The Red Wings lost on the road to the surging Blackhawks in a game that probably didn’t have much business being so close. The Blackhawks thoroughly outskated Detroit and created many more high-quality scoring chances on their way to a 2-1 victory.
Both teams got three power plays and probably got away with the same level of crap. I don’t feel that the refs had a negative effect, keeping the game flowing much better than the Wings did. Detroit did get a goal on their three chances and held the Blackhawks scoreless on their chances. Detroit outshot Chicago 32-29, but that doesn’t tell the story of scoring chances.
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Goalie Ratings
Jimmy Howard absolutely played better than Corey Crawford. Despite Crawford seeing more shots and having to make a handful of great saves himself, Howard was much more severely tested. To go along with the +1 in the head-to-head, Howard will get a +2 in the overall rating. This game could have very well been 4-1 or 5-1 if not for the goalie. Jimmy Howard was the reason the Wings had a chance to come back.
Scoring and plus/minus analysis after the jump
The Goals
1st Period 02:22 – Detroit Goal (PP): Valtteri Filppula (wrist shot) from Jakub Kindl and Jiri Hudler
The Penalty – Marcus Kruger (tripping): The Wings and Hawks are in a board battle at the top of the Detroit zone early in the game. Chicago comes away with the puck, but Kruger gets his stick tied up in the feet of Helm as they all separate. Not a drawn penalty, so no adjustment
Detroit gets on the board with a snipe from an unlikely source. Detroit gains the zone with 1:02 remaining in the power play and finally scores with 00:11 left on it. During this zone time, much of the cycling is done via the movement of Valtteri Filppula, but every player on the shift (Kindl, White, Hudler, Filppula, Bertuzzi) touches the puck at least once. Bertuzzi actually only does touch it once as he’s mostly playing the net-front. The goal finally comes as a shot from Hudler at the point bounces to Filppula in the corner. Flip goes back to Kindl up top as the PKers reset and he follows up his pass a bit, moving to the top of the circle. Kindl goes to the center of the ice, which clears room for Flip to receive the pass back and step toward the middle on the second level (again, at the top of the circle). Flip wrists a shot just before he hits the middle and it sneaks in past Crawford. Filppula will get a self-assist on this play. Ian White will also pull a half-plus. About midway through this zone time, White makes a good play to keep the puck in the zone and keep the cycle moving.
Penalty Adjustment: 6:09 into the first, Tomas Holmstrom goes off as he’s forechecking in the Chicago zone and gets his stick into the feet of Nick Leddy, bringing him down in the process. The trip for Homer will earn him a minus.
Penalty Adjustment: 3:15 into the 2nd period, with the Wings reeling a bit after an icing, a feed from Emmerton frees up Jan Mursak with a chance to split the defense with his speed. Mursak is in the process of doing exactly this when Brendan Morrison slashes his stick out of his hands. Mursak will earn a plus.
2nd Period 07:45 – Chicago Goal: Jimmy Hayes (wrist shot) from Bryan Bickell and Duncan Keith
The Wings get caught chasing in their own zone and Chicago makes them pay. Jimmy Hayes gets the puck into the zone on a long pass after the Wings narrowly avoid an icing to make a line change. The puck hits a stanchion and takes a funny hop, which almost results in a Hayes backhand goal in front of the net as he catches Johan Franzen off guard. Kronwall clears the rebound up the boards, but Duncan Keith pinches in to keep it in and spins away from Jiri Hudler to make room at the point. Keith goes to Seabrook at the opposite point before receiving the pass back. From here, the former Norris-winner throws a wrist shot at the traffic in front. Bryan Bickell gets his stick on the puck as it comes and forces a funny bounce in on Howard. Jimmy gets most of it, but leaves the puck lying in the crease behind him where Hayes pokes it in to tie the game. The only minus I’m going to clear here is Filppula’s, as the only time the puck comes near his area of responsibility is the Seabrook pass and he’s doing a good job blocking a shooting lane from there. I am going to give Kronwall an extra half-minus. Hayes is his responsibility and Kronner kind of loses him here to a garden-variety spin move.
Penalty Adjustment (x2): A plus and a minus for Darren Helm here. The first one is him tearing in on a partial break only to be grabbed by Brent Seabrook to prevent a scoring chance. The second is him tripping Marian Hossa at the end of a long shift in the Detroit zone.
3rd Period 01:53 – Chicago Goal: Marcus Kruger (wrist shot) from Andrew Brunette and Jimmy Hayes
Chicago gets the game-winner on more of the same work they’ve been putting in all game. The Hawks take the puck from Valtteri Filppula in front of their own net and turn it up ice. Jimmy Hayes enters the zone by passing it around White and bowling in to get to it. Ericsson gets over to play it to the boards, but Kruger steps up on Miller to start a six-man board battle which ends when Hayes, Brunette, and Kruger beat Miller, White, and Cleary for the puck along the wall. Hayes comes out of the scrum with a step on white and the puck on his stick. White smartly takes an angle in front of the net to meet Hayes coming out the other side. This prevents a wrap-around attempt, but doesn’t stop Hayes from passing it off to Marcus Kruger right in front with good body position on Cleary. Kruger doesn’t get a clean shot at the net, but it gets far enough to get to Andrew Brunette’s stick. Brunette directs it behind Howard on a trajectory which would leave it just wide. Fortunately for the Hawks, Kruger follows up and is able to jam it home. Darren Helm will be the only one cleared, as his responsibility remains high. Cleary and Miller will each earn an extra minus for losing both the board battle and positioning on Kruger and Brunette. White and Ericsson will earn half-minuses for their positioning issues.
Penalty Non-Adjustments
1st Period 12:30 – Jiri Hudler (interference): Incidental contact between Hudler and Patrick Kane leads to the Chicago brat flopping and getting a call. No adjustment.
Bonus Ratings
-1 to Ian White and Jonathan Ericsson: Both players had absolutely brutal turnovers leading to great Chicago scoring chances. They were just not sharp.
+1 to Brad Stuart: The lone Detroit defenseman who I thought had more decent plays than bad ones. Stuie was smart and aggressive most of the game.
-1 to Drew Miller: Miller struggled in this one with turnovers in all three zones. Not a good effort out of him.
-1 to Danny Cleary: I know he was rushed back a little sooner than he probably should have, but Cleary was awful in this game. He did not have much jump.
Honorable Mentions:
It’s hard not to place blame on just about everybody. The Wings just weren’t in synch.
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