CSSI Analysis: Red Wings 4 – Islanders 5 (SO)

Haha shoot-out lossvember!

After calming down a bit, I still think two of the Wings’ penalties were soft, but the Wings didn’t do much to earn more than the one power play they were given (which they cashed in on). The Wings gave six power plays to the Islanders and allowed one goal, but were overall outshot 41-23.

CSSI Methodology Explanation here

Box score here

Goaltending

I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to Gustavsson’s style. He scares me, but came up big several times on defensive lapses. He wasn’t amazing, but if the Wings had won the game, he’d probably get credit for stealing it. At least his groin held up.

The Goals

1st Period 04:03 – Islanders Goal: John Tavares (tip in) from Josh Bailey
The Isles get the first goal on a bad turnover by the Wings’ top unit. Datsyuk throws a pass to Zetterberg that doesn’t connect in the neutral zone and the Isles turn it back into the zone. Kronwall picks off a dump attempt and heads behind his net where both Grabner and Tavares threaten to trap him. Kronner goes up the boards to the same side, but the puck gets around Datsyuk and ends up on Bailey’s stick at the point. The Isles’ D-man throws it at the front of the net where Tavares has taken up position. JT tips it through Gustavsson on the way through. There’s a lot of fail here. Datsyuk gets a minus for turning the puck over and then another half-minus for letting the puck by him on the boards. Zetterberg will get a half-minus for the turnover in the neutral zone. Bertuzzi will keep his minus. He’s anticipating a breakout and the possibility of an odd-man rush, but Bailey is technically his man. Kronwall will keep his minus. I don’t think the pass up the boards is a bad decision, but he needs to zip to the front of the net on the turnover. Ericsson will get an extra half-minus for jumping up the ice before making sure that the zone was cleared. He was supposed to have been posted in the front of the net.

1st period 04:12 – Detroit Goal: Darren Helm (wrist shot) from Jonathan Ericsson and Niklas Kronwall
Nine seconds later, the Wings pull even on a 2-on-0 rush. Helm wins the faceoff back to Kronwall, who feeds Riggy for an outlet pass up ice. Carkner blocks it with his skate, but ends up kicking it behind Tavares right to Helm jumping into the zone with Franzen joining. Nabokov is stuck and can’t do much when Helm snaps it past him. No adjustment. The Wings are a bit lucky to get the bounce, though I’m happy to see one go our way.

1st Period 17:18 – Detroit Goal (PP): Pavel Datsyuk (tip in) from Mikael Samuelsson and Henrik Zetterberg
Detroit takes the lead on a power play goal thanks to a very simple play and a great bit of hand-eye coordination. Kronwall mishandles a puck at the line (after a good keep-in) and the Wings have to re-enter the zone. Datsyuk does this by skating through the middle and dumping it off to Bertuzzi on the wing as Z takes the opposite side. Bert goes back to Kronwall, who goes over to Samuelsson, who goes low to Zetterberg. Z immediately passes back up to Sammy at the point. From here, Samuelsson throws it into the traffic in front. Datsyuk gets his stick on it as it passes between the hash marks and tips it through and into the net. Bertuzzi is screening here, but I’m not sure he actually makes a difference on this play, as the change in direction on the tip is severe. No adjustment.

2nd Period 17:50 – Islanders Goal: Casey Cizikas (backhand) from Colin McDonald and Matt Martin
The Isles pull even on a scramble after an odd-man rush in which the first guy to get to a loose puck happens to be wearing the wrong jersey. The Wings are putting on good pressure on the forecheck, but things go downhill quick. An outlet from MacDonald to Cizikas in the Isles’ zone almost leads to tragedy as Bertuzzi comes barreling in on his man. Cizikas sees him coming and instead of taking control of the puck, he simply tips it out of the zone past Bert. The puck magically flies through Kindl at center and onto the stick of Matt Martin, who is now in the zone with Colin McDonald in a 2-on-1. Lashoff challenges Martin and forces kind of a weak pass attempt that gets to Gustavsson at the same time Martin does. Monster stops it, but doesn’t track the rebound, thinking Martin still has it, he tries to cut off the short-side angle on Martin. Instead, the puck sits out front until Cizikas collects it and puts it into the open net. Bertuzzi and Datsyuk will be cleared, as they make the right plays. Kindl will get a minus for letting the puck get behind him and causing the odd-man. Lashoff will keep his minus, although he’s hung out to dry a bit, he’s got to make a play here to stop this chance. Zetterberg will get two minuses. His backcheck on this play is a cardinal fuck-up. When this play starts, he’s already a step ahead of Cizikas and moving in the right direction. He coasts back through center watching his two defensemen scramble hard to make up for a bit of a goof. By the time his man crosses the blue line, Zetterberg is behind his man simply covering an area and not the fucking person who just skated through it.

