CSSI Analysis: Red Wings 3 – Canadiens 5

Hey the Red Wings came back from a 3-0 deficit and then lost anyway. That makes me mad.

The refs were bad, but so was the Detroit defense. I’m going to blame the second thing. Detroit went 2/5 on the power play and Montreal 0/3. The Wings outshot the Habs 37-26.

CSSI Methodology Explanation here

Box score here

Goaltending

Jonas Gustavsson made one really incredible save.

The Goals

1st Period 14:16 – Montreal Goal: Michael Bournival (wrist shot) from Ryan White
Montreal catches the Wings on a bit of a slow defensive change and ends up getting an easy rebound goal. Kindl isn’t paying attention to the Habs bench when his pass to Franzen gets picked off. Bournival turns it quickly to White heading up ice against a defensive change for the Wings. Quincey gets over to try and prevent White from being able to cut in front, which he does, but Gustavsson chases all the way over and is still moving to that side when White throws a soft backhand at the far post that Gustavsson kicks straight to Bournival following up the play. I’m going to give Kindl the minus he deserves for turning the puck over badly here. Quincey gives a good effort on a bad situation, but he misjudges the angle and misses, so he’ll keep his minus. DeKeyser will have his minus halved. As the play develops, he has to come over and watch Briere, but the puck does go by him. Legwand and Nyquist will each receive an extra minus. Both have to recognize this play better and either should be pushing back harder to prevent the Bournival chance. Franzen will also pull a half-minus. He’s got a chance to stop the turnover to Bournival with a stick-lift and instead is caught by surprise.

2nd Period 08:52 – Montreal Goal: Max Pacioretty (wrist shot) from Mike Weaver
The Wings get overzealous trying to crash low in the Montreal goal and Pacioretty burns them with a breakaway goal. Alfredsson gains the zone and pushes a puck to the side of the net where a scramble for a goal ends when it bounces out past Abdelkader fully in the crease and is pushed up ice by Mike Weaver. Kronwall is at the top of the circle pinching in and he can’t get his stick on the Weaver clear going right by him. Kronner turns to chase, but Pacioretty is already on his horse and blows by Kronner by the time they reach the blue line. Lashoff is the last man back, but by the time he gets to the puck on the angle he takes, all he can do is try to sweep at it. Pacioretty pushes it forward to prevent this and now has all the speed he needs to get around Lashoff, who tries a diving sweep-check but fails. All that’s left is for the Habs’ scorer to pull it across Gustavsson and toss it into the net. I’m going to clear Datsyuk and Alfredsson, but not Abdelkader. While Abby is victimized by bad play from his defensemen, he’s really only pushing people into the goal, which very likely negates anything the Wings can achieve putting it in. Kronwall and Lashoff will each pull a minus and a half. Kronner is not in position to be pinching this low (and failing to keep the clearing attempt in) and Lashoff’s angle is stupid.

2nd Period 13:35 – Montreal Goal: Brian Gionta (wrist shot) from Lars Eller and Jarred Tinordi
Detroit falls behind 3-0 on a bad defensive play covering an intentionally wide shot which gives Gionta a goal from the doorstep. The Habs get a faceoff in the Detroit zone thanks to an icing on a play where Glendening simply whiffs on a pass from Quincey. On the faceoff, the puck stays loose as Gionta takes up position on Quincey to allow Bourque to get to the loose puck. After a bit of cycling for Montreal in the zone which culminates in a Bourque one-timer from high in the zone that’s blocked wide, Darren Helm gets to a loose puck at the half-wall and instead of clearing, gets fancy with the puck and allows Eller to get over on him from the net-front position. Helm turns the puck over to Bourque, who quickly feeds it to the far point to break the pressure. Tinordi gets the pass and walks to the top of the circle before firing a low wrister wide. The puck comes out the other end where Eller is just crossing by the far post with Glendening trailing him. Instead of trying to take control, Eller just redirects the puck to the front where it finds Gionta all alone for the goal. Nobody is getting cleared on this shitshow (although Miller and Quincey are the closest to getting that honor). Glendening missing the pass that creates the icing is bad. Glendening not winning the faceoff is bad. Glendening not properly covering Eller on the far post is bad. These three mistakes will combine to earn Glendening two minuses. Helm will get a minus and a half for the turnover along the boards when he has a chance to clear it. Quincey’s only error on this play is on the faceoff where Gionta shields him to allow Bourque to take it. Q will keep his minus, but on the Tinordi shot, he’s trapped up high because he has to make up for there being no forwards nearby to watch this point man. The player who should be there is Miller, but he’s had to come over to cover up for Helm fucking around with the puck for too long. Finally, DeKeyser gets far too aggressive tying up Gionta on the Tinordi shot and is completely out of position when the puck goes wide and Gionta rolls off that coverage to find himself alone in front. DeKeyser will get a minus.

