CSSI Analysis: Red Wings 2 – Avalanche 3 (OT)

Hey, sorry about the delay on this one. I…uhhh. Well I was busy that night.

CSSI Methodology Explanation here

Box score here

Goaltending

Jimmy Howard made a few big saves in this game, but overall I’d liked to have seen him play better.

The Goals

1st Period 12:33 – Detroit Goal: Niklas Kronwall (backhand) from Joakim Andersson and Jonathan Ericsson
Detroit gets the first goal off a rush and great jump-in by Kronwall leads to a beautiful backhanded roof shot on the short side against Giguere. Play starts on a faceoff in the Wings’ zone as Andersson wins the faceoff back to Ericsson, who takes it behind the net and outlets to Kronwall starting up ice on the other side. The forwards set up a lane along the left wing for Kronwall as Miller takes the far blue line, Bertuzzi ties up his man right in front of Kronwall and Andersson drags the other edge of the 1-2-2 box just far enough out for Kronner to gain the center stripe. From here, Kronner takes it from the left wing side to the middle and passes off to Andersson, who is in front of him and now set up on the outside of the trapping box gliding to the Colorado blue line. This move draws Holden over to the boards on Kronwall as Barrie moves to the middle to shadow Kronwall continuing his rush. Just before being pinched off, Andersson completes the give-and-go for Kronwall to receive the pass just inside the faceoff dot to Giguere’s left. With just one touch, Kronner roofs it on the backhand to the far side top corner. This is a great setup off the faceoff win on the rush. Andersson will get a plus for winning the puck and then doing the work to stretch the defense through center. Kronwall will get a half-plus for his move on this rush.

2nd Period 10:11 – Colorado Goal: Matt Duchene (wrist shot) from Erik Johnson and Ryan O’Reilly
The Avs tie it on a beneficial rush given to them by an ignored penalty in front of their own goal. Nyquist gets a good chance at an open net, but is held up to prevent the scoring chance. Legwand gets it and throws it back out front for Franzen, but his shot is blocked and the Avs go the other way. Ryan O’Reilly has a puck bounce off his skate into center and is just barely able to beat Ericsson to it at center when he pokes it to Johnson on the left wing side joining the rush. Kronwall gets over to watch him, but Johnson gets to the faceoff circle and fires a shot that bounces off Kronwall’s skate and hits the end boards, bouncing back directly out front where it hits Howard and bounces straight to Duchene crashing the net for the goal. It’s unfortunate for both Kronwall and Ericsson how the slightest luck goes against them (the puck not bouncing far enough for Ericsson and careening oddly off Kronwall’s skate). Both will keep their minuses though. Nyquist and Legwand are pushing back and are not involved in this play. Both will be cleared. Franzen is shadowing Duchene and doesn’t tie up his man’s stick, instead trying to anticipate a bounce that doesn’t come to him. This will earn Franzen a coverage minus.

2nd Period 12:10 – Detroit Goal (PP): Tomas Jurco (wrist shot) from Riley Sheahan and Danny Dekeyser
The Wings retake the lead on the power play as Jurco finds a rebound gift on the doorstep and flips it in. With just 24 seconds left in the power play, DeKeyser dumps it in the left side from center to set up the in-zone play. Sheahan races in to get inside position on Pouliot trying to cut him off, pushing the puck back the other way as Legwand also crashes in behind the net. The puck takes a funny bounce off a partition behind the net and rolls in front to Giguere’s left. Legwand ties up Benoit’s stick and Sheahan jams it to the far side of the crease where Jurco slams it in. No adjustment. There’s good luck involved in this play that has as much to do with the good work from Sheahan and Legwand to take advantage of such a fortuitous bounce.

3rd Period 05:49 – Colorado Goal: PA Parenteau (backhand) from Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly
The Wings get caught standing around to start the third and end up giving up the tying goal. Colorado dumps it behind the net after taking control on a scrambled faceoff. Franzen gets to it first in the corner, but O’Reilly keeps him from getting it out of the corner. Quincey comes in to help. but so does Duchene. O’Reilly kicks it to Duchene, who holds Franzen off as he skates from the corner around behind the net before turning and throwing it at the front of the net where Parenteau battles DeKeyser. As the puck comes out front, Howard loses his stick after getting the handle caught by Franzen’s skate. The loose puck bounces to Parenteau, and his momentum carries him the opposite way of Howard’s slide to square to where he just was. This leaves the net open for an easy backhand goal. Nyquist will be cleared as he’s watching his lane the whole time. Legwand keeps his on the faceoff. Quincey and DeKeyser will each earn a minus for losing battles on this sequence (Q in the corner and DeKeyser in front). Franzen will get a minus for the turnover to O’Reilly and another half-minus for letting Duchene make this pass out front.

