The Wings have extended their winless streak to 6 straight. While it’s nice to remember February 2008, it’s also nice to remember that team was battling significant injuries and this one isn’t. Something is wrong with the Red Wings.
We could start with special teams for one. The power play went 1-3, but it’s just not good enough any more. 15.6% is good for 19th in the league. Meanwhile, the PK gave up what was really 1-3, but what was also technically 2-4 (the other one was scored at 5-on-5 with an empty Wings net). Despite outshooting their opponents again, this time 29-22, the Wings made another goaltender look like a superstar.
CSSI Methodology Explanation here
Goalie Ratings
Howard kept the game close for the Wings for as long as he could, but giving up the first goal of the game as a soft one didn’t help his cause. He’s going to get a -1 in the head-to-head rating and a -0.5 on the overall rating. It’s not his fault they lost, but I keep going back to the softie to open the scoring. For a team struggling so much to find confidence, that could not have helped.
Scoring and plus/minus analysis after the jump
The Goals
Penalty Adjustment: About midway through the first, Calgary dumps it in and forces a turnover when Ericsson and Helm combine to give the puck away. Iginla gets off a weak shot that goes to the side of the net and in the process of trying to recover, Mike Commodore ties up Rene Bourque and goes to the box. Commodore will get a minus, but I also feel that Ericsson and Helm deserve a half-minus each for the turnover that led to this penalty.
1st Period 15:52 – Calgary Goal: Lee Stempniak (wrist shot) from Anton Babchuk
After a good forecheck by the Flames leads to a keep in and the puck going to the corner, Kronwall almost overskates the puck. In the half-second it takes him to recover a puck he should have had in the first place, Tanguay and Morrison have taken up position to cut him off. Kronwall tries outletting from the corner to Zetterberg, but the puck pops into the air. Zetterberg tries to bat it to Franzen, but he can’t handle it and instead it goes to Babchuk at the point. As Franzen skates to pressure him, Babchuk flutters a puck intentionally wide. Stempniak is the first on it at the far side and throws a tight-angle shot on Howard that sneaks by a hole he leaves in the near side. This is a bad goal for Howard. I am going to clear the minuses for Stuart, Zetterberg, Bertuzzi, Kronwall,and Franzen. However, Kronwall, Stuart, and Zetterberg all commit turnovers in their own zone while Franzen misses a coverage. This will earn back minuses for these four. Bertuzzi is the only one who remains without a minus here.
2nd Period 04:37 – Calgary Goal (PP): Jarome Iginla (slap shot) from Curtis Glencross and Olli Jokinen
The Penalty – Jiri Hudler (hooking): Coming up the ice, Cleary throws a puck off the boards into the zone for Hudler. The problem is that it’s basically a perfect pass to Sarich. Hudler chases Sarich behind the net and hauls him down when he can’t turn the corner. Hudler will get a minus for committing the act, but I’m going to give an additional half-minus to Cleary for such a dumb giveaway to lead to it.
On the Flames’ power play, the Wings get a clear and go for the long change. Giordano takes advantage of this and throws a stretch pass from the top of his own circle to Olli Jokinen in stride at the Blue line. Now coming in 3-on-2, Jokinen pulls up and passes to Glencross as the high man in the zone. Glencross takes to the middle shooting lane and goes to the high slot. This draws Brad Stuart in for the block and gives Glencross the lane to hit Iginla on the wing with a pass. Iginla one-times it past Howard with an absolute rocket. Technically, the outlet pass goes through a lane that Abdelkader is supposed to have blocked off, but he had seriously just stepped off the bench. I feel like I’d be taking credit away from Giordano for such a great pass if I were to give out a minus here. No adjustment.
2nd Period 08:11 – Detroit Goal (PP): Danny Cleary (tip-in) from Niklas Kronwall and Ian White
The Penalty – Scott Hannan (holding): Hannan throws Hudler violently into the boards face first. Textbook boarding… wait? Holding? Are you fucking serious? What the fuck ever. No adjustment.
The Wings’ 2nd unit gets the puck off an offensive zone faceoff late in the power play. Filppula gets it on the boards and plays catch with White a few times looking for a good pass. Finally, they get the play setup in what looks an awful lot like the setup that gave Calgary their PP goal. The passing between White and Flip has drawn Moss too far to the wing to defend White, so Kostopoulos has to move into the center lane to prevent the shot that White fakes with a windup. Meanwhile, Kronwall has snuck low into the faceoff dot to set up for the one-timer that he delivers off White’s stick. Kronner shoots for the five-hole as Kiprusoff moves across. The Flames’ goalie is able to get his stick on it to deflect it up, but Cleary has crashed the crease and the puck bounces off him and in. Filppula will pick up an assist (third) on this play for helping with the setup.
3rd Period 08:39 – Calgary Goal: Jarome Iginla (snap shot) from Curtis Glencross
A very good offensive zone shift by Bertuzzi, Cleary, and Zetterberg ends right after Cleary gets a good chance down low which ends up getting swept out to start Glencross and Iginla the other way with speed. Both d-men are back and in position here. Glencross gains the zone with the puck and crosses with Iginla to get him a little deeper. He’s cut off and tries a hard short-side shot which Howard blocks. Stuart keeps Iginla off the rebound by sweeping it to the corner. Here, communication completely breaks down on the breakout when both Bertuzzi and Kronwall skate past the puck and allow Glencross to pick it up unimpeded. From here, it’s an easy cross-ice pass to Iginla for the quick snap past a sprawling Howard. The miscommunication will earn both Bertuzzi and Kronwall an extra minus for the turnover. Howard will be forgiven for this goal, and I’ll clear the minuses of Stuart, Franzen, and Zetterberg.
Penalty Adjustment: 9:23 into the period, Curtis Glencross goes to the box for giving Abdelkader a hard chop to the back of the legs. I still don’t know precisely what Abby did to make Glencross retaliate, but I’m going to consider it a drawn penalty, since it doesn’t just come out of the blue. Abelkader will get a plus.
3rd Period 18:41 – Calgary Goal (PP, EN): Olli Jokinen (wrist shot) from Jarome Iginla and Mark Giordano
The Penalty – Darren Helm (tripping): Helm shoots it on net, gets badly interfered with by Hannan while trying to recover and then gets sent to the box when Giordano feels a stick touch his hip and falls down. No adjustment on this play.
The Wings are short-handed, but still pull the goalie trying to close the gap. The plan works well for the first 30 seconds or so, but eventually breaks down when Kronwall sneaks in and has a shot blocked, sending Jokinen and Iginla the other way in almost a two-on-one. Iginla (who has two goals) goes to Jokinen at center ice. Kronwall is hustling back, but he’s not there yet. Still, instead of trying to feed it back to Iggy for the hat trick, Jokinen shoots from the center red line into the empty net just to prove what a dick he is. I’ll let the PKers keep their minuses, but I’m not going to give additional adjustments on this play.
Penalty Non-Adjustments:
1st Period 7:52 – Cory Sarich (hooking): There simply wasn’t a hook on this play.
2nd Period 19:49 – Niklas Kronwall (hooking): Horrible call. No adjustment.
Bonus Ratings
No bonus ratings in this one. Even with the great Hudler-Helm-Abdelkader shift, I don’t feel any player really stood out enough from his teammates good or bad. It was kind of a big grey blob of crap.
[Edit: -1 for Zetterberg for his absolutely horrible job in the faceoff dot]
Click on a column header to sort by that stat. Shift+click will create secondary sorts.
Use the drop-down at the top to toggle between points adjustments, plus/minus adjustments, and goalie adjustments
Be sure to check out HockeyCSSI.com for even more.