3rd Period 05:11 – Detroit Goal (PP): Pavel Datsyuk (wrist shot) from Niklas Kronwall
Detroit breaks the shutout on a Datsyukian power play goal. The 2nd unit fails for the first minute, creating a change that gets the top guys out there. Detroit gains the zone as Datsyuk and Franzen combine for the overloaded board give-and-go entry which gets Datsyuk the puck on the outside of the dot. Pavs is driven back by Markov, but the entry gives room for him to go to Kronner up top and for the Wings to get set up. After a bit of movement around the top of the zone and a quick test of the box’s edge by Datsyuk, they get set up for a one-timer from the right point by Kronwall that’s aimed for Legwand to deflect. The puck ends up missing just wide on the far side, but it bounces off the end boards right to Datsyuk standing at the bottom of the circle. Price can’t get back in time and Datsyuk scores. This is a good zone setup and entry. No adjustment for doing it the way it should be done.

3rd Period 05:47 – Detroit Goal: Luke Glendening (black magic) from Justin Abdelkader and Drew Miller
Holy shit, Glendening scored. On the post-goal faceoff, Glendening ties it up, Abdelkader steps in front of a guy, and Miller steps in to get it deep so they can establish the forecheck. After one successful iteration of keeping it in, Montreal forces another board battle at the half-wall in which they finally get a clear as Desharnais picks off a Smith backhanded dump attempt and tries to turn up ice. Glendening dogs him from behind as Miller comes over to get into his outlet lane to Pacioretty as he crosses the blue line. Miller blocks the pass attempt just outside the zone and is turning it back in when Emelin steps up on him. Miller is able to jab it past the defenseman where Abdelkader is the first man on it having completed the turn to put himself back onside. Subban is back for the 2-on-1 that develops as Abby pushes up the boards and Glendening drives the center, but Abdelkader waits for the D-man to lay out and then throws a pass around him that Glendening puts into the back door for his first NHL goal. This is good defensive work to turn the puck back over quickly by Glendening and Miller, who will each earn a plus. Abdelader will also get a plus. The push around behind the defense and the patience to wait out the defender is a very good play.

3rd Period 10:44 – Detroit Goal (PP): Niklas Kronwall (slap shot) from Johan Franzen and Gustav Nyquist
The Wings tie it on the power play with a blast from the point through a screen which is something I like to see that I don’t see as often as I’d like to see. See? The Wings win the offensive zone draw to start the power play thanks to Datsyuk and Legwand, then spend the next 1:02 moving the puck very well around and creating chances. I’m not going to narrate the entire thing, but Datsyuk mostly quarterbacks it while Legwand does well to win a couple battles where the Habs could have otherwise cleared. Eventually, they get it back to the top of the zone where Nyquist passes up a one-time shot opportunity, going back to Kronwall, who goes back to Nyquist, who drops it back for Franzen, who passes over to Kronwall, who drags it from the left point to the middle before blasting it through a Legwand screen and in. If that last sentence felt like a hell of a run-on, know that it covered the last 14 seconds of the power play before the goal. I’m going to give Datsyuk and Legwand each a half-plus for their hard work in puck retrieval on the play. Legwand will also get a screener’s assist.

3rd Period 13:13 – Montreal Goal: Brian Gionta (wrist shot) from Lars Eller and Alexei Emelin
Detroit gives up the game-winner on a bad defensive play followed by a terrible defensive play that lets the Habs into the zone. Datsyuk nearly beats two Habs cleanly at the bottom of the circle, but loses the puck to the front of the net where Emelin quickly shoves it to the corner. Eller gets there first and, with Abdelkader bearing down, flies a Murphy-dump high out of the zone. The puck bounces just in front of Gionta at the Detroit blue line watched by Lashoff. As Gionta turns around to grab the puck, he crosses into the zone backwards and then collects it. The linesman calls this play onside and Lashoff has to release Gionta, who is floating to the half-wall because Rene Bourque is driving the center lane. Kindl comes back behind the play to keep Gionta from getting any farther inside than the dot, but he’s not back quickly enough to get his stick on the Gionta shot attempt that’s timed perfectly with Bourque’s arrival at the net. Gustavsson plays the shot with a simple butterfly kick, but he ends up pushing it off his far leg pad directly onto Lashoff and the puck bounces into the net. I’m going to clear Datsyuk, Franzen, and Abdelkader. Kindl is perhaps a bit slow, but he does his job on forcing an outside shot, so he’ll only keep his minus. Lashoff waits to watch Gionta after the zone entry instead of backing off immediately to the net-front and establishing a position that could have prevented this. Lashoff will get a minus. On a goaltending note, I don’t like how Gustavsson played this either. I don’t think Gionta’s shot is very dangerous and I’d like to see him either eat this rebound or play it to a spot other than “that place where both those assholes are crashing into my crease.”

