Hahahaha noooope.
I like how the refs grabbed control of this game by giving Vinny Prospal a misconduct for being mean to Justin Abdelkader by pointing at the scoreboard. That’ll teach ’em!
CSSI Methodology Explanation here
Goalie Ratings
Gustavsson isn’t the reason the Wings lost this game, but he’ll earn a -1 in the head-to-head for obvious reasons and will get a -1 overall for 60 minutes of shaky overall play. He made a few big saves, but the majority of those were of his own doing, as he consistently got in trouble playing far too aggressively on angles and being forced to race post to post to make up for it.
The Goals
1st Period 13:46 – Columbus Goal: Cam Atkinson (wrist shot) from Matt Calvert
The Columbus forecheck is too much for Detroit to handle, as Calvert intercepts a bad Niklas Kronwall pass and gets it out front for Atkinson to put home. Kronwall will get a turnover minus. I’m going to clear everybody else’s minuses here: Ericsson, Andersson, Eaves, and Tatar. Nobody is supposed to be picking up Atkinson because Kronwall isn’t supposed to turn that puck over. Kronwall has Eaves up the boards and instead he gets cute with an attempted pass back across the direction of the forecheck.
2nd Period 05:12 – Columbus Goal (PP): Jack Johnson (slap shot) from Derick Brassard and RJ Umberger
The Datsyuk penalty to set this up is a bad call, as the replay shows the puck was deflected out of play. Johnson steps into one and proves that you actually can score on a power play in this game. The problem here lies in the Jackets gaining the zone cleanly. This is caused when Franzen forces Columbus to cycle back in the neutral zone and then Zetterberg lets Brassard off the hook by not challenging him and then not blocking his pass to Umberger (Lashoff has Umberger and the middle covered if Z wants to be aggressive). The problem is compounded when Franzen crosses over behind Z to his side of the ice and doesn’t prevent the Umberger pass back to Brassard in the middle. The final nail in the coffin comes when Johnson steps to the top of the circle and gets his shot off. If Z is hustling to cover here, he might get to Johnson, but he isn’t (Quincey has to respect Brassard while Lashoff is fighting at net-front). Franzen will get a half-minus here and Zetterberg will get a full minus.
2nd Period 06:35 – Columbus Goal: Nick Foligno (wrist shot) from Ryan Johansen
Another turnover and Johansen gets to a puck to toss it out front for Foligno to beat Gustavsson. Kyle Quincey is the biggest bad guy here with a simply awful turnover to kick the puck to Johansen. Quincey will get a turnover minus. I’m also going to give Smith an extra half-minus on the coverage. He gets caught deep on an offensive chance which turns the Columbus zone entry into a 2-on-1 to start this play. Brunner is providing an up-ice outlet on the strong side and will have his minus cleared. Franzen is doing the winger’s job on the breakout on the weak side and will also be cleared. Zetterberg will not be cleared as he takes too long to provide the third outlet option by skating to the middle. I’m not convinced it makes a difference, but if Z is hustling to the middle, he might get to Foligno at about the same time the puck does. Z will keep his minus.
Penalty Adjustments (pluses and minuses only)
1st Period 07:33 – Jordin Tootoo (high-sticking): Tootoo is careless on the forecheck with a play he should make with his body instead of his stick. Minus for Tootoo on the high-sticking.
2nd Period 08:50 – Jonathan Ericsson (holding): Ericsson grabs his guy behind the net and is strong enough to spin him around three times. Whatever on not calling the dive (foreshadowing!), but Ericsson deserves a half-minus.
2nd Period 14:23 – Brendan Smith (holding): They should cut this one, print it, and put it in the rulebook as the standard. What a dumb play by Smith, who gets a minus.
2nd Period 17:39 – Justin Abdelkader (diving) and Adrian Aucoin (holding): The overall adjustment is going to be neutral, but I’m giving Abdelkader a plus for drawing it and a minus for embellishing it.
3rd Period 02:14 – Brian Lashoff (boarding): Probably best not to board people, Lashoff. Minus.
3rd Period 13:34 – Vinny Prospal (misconduct, unsportsmanlike): Hahaha just kidding. No adjustment. Wouldn’t that be dumb though?
3rd Period 14:06 – Damien Brunner (interference): That awkward moment when you skate into a guy’s legs to keep him from getting a scoring chance and then he still gets a scoring chance. Minus for Brunner.
Bonus Ratings
-1.5 to Johan Franzen: Did you know that among Red Wings‘ forwards, only Datsyuk and Zetterberg had more ES ice time than Franzen? I didn’t until the boxscore told me so. Then, the game’s corsi numbers (-4) told me why.
-1 to Pavel Datsyuk: At this point it’s basically lucky that he didn’t end up with an official minus. Datsyuk was trying too hard. I know the teammates argument works, but Pavs did not play well in this game.
-0.5 to Danny Cleary and Justin Abdelkader: Neither had it today. Cleary didn’t do much to create chances and didn’t do much defensively either. Abdelkader got a chance to make two lines’ worth of offense disappear.
Honorable Mentions:
Nope.