2nd Period 18:23 – Detroit Goal: Johan Franzen (wrist shot) from Darren Helm and Tomas Tatar
Just 33 seconds later, Detroit regains the lead on a clever rush and screen goal. The Isles follow the goal with pressure in the Wings’ zone leading to a Tatar icing. On the deep faceoff, Tatar makes up for causing the icing with some great pressure on the point-man leading to a turnover which allows Helm to move through center with speed cutting from the right wing side behind Tatar to the middle. Franzen joins on the left side as Helm continues cutting a diagonal path across the ice, driving two of the three Islanders defenders below the tops of the circles. Helm passes off to Franzen at the top of the left circle and then drives to the front with Tatar meeting him there. Mule cuts across the middle into the high slot using the space that Donovan gave him by overskating a bit. Once in the prime scoring real estate, Franzen zips it blocker side past a Helm-screened Poulin. Helm gets the screener’s assist as well as a plus on the transition. Tatar will also get a plus for driving the turnover and keeping his D-man out of the lane.

2nd Period 19:11 – Islanders Goal (PP): Brock Nelson (wrist shot) from John Tavares and Andy MacDonald
…and the Islanders get even again on a quick power play goal by Brock Nelson, the guy with the pro-wrestlingest name in the entire game. Helm wins the faceoff, but the Islanders get possession in the scrum to bring it back to the point. Tavares skates up and down the right wing to make a bit of room before playing catch with MacDonald, getting the puck back at the half-board. Tavares tries a saucer pass to Nielsen in the middle of the ice, but Quincey gets his stick on it. Unfortunately, the puck tips right back onto Gustavsson in goal. Nelson steps to the front from the net-side position and punches it through. This is just kind of bad luck here, but I think DeKeyser could have made a stronger play on the faceoff to punch the puck away from pressure and force a retrieval rather than a clean gather. I’m going to give DeKeyser a minus for this mistake. The play that drives the puck to the front of the net is an unfortunate bounce off of a good play. The Tavares pass to the middle draws DeKeyser up just enough to be unable to get back on Nelson, but it’s the play he should be making. Quincey stopping the pass to a guy in the middle is also what he should be doing. Sometimes shit just happens.

3rd Period 04:47 – Islanders Goal: Cal Clutterbuck (tip-in) from Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Aaron Ness
After the Wings kill off a four-minute butt-puckering power play, the Isles pull ahead anyway on a tipped shot in front. Ericsson steps up on Bouchard at the blue line, leaving the puck to roll down the boards. Kronwall gets beaten to the puck by Regin, who goes from the corner to the net-front. Helm is there to stop the chance and kick the puck to the corner, but Regin gets to that one first and goes back to Ness at the point. Ness fires a wrister into traffic which takes a double-deflection before getting into the net. Franzen will be cleared on this one as the victimized winger. Helm will have his minus halved. He does well to cover the net-front, but could do a better job on the loose puck in front. Ericsson will have his minus halved, as he’s doing well enough, but sees the puck get through him. Kronwall will get an extra minus for being beaten to the puck by Regin. Tatar will also pull a minus here. He ends up below the hash marks as Regin gets to the loose puck in the corner, but doesn’t commit to trying to lift Regin’s stick, instead backing off at the worst time. Regin easily gets it up the boards to Ness, who has lots of room to get a good shot through the lane that Tatar should have been covering. Either go for it completely or trust that Helm will keep Regin out of the middle of the ice. He’s not a danger in the low corner as far as Tatar’s coverage responsibilities go.