3rd Period 15:40 – Montreal Goal: Alex Galchenyuk (punch in) from Tomas Plekanec and Brendan Gallagher
The partner of the D-man who fucked up the previous play determines it’s his turn and the Habs get the dagger goal from it. The Habs get it out on a bit of a lucky bounce in the corner of their own zone which gets them up ice in a 3-on-2 rush (Sheahan is assuming a play back around the boards and gives up the up-ice coverage because the Wings are down by a goal late in the third and they have to take a few more chances). Plekanec crosses the blue line in the middle flanked by Galchenyuk on the left and Gallagher on the right. Lashoff and Kindl are backing across the line with Miller pushing back to even up the numbers as the play drifts to the left side. Plekanec hits the interior top of the left circle and tries to go to Galchenyuk keeping speed up the wing, but the puck misses and bounces back behind the net. Here, Gallagher uses the advantage of the rush to cut across and get between Lashoff and the puck as it slides out to the far side. Plekanec stops up and lets the mass of bodies that is Gallagher, Miller, and Lashoff pass before heading through to collect the puck and turn back in on the right corner. Sheahan (correctly) leaves the net-front to meet him, but he gets to the bottom of the circle before Sheahan can get there and he releases a wrister that hits Galchenyuk standing in the crease before bouncing into the net. I’m not going to clear anybody on this play. I think Tatar is a bit slow in the offensive zone and that allows the puck to bounce free for the odd-man. Sheahan will keep his for roughly the same problem getting out to meet Plekanec coming out of the corner. Lashoff will keep his for coasting to the boards and allowing Gallagher to disrupt his path to a puck he should have gotten to. Miller keeps his for also letting that puck get by him. Kindl will earn the extra minus here. He does all the stuff that Lashoff and Miller do wrong, but with the added screwup of letting Galchenyuk get into the crease and simply trapping him in there to be the goal-scoring pylon. Kindl needs to release quicker and get to that far post to deny Galchenyuk that space.

Penalty Adjustments

1st Period 02:21 – Danny Briere (tripping): Brendan Smith is chasing into a puck in the corner when he gets his skate poked out from under him in a sneaky dirty play by Briere. No adjustment. Smith is just doing his job.
1st Period 08:03 – Brendan Smith (cross checking): Smith loses the puck in his own zone after being held and gets a cross-checking call some time later for pushing a guy. No adjustment. This is a bad call.
1st Period 16:32 – Luke Glendening (hooking): The Habs again simply grab a Red Wings’ defenseman (this time DeKeyser) until they’re allowed to get offensive pressure. In response, Gledening interferes with Vanek crashing the net. Vanek responds by flopping like a fish and Glendening goes to the box. No adjustment. This is embarrassing.
1st Period 19:20 – Jakub Kindl (tripping): Rene Bourque turns the corner on Kindl, who pushes him down. Kindl somehow goes for tripping. This is a bad call for a good reason. Kindl doesn’t play this effectively and makes it easy for the refs to make a shitty call. Half-minus for Kindl.

2nd Period 03:57 – Rene Bourque (slashing): Sheahan is trying to avoid Bourque who is forechecking and gets a slash in the hand that stings him badly. Not a drawn call. No adjustment.
2nd Period 05:26 – Tomas Plekanec (tripping): Plekanec trips Franzen a few times on the PK, finally earning a trip to the box on the third one (which is the weakest of them). Franzen will get a plus.

3rd Period 04:45 – Ryan White (high sticking): Helm comes around White unexpectedly and gets a high stick when he surprises his man. Helm will get a plus. This is a good play by Helm to catch a guy from an unexpected angle.
3rd Period 09:41 – Francis Bouillon (hooking): Riley Sheahan threatens to blow around the defender in the Montreal zone and gets hooked. Sheahan will get a plus.
3rd Period 18:55 – Tomas Jurco (slashing) and Alexei Emelin (high sticking): Meaningless matching minors late. No adjustment.

Bonus Ratings

-1 to Brendan Smith: None of the defensemen were good enough to end this game as an overall plus. Smith got a ton of sheltered starts and didn’t create any offense.
-1 to Pavel Datsyuk: Pavs did not have a strong game. He fell down a lot and turned the puck over. The goal was a nice touch, but he did not look good.

Honorable Mentions:

Firefighters are cool.

Current Game Chart

Season Totals Chart

Screener’s Assist Totals