The Wings took to the Honda Center on Tuesday night looking to build off a good last week of the season to clinch a playoff spot. Anaheim outplayed them and came away with a 3-1 victory.
This game was won on the special teams battle, as Anaheim put in two PP goals to Detroit’s one. Both teams had an even number of power plays. Honestly, if the refs called the game tighter, Detroit would have been shorthanded much more than the Ducks. Shots overall were 27-22 in favor of Anaheim.
CSSI Methodology Explanation here
Goalie Ratings
Jimmy Howard played well to keep the game close. He gave the Wings a chance to win a game that they probably didn’t belong in for the last 40 minutes. Overall, I’m going to give Howard a +1 rating. Head-to-head, I’m going to give the win to Jonas Hiller. The Ducks’ goalie had fewer shots, but I think he made more tough saves and I think he had a bit more to do with the Ducks’ success. He played confidently and deserved the win he got.
The Goals
1st Period 10:24 – Anaheim Goal (PP): Nick Bonino (tip) from Cam Fowler
Detroit loses a faceoff and three seconds later gives up a goal on a tipped point shot. Datsyuk will get a minus for losing the faceoff cleanly. No other adjustments here. Kronwall is slightly involved in the play, but it’s no more his fault for not blocking a shot that got tipped in front of him than it is Howard’s fault for not stopping a tip-in. This is why hockey teams do this play: it works.
1st Period 16:05 – Detroit Goal (PP): Danny Cleary (tip) from Jakub Kindl and Patrick Eaves
The Wings take advantage of the very end of a 5-on-3 as Kindl gets to walk down low and gets a pass back from Eaves for a shot that gets tipped over Hiller to tie it. I’m going to give Cleary a half self-assist. He does good work to make sure the Wings retain possession on the faceoff with the 5-on-3. Quincey will get a half assist (third) for changing the angle over to Kindl. It’s only a half-assist here because the fact that Q got a shot blocked at the point on a 5-on-3 is borderline unacceptable. Filppula will get the fourth assist for recovering the Quincey shot that was blocked just prior and quickly resetting the play.
3rd Period 01:29 – Anaheim Goal (PP): Teemu Selanne (slap shot) from Ben Lovejoy and Matt Beleskey
In the waning seconds of a power play, the Ducks break the tie as Lovejoy hits selanne in the left circle for an amazing one-timer that sneaks in top shelf. DeKeyser, Smith, and Franzen will all pull half-minuses. The defensemen lose a board battle low and Franzen challenges Lovejoy at the point (where Eaves is already patrolling) instead of getting to a passing lane to try and prevent this.
3rd Period 19:37 – Anaheim Goal (EN): Francois Beauchemin (wrist shot) from Ryan Getzlaf and Daniel Winnik
After Daniel Cleary gets Pavel Datsyuk thrown from the circle, Zetterberg can’t win the faceoff and Winnik gets a chance to chuck it down the ice into the open net. Zetterberg will get a half-minus for losing the faceoff, but Cleary will also got a half-minus for getting the preferred guy kicked out of the dot. Datsyuk will also get a half-minus for getting beaten to the tied-up puck by Getzlaf.
Penalty Adjustments (pluses and minuses only)
1st Period 10:20 – Jordin Tootoo (cross-checking): Tootoo clears out the crease after a whistle and gets the penalty that he should have gotten earlier on the play when he tripped up Koivu. Minus for Tootoo.
1st Period 14:01 – Ryan Getzlaf (tripping): Abdelkader shows good hustle to take body position on Getzlaf and force him to take him down. Plus for Abdelkader
1st Period 15:43 – Daniel Winnik (hooking): Pavel Datsyuk does some great work on the power play to create a scoring chance that’s prevented by a Winnik hook. Plus for Datsyuk.
2nd Period 05:10 – Nick Bonino (holding): Nyquist gets a plus as he gets position on Bonino in the offensive zone and gets hauled down.
2nd Period 08:10 – Joakim Andersson (interference): The Wings are trying to cycle in the zone, but Andersson runs an unnecessary pick away from the play and takes down Selanne. Easy call. Minus for Andersson.
2nd Period 19:41 – Jakub Kindl (delay of game): The Ducks get a lot of forechecking pressure on the Wings over an extended shift which ends with Kindl earning a minus for putting the puck over the glass. I’m also going to give half-minuses to Datsyuk and Zetterberg for a handful of soft plays which help the Ducks keep the zone pressure on.
Bonus Ratings
-1 to Jakub Kindl, Jonathan Ericsson, and Brendan Smith: The inability of these three to connect on a pass from behind their own blue line into the neutral zone was a part of the reason it took so long for Detroit to hit 20 shots in this game.
-1 to Justin Abdelkader: This is an adjustment because I don’t think he deserved to be an overall adjusted +1 from his position on the top line which got shut down.
Honorable Mentions:
The Ducks did a good job quieting Pavel Datsyuk, but his linemates did a good job helping them do that. Sometimes they Wings get a bit too-reliant on him making brilliant plays to find open men. It’s beautiful when it happens, but I’ll take ugly two-on-two board battles if it leads to fewer zone exits for the Ducks.