3rd Period 19:17 – Detroit Goal: Pavel Datsyuk (backhand) from Danny DeKeyser and Henrik Zetterberg
The Wings pull the goalie and it actually pays off as they tie it up with 43 seconds left. After a defensive zone faceoff, DeKeyser and Kronwall do a good job to make a couple of nice passes to spring Bertuzzi up ice with space to gain the zone and get Gustavsson off the ice. The lose the zone, but get it back in on a Zetterberg dump-around and a DeKeyser pinch to push it back to Z in the low corner. With a bit of help from Datsyuk, Z draws the defense low and then gets it to DeKeyser high in the zone. DK walks to the middle of the ice trying to find a shooting lane, which he finally does when a man goes down in the slot to block low and DK just fires it over him. Poulin stops it, but the puck bounces into the net-front area. Bert seals his defender in while Franzen and Zetterberg battle for it. Josh Bailey gets his stick on it, but ends up pushing it only a few feet to the side. Grabner is there to try and help, but Datsyuk takes it from him and throws a backhander from just below the goal line out front where it bounces into the net off the elbow of MacDonald. I like the play by DeKeyser, Zetterberg, and Datsyuk to make this play happen and each will get a plus.

Penalty Adjustments

1st Period 13:17 – Todd Bertuzzi (tripping): This is a brutally bad call on Bertuzzi as he and MacDonald go after a loose puck behind the Isles’ net on a faceoff. Bert wins the physical battle and his man falls down. Inexplicable call on a fair battle win. No adjustment.
1st Period 16:44 – Matt Donovan (roughing): Darren Helm blasts Casey Cizikas with a clean shoulder check in the Islanders’ zone. Immediately, the team responds by trying to get somebody to fight. Donovan is the donkey who ends up in the box and Helm will get a plus.

2nd Period 15:05 – Todd Bertuzzi (goaltender interference): Bert drives to the front of the net from behind. Poulin goes down to take away the low ice while defending his goal and Bert momentarily touches him to keep from flopping on top of him. The ref gives Bert a penalty anyway. This is the second bad call on Bertuzzi. No adjustment.
2nd Period 18:50 – Luke Glendening (tripping): Glendening is forechecking behind the net when he gets his stick tied up in skates and brings his man down. This is an easy call. Minus for Glendening.
2nd Period: 19:39 – Johan Franzen (high sticking): Mule gets his stick up on MacDonald and sits for four. Minus for Franzen.

Overtime 01:19 – Jonathan Ericsson (Hooking): Riggy has to chase back Hamonic rushing up the ice at 4-on-4 and ends up putting his stick parallel. This is actually a good call, even though I was very mad about it at the time it was called. Minus for Ericsson.

Bonus Ratings

-1 for Pavel Datsyuk: He scored two goals and he still didn’t have a good game. He was overall less than impressive. Even scarier was that Babcock didn’t have him take the crucial faceoff before the game-tying goal. I hope he’s ok.
-1 to Dan Cleary: Yes, he played. Yes, this reminder of that is why he’s getting a minus.
+1 to Drew Miller: 5:21 of penalty kill time was more than every other player except Nik Kronwall. He excelled on the PK in this one.
+1.5 to Niklas Kronwall: Hey, the guy who killed even more penalty time than the guy who got a plus for his penalty killing gets a bigger adjustment. Film at 11.
-1 to Joakim Andersson: Not a good enough game. He played decently on the PK, but not well enough to overcome his even-strength shortcomings (he also had a turnover shorthanded which very well could have been an Islanders goal.)

Honorable Mentions:

DeKeyser was fairly solid in earning an overall +1 on the night. Darren Helm was the best skater for the Wings and his adjusted +3.5 showed that. If not for that, he’d have gotten a bonus. Abdelkader was probably close to a plus and I didn’t hate Samuelsson, but I hardly noticed him.

Current Game Chart

Season Totals Chart

Screener’s Assist Totals