Overtime 04:28 – Colorado Goal: Andre Benoit (snap shot) from Nathan MacKinnon and Erik Johnson
Benoit finishes the game as he’s left completely alone on the back door and receives the pass to finish it off. Tatar gets a pass intercepted after entering the Colorado zone, allowing MacKinnon to skate the other way and fire a shot wide. O’Reilly gets to the puck first along the boards and is cut off, so he dumps it low to the corner where Erik Johnson steps into it first before DeKeyser can get to him. From here, Johnson throws it weakly on net. Howard paddles it behind the net where MacKinnon picks it up and has room to turn and face up ice before Ericsson can get in to challenge him. While everybody watches MacKinnon, he throws it to the back door where Benoit cuts in and one-times it into the goal for the game-winner. DeKeyser will have his minus halved. He has a long way to go from the net-front to Johnson in the corner, but I’d like to see him force the play directly to MacKinnon. Tatar will get a turnover minus for the bad zone entry pass. Ericsson will also have his minus halved. He’s watching O’Reilly up the boards and is caught in a switch-over as MacKinnon gets the room. Tatar really should commit to how low he already is and challenge MacKinnon. Failing to do so will earn Tatar another half-minus. Sheahan recognizes that this is a bad time for Tatar and Ericsson to switch back to their natural positions, but is too busy telling them to do that instead of watching Benoit cut through his lane. This will earn Sheahan a minus.

Penalty Adjustments

1st Period 14:40 – Brian Lashoff (hooking): Abdelkader gets cut off at his own blue line on a breakout and passes back to Lashoff in the middle. Lasher mishandles the puck and falls down. By the time he gets back up, Mitchell has position on him with a chance to make a move on the goal. To stop this, Lashoff hooks his man and goes to the box for it. This will earn Lashoff a minus.

2nd Period 10:27 – Nick Holden (tripping): On the very next shift after the first Colorado goal, Holden gets himself sent to the box for stepping into Tomas Jurco’s path after a zone entry shot which brings the young Slovak down. It’s good hustle, but this is more on Holden being dumb. Jurco will get only a half-plus.

Overtime 00:55 – Niklas Kronwall (holding): Franzen gets too fancy with the puck in the offensive zone and has it stolen by Duchene, who turns on the jets to get around Kronwall before knocking the defender’s stick out of his hands while protecting the puck. Kronwall gets a holding penalty because it very much looks like a stickless defender is grabbing on (he isn’t, but whatever). Kronwall and Franzen will each get a minus. Mule can’t turn the puck over here and Kronwall can’t get caught like this, especially losing his stick.
Overtime 02:03 – Paul Stastny (tripping): On the power play, Paul Stastny mishandles a pass down low and the puck gets to the boards. Lashoff recognizes this quickly and jumps aggressively after Stastny to tie him up, doing a good job of it. As the play develops, Ericsson comes in to help, doing his job as Landeskog skates into Ericsson and falls down, bringing Stastny down with him and allowing Lashoff to pull the puck out and head away from the scrum. Stastny responds by pulling Lashoff down. Lashoff will get a plus for this great work while Ericsson will earn a half-plus.

Bonus Ratings

+1 to Riley Sheahan, Tomas Jurco, and Tomas Tatar: The Kid Line was the most-entertaining and dangerous line for the Wings in this game and it showed. Unfortunate that two got caught on the OT winner and both ended up overall minuses because of it, but they were better than that number.
-1 to Joakim Andersson: On the other side of the coin, Andersson was not as good as his overall adjustments hinted. He did not battle effectively on the boards and I think that drags him down to where his linemates Miller and Bertuzzi ended up.
+1 to Kyle Quincey: He played well defensively in this game and I think he was actually a benefit to the Kid Line in front of him. His mistake on the Parenteau goal will keep him at -1, but I thought he mostly did a good job.
+1.5 to Danny DeKeyser: Quincey’s partner gets the same treatment. He made a few mistakes, but overall held his positioning well and moved it to the forwards effectively.

Honorable Mentions:

I didn’t realize how much Franzen struggled in this game until I re-watched it. Woof.

Current Game Chart

Season Totals Chart

Screener’s Assist Totals