I wrote the recap for this one, so all of my collected thoughts on it are there.
CSSI Methodology Explanation here
Goalie Ratings
Jimmy Howard lost the head-to-head and will be -2 overall. Howard was only called upon to make 17 saves and he only provided the team with 14. His rebound control was good as was his scrambling, but twice the puck ended up behind him because he left his net to make a play and didn’t do well enough to mind his own net.
The Goals
1st Period 13:28 – Calgary Goal: Lee Stempniak (wrist shot) from Cory Sarich and Sven Baertschi
The Flames throw four guys forward into a rush to catch two of the Wings’ forwards in the zone. After drawing Kindl to the half-boards, they feed it twice before it gets to Sarich’s stick in a scoring area. The pass isn’t perfect, but Sarich has time to collect and shoot. Howard makes the save, but Stempniak is right there for the rebound. Kindl is going to get a coverage minus on this. He can’t let Stempniak be the first to the post to pick up this rebound. Abdelkader will get a half-minus for getting knocked on his ass in the offensive zone for trying to get cute with the puck instead of using the body. Datsyuk will pick up a coverage minus for not driving back harder on what became an odd-man. Kronwall will have his minus halved. He’s doing a lot of work to prevent an even easier goal than the one which was scored.
2nd Period 12:31 – Detroit Goal: Gustav Nyquist (slap shot) from Joakim Andersson and Daniel Cleary
The Wings pull even as good forechecking work frees Andersson with the puck in the corner and he fires a laser pass to Nyquist on the back door for the one-timer. Cleary will pick up a bonus plus here. He steps up on a guy in the neutral zone to create a turnover which leads the Wings into the zone with possession and then he does good work in tying up the lane behind the net to give Andersson room in the corner.
3rd Period 02:28 – Calgary Goal: Steve Begin (stupidity) unassisted
The Wings find themselves behind again on just some awful luck and a loss of focus, as Ericsson doesn’t play it cleanly behind the net and Begin pokes it into Howard’s skates. Howard does the rest by kicking it into his own net. I’m going to call this a bad goal because Howard kicks it in as he’s not really paying attention. Minuses for Ericsson, Eaves, Miller, Emmerton, and Kronwall cleared. Ericsson will get his minus back plus an extra half for the turnover. Just a lack of focus on this play rewards a guy for hustling.
3rd Period 12:53 – Calgary Goal (SH): Steve Begin (backhand) from Roman Horak
Calgary gets what will be the game-winner as Detroit is on the power play. The puck gets past Brunner at the point and slides slowly enough from the unplayable zone to give Begin time to pressure Howard, who is too busy getting angry with his defense for expecting him to get to the puck cleanly to notice the puck getting by him. Begin picks up the loose puck in the trapezoid and and puts it into the open net while Howard stands there upset about the whole thing. This is another bad goal. By rule, minuses are cleared for Datsyuk, Quincey, Zetterberg, Filppula, and Kronwall. Quincey will earn his minus back for lazily coasting back. There’s a couple guys here who go off on a line change while the team is giving up their third goal. Cleary will get a minus on the line change and another for a weak turnover that leads to this clear. Brunner will get the line change minus plus one minus for letting the puck get through him so easily and another half-minus for not immediately jumping on his horse and racing back. If Brunner turns and guns it, he’s got a shot at disrupting Begin.
3rd Period 17:18 – Detroit Goal: Johan Franzen (backhand) from Kyle Quincey and Brendan Smith
Franzen lifts a puck from center ice that bounces in past Kiprusoff. No adjustment here.
Penalty Adjustments (pluses and minuses only)
2nd Period 01:20 – Daniel Cleary (hooking): Cleary is behind Wideman trying to prevent a scoring chance and gets his stick up in the D-Man’s hands to prevent the shot. Cleary doesn’t have business getting caught this badly in the first place, so he won’t catch a break. Minus for Cleary.
2nd Period 02:19 – Mark Giordano (tripping): Cory Emmerton does some Helmian work on the penalty kill to steal the puck in the offensive zone and draw a call. I’m going to give Emmerton a plus-and-a-half for the great work done here.
2nd Period 09:19 – Matt Stajan (tripping): Eaves will get a plus here for a good steal and dangle to force Stajan into a bad position where he brings his man down.
3rd Period 12:03 – Dennis Wideman (cross-checking): Damien Brunner is the lucky recipient of needing to be cleared out of the crease on a scoring chance thanks to Henrik Zetterberg and Val Filppula. Brunner, Filppula, & Zetterberg will each get a half-plus.
Bonus Ratings
+1 to Damien Brunner: Seven shots on goal for Brunner in this one. He was a bright spot.
-1 to Valtteri Filppula: His first two shifts were very good. The rest were utterly forgettable. This guy has to do more with the skillset he has. He certainly has to do better than 43% in the faceoff dot.
Honorable Mentions:
It’s not Patrick Eaves’ fault, but I think I would have rather had Tootoo in.
Back to not having the numbers updated. Stay tuned. That will happen today.
