the Cup. George Malik wrote the following for mlive, which instantly made me want Kindl to succeed...
The Pardubice hockey club, along with dignitaries from the city, held a lunch for the young defenceman, after which, Kindl took the Stanley Cup to his hometown -- Sumperk -- about two hours away. There, the Cup was put on display outside the city square for local fans to see up close and personal. But curiously, Jakub refused to touch the Stanley Cup through his entire time with the trophy. "I cannot pick up the Stanley Cup because I did nothing to earn it," he stated sincerely. "But one day; one day I will help Detroit win the Stanley Cup, and then, I will only be too happy to lift the Cup!"
Can you honestly tell me that doesn't make you proud as hell of Kindl and want him to achieve his goal? Last night after he scored his first playoff goal, in his debut playoff season, and as icing on the cake, it was the game winner, he said...
This was the biggest game of my life and the biggest goal of my life so far.
- Dear Mike Babcock, please keep Justin Abdelkader on the powerplay. I said yesterday that I liked the idea of Abby on the PP because he fills the Homer role that we need. He played 1:57 on the powerplay last night, went to the net, occupied the defensemen and and screened the Crawford on Jakub Kindl's powerplay goal. Abby took a ton of abuse last night, but despite all the hacking, whacking, punching, crosschecking, etc... he fights to stay on his feet, in the play, and never gives up. Watching Abby fight through players trying to take him down and watching his jump right back up when taken out, and seeing his determination, I've decided that he shall be called the Abdelbeast. Hockey Central even did a segment on him last night and said he's a key player for the Wings. Aaawww yeaaahhh.
- Joakim Andersson continues to impress his coach, his teammates, and the fans. His penalty killing is amazing, he's great defensively, and isn't afraid to use his size and strength against the other team. He also won 83% of his faceoffs last night. Helen St. James shared some of Joker's teammates thoughts on him...
"He’s excellent defensively and can make plays as well, so he’s a big part of our line," Nyquist said. "He makes sure not too much happens on the defensive side. We balance pretty good with Andy as a centerman, he’s real smart, and I think he’s learned to play with us, too, to be a little bit more offensive minded."
Andersson is renowned among his wingers for preaching responsibility. Brunner described it like, "It’s always Andy and Coach versus me and Gus in the line meetings. "We figured it out. Andy is good. But I think he’s not only safety belt. He’s generating offense, too, and on the other side, Gus and I are doing our job in the back end. We have each other’s backs."
"I’m amazed at how far he’s come," defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo said. "He’s great on face-offs, great in the D zone, real smart with the puck and without the puck. That third line has been key for us, and I think he’s the key to it, because he’s sort of our help as a defenseman back there. He’s a real shy guy off the ice, but on the ice, he finds himself in the right areas and he makes a lot of good plays."
- James Tiberius Howard.... In four games against Chicago, he has 1 shutout, .961 SV% and 1.26 GAA. Crawford? merely a .916 SV% and 2.31 GAA. Jimmy's having more fun playing that I've ever seen him have before, and the tougher the challenge, the higher the pressure, and the faster the game, the more excitement he has. I was going to post a bunch of quotes praising Howard, but Niklas Kronwall took everything I could have written, gathered it into his hands, molded it into the most beautiful sparkling gem, put it in a gift wrapped package with a gorgeous red bow, and handed it back on a sliver platter with an adorable smile... Ansar Khan published it for all to see, and I want to make love to it.
"If you're not appreciating what he's doing right now, I don't think you're a true fan,'' Kronwall said. "He's been the backbone of our team and he will be for many, many years."
- Other post game comments
One of these days the media may stop trying to ask Babcock the question "Do you think you guys are getting to Toews, it seems like you're frustrating him." The people asking these questions, do so with increasing tentativeness and hesitation. I fully expect Babs to death stare the next person who asks him this question.
