The Red Wings said goodbye to the Predators in a good way on Thursday night, beating them 5-2. The Wings pretty severely outclassed the Preds in this one (I mean the entirety of the division rivalry, but just tonight works as well).
No, seriously, the Wings outshot the Preds 38-22. Nashville couldn’t take advantage of any Gustav Nyquist penalties, but fortunately for them, he wasn’t the only Red Wing taking penalties. Nashville did manage to get their special teams on the board on an Abdelkader penalty.
CSSI Methodology Explanation here
Goalie Ratings
Jimmy Howard didn’t rob the Predators as often as Chris Mason robbed the Wings, but he also didn’t allow five goals, so I’m going to give Jimmy the head-to-head win. Howard will get a +1 overall.
The Goals
1st Period 01:46 – Nashville Goal: Mike Fisher (snap shot) from Rich Clune and Craig Smith
Nasvhille gets an early odd-man on a goofy play and Fisher finishes the cross-ice pass. Quincey’s going to get a minus and a half. His entire job is to block the lane and he actually MOVES HIS STICK OUT OF THE PASSING LANE just prior to the Clune feed. Kindl’s also going to pick up a minus for his failure to keep either Clune or the puck in front of him and his failure to hold onto his stick. Brunner will be cleared of his minus for being nowhere near this shitshow. Andersson will have his minus halved. His decision to go back to the point isn’t a bad one, but he gets a bit unlucky when it hits Nyquist’s loose stick. Nyquist will get an extra minus. He kicks the puck AND his stick back at Kindl instead of doing the smarter thing and just eating it on the boards to buy his team time to get back.
1st Period 06:53 – Detroit Goal: Valtteri Filppula (wrist shot) from Johan Franzen and Daniel Cleary
The Wings pull even as some good work low leads to two Wings driving the net. Franzen feeds Filppula who puts it in for his 100th career goal. Despite Flip finishing, this play is all Franzen who will get a bonus assist and a bonus plus and a half. He creates the zone entry and then does most of the work getting the puck clear with room for his linemates.
1st Period 12:30 – Nashville Goal (PP): Craig Smith (wrist shot) from Mike Fisher and Shea Weber
Nashville retakes the lead on the power play as good puck movement leads to a rebound goal for Smith. The big mistake here is on Patrick Eaves, who will get a minus for letting the Weber pass get to Smith. This forces DeKeyser to address Smith, which gives position to Fisher to prevent a clear, which gives Smith a rebound to shoot.
2nd Period 01:01 – Detroit Goal: Johan Franzen (wrist shot) from Damien Brunner and Pavel Datsyuk
Mere seconds after a PP expires, Detroit pulls even with traffic in front. Franzen picks up a Brunner rebound and roofs it over Mason. Kronwall will get the third assist. I’m going to void the pluses on this play for what is essentially still a PP goal. Brunner, Kronwall, Franzen, Datsyuk, and Zetterberg will lose their pluses.
2nd Period 03:41 – Detroit Goal: Patrick Eaves (snap shot) from Jordin Tootoo
Tootoo hustles in to pressure Hal Gill on a dump-in and then gets good position to pick up the puck when Gill tries to keep him from taking it to the net. Toots goes high in the zone before backhanding it to Eaves who had snuck in low for a quick shot over Mason to give the Wings the eventual game-winner. Dekeyser will get an assist. His dump-in is essentially a pass to Tootoo (who will get a bonus plus).
2nd Period 19:13 – Detroit Goal (PP): Pavel Datsyuk (wrist shot) from Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall
Pavel takes the puck in stride and uses Shea Weber as the vision-blocking jerkwad he is as he snaps it past Mason from the high slot. No Red Wings adjustment, although Shea Weber deserves a screener’s assist.
3rd Period 16:02 – Detroit Goal: Justin Abdelkader (wrist shot) from Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk
The Wings ice the cake with a beautiful end-to-end play culminating in Abdelkader picking up a rebound and sliding it home past a sprawling Mason. Ericsson will get his plus back and Kindl will lose his on the line change behind the play. Pavel Datsyuk makes a great couple of plays. Pavel steals if from Legwand behind his own net and heads up ice with speed to create a 3-on-2. Then, he tips the Z pass on net to create the rebound. Datsyuk will get a bonus assist and a bonus plus on this play.
Penalty Adjustments (pluses and minuses only)
1st Period 03:46 – Gustav Nyquist (hooking): Goose hooks Bang. Easy call. Minus for Nyquist.
1st Period 11:14 – Justin Abdelkader (cross-checking): Minus for Abdelkader. Don’t cross-check people, dummy.
1st Period 13:14 – Danny Cleary (interference): Cleary takes Josi down in front of the Nashville net. He has his stick held by Josi, but he chooses to push the guy over. Minus for Cleary.
1st Period 18:57 – Nick Spaling (holding): Nyquist draws one as he pushes through Spaling, who grabs on to slow him down. Nyquist gets a plus.
2nd Period 07:36 – Gustav Nyquist (tripping): Nyquist gets a minus. He tries dropping his stick to make up for taking out Spaling’s feet, but it’s an easy-to-call penalty.
2nd Period 09:47 – Rich Clune (hooking): Datsyuk will get a plus for forcing Clune to hook him. Zetterberg will get a half-plus for the pass to Datsyuk which helps force the play.
2nd Period 11:12 – Gustav Nyquist (tripping): Jesus, Goose. Stop fucking getting your stick in people’s feet. Minus for Nyquist.
2nd Period 18:32 – Sergei Kostitsyn (slashing): Goose earns a plus back as he drives the middle on Kostitsyn and the dirty shitbird slashes Nyquist for his troubles.
Bonus Ratings
+0.5 to Valtteri Filppula: Four shots on goal for Flip and another two attempts to go with an 81% faceoff percentage and overall good play.
+0.5 to Justin Abdelkader: I liked his play in this one.
+1 to Cory Emmerton, Joakim Andersson, Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson, and Danny DeKeyser: Penalty killing excellence out of this crew tonight. Nashville was on the power play for nearly 8 minutes in this one and these guys were effective on the ice as PKers.
Honorable Mentions:
Jakub Kindl had a scary first period but calmed down.