"You’ll have to ask Joel (about Toews), I’m not monitoring their players, just our own. We’re doing everything we can to keep our own emotions under control. Here at home, the crowd is getting all fired up and you’re starting to get fired up yourself, then the next thing you know you’re not in the right spots. So we’re too busy worrying about our own focus to be worrying about theirs."
That makes it even more satisfying to me that we’re so deep in Chicago’s head, because he makes it sound so unintentional and effortless.
How do the leaders on the team help the younger players? Babcock said
"They're supportive, yet they’re demanding They’re very demanding actually, and they’re very determined. It’s not as much what they say, as what they do and how hard they’re willing to play; and when we don’t do things right, they’re willing to talk about it. During one of the timeouts, Z was going back and forth talking to the guys about going after them. That was the whole key. We didn’t get into defensive mode as much as we did the game before, so it was positive that it took them a while to even get a shot in the third period. Those guys are good people, they’ve been through it before, and I think a lot of the young guys don’t even know; they just play."
"If you would have asked me two months ago, I’d be shocked. Once we got through the Anaheim series and the way we played down the stretch in that series, you go in thinking you have an opportunity. Our big thing was just to prolong this series and maybe the pressure gets up on them and you get through it. We’re competing at a high, high level. We don’t do things right all the time, that’s for sure; you watch the games and you can see that. But we’re doing things hard all the time and we’re trying hard. There’s a lot to be said for effort, compete and battle. Our penalty kill has been outstanding. Bill Peters runs our penalty kill and we started the worst in the NHL and finished twelfth. He’s done a great job it and in the playoffs we got off to a tough start against Anaheim but it’s gotten better and better and better and tonight it was huge for us. "
No, you’ve got to win the fourth game. I’ve been in the league a long time and we’ve had lots of highs and lots of bitter disappointments. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, let’s enjoy the day and get ready to play again.
He’s really good at that," Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson said of Zetterberg. "We saw that early and in previous years, too, when he played against (Pittsburgh captain Sidney) Crosby."
"So we know that he’s a pain in the a** for the other team and that’s the way we like him."
- Oh, the sweet tears and frustrations from the Hawks
"We're working it's frustrating I don't really know what to say right now. We competed but obviously it's still not good enough. We've got to find a way to give more. "
"You can point the finger at whatever you want, but we’re getting shots and we’re getting chances. We hit a bunch of posts again tonight and they’re just not going in. We’ve got to keep working. We’re not making any excuses for ourselves, we know we’re playing good hockey and we’re playing hard for each other, so we’re not leaving anything out there. We just need to find a way to…. *shakes head* score. It’s as simple as that."
"We’re too good of a team with too much talent, and for as hard as we’re working, something’s got to go our way. "
"Yeah, it’s frustrating," Chicago’s Patrick Sharp said. "We don’t feel good about it. We’ve got to find a way to dig in. This series is going back to Chicago to play in front of our fans and use our home ice. We’ve got to find a way to force a Game 6."
"Everyone’s a little pissed off," Crawford said. "I thought we played well again. It just seems like we can’t get bounces. Three off the post and they get one off the post and in. That pretty much sums it up for the last couple of nights for us.""We’re getting chances, going to the net hard and doing a lot of good things," Crawford said. "I think there’s times when you’re just not getting bounces and doing a lot of things right. I just can’t explain it. It’s another thing if you’re not playing hard and you’re not battling. That’s not the case with our team right now."
"(Howard) made some big saves and we hit some posts," Chicago’s Patrick Sharp said. "We knew he was a good goalie coming into the playoffs and nothing has changed."
"Yeah, it’s frustrating," Chicago’s Patrick Sharp said. "We don’t feel good about it. We’ve got to find a way to dig in. This series is going back to Chicago to play in front of our fans and use our home ice. We’ve got to find a way to force a Game 6."
"We're all frustrated, it's not about one guy," Blackhawks forward Patrick Sharp said. "Lots of posts, lots of big saves by Jimmy. There's no use hanging our heads about it."
"Just try to get away from him. You think he needs help, but usually he doesn’t. Try to get open and get away from him as far as you can and let him be